Mail-Order Abortion Pills Could Be the Future of Reproductive Rights
Women all over the U.S. are being encouraged to stock up on Plan B and make appointments for IUD insertions before President-elect Donald Trump gets his tiny hands all over their right to choose. But a new research project offers a glimmer of hope that the future of reproductive health isn't as totally bleak as it seems.
The FDA-approved study, currently in progress in Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, and New York, is taking a look at whether medical (i.e. non-surgical) abortions can be safely performed with an online consultation and drugs delivered to women's homes, Kaiser Health News reported.
If this sounds like an experiment in mail-order abortion, that's because that's exactly what it is.
"Of the first 12 women who participated in the study, all in Hawaii, 11 reported they had no complications and one did not take the pills, researchers said," Kaiser reported. "Ten who completed surveys afterward said they were satisfied with the service and would recommend it to a friend, according to the researchers."
Marie, a mom who lives in Hawaii with her toddler, was able to return to her job at McDonald's the day after she took the second of the two abortions pills she received as a participant in the study. The nearest abortion clinic is over 100 miles away from her home.
"I was happy that I was going to be able to do it myself and I did not have a nurse there or doctors there staring at me and judging me," said Marie, who went by her middle name for Kaiser's piece to prevent people outside of her immediate family from identifying her.
Abortion access is declining rapidly throughout the country; as Kaiser notes, five states have just one clinic that offers the procedure. Mail-order pills could give women unprecedented access to abortion — something that excites some and disgusts others.
Susan Wood, the director of the Jacobs Institute of Women’s Health at George Washington University, told Kaiser that she believes the study is "an important step forward to expanding access to abortion that is safe and effective and creating options for women."
Carol Tobias, on the other hand, worries that women won't know what to do if the at-home procedure goes awry.
"There are serious downsides from the pills," said Tobias, who heads the the National Right to Life Committee, "and just talking to someone over a computer and sending pills in the mail, to me, that is just reckless."
Abortion pills come with a risk of heavy bleeding, but generally medical abortions are very safe. There are, however, major consequences when women don't have easy, cheap access to abortions — for instance, some try to self-abort using questionable (and dangerous) methods involving herbs and coat hangers.
Read more about the project here. Do you think mail-order abortions are the future of reproductive rights in Trump's America and beyond, or is far too extreme?
