If progressive activists have their way, women will be able to abort their child from the comforts of their own home.
Women in Hawaii, New York, Oregon, and Washington state are currently participating in a study by Gynuity Health Projects that sends abortion drugs through the mail.
Here’s how it works:
Using a video hookup on a home computer, a woman first consults with a doctor (or other clinician such as a nurse practitioner) at one of three participating abortion clinics who evaluates her medical history and explains how to take abortion pills and what to expect afterward. She must then get tests including an ultrasound and blood work.If the tests show she is eligible for the study, the clinic sends her a package with pills and instructions via overnight mail. After taking them, she has some additional tests, such as an ultrasound to verify that the abortion is complete and also a phone consultation to review the results.
Typically, women who have a medical abortion (in the first 10 weeks) take one drug (mifepristone) in a doctor’s office and another (misoprostol) at home the next day.
Mail order abortions have been developed as a way to expand abortion access as state restrictions are forcing many clinics to close.
If the study is deemed successful, the FDA could end restrictions on mifepristone altogether. But that doesn’t mean the method would be available nationwide. Nineteen states ban the use of telemedicine for abortion, requiring clinicians to be physically present with the patient when giving abortion-inducing drugs.
The pro-life community is warning against this method of abortion given the safety concerns.
“We have grave concerns about handing out dangerous, life-ending drugs without medical supervision because women face great risks for chemical abortions,” Kristi Hamrick, spokeswoman for Americans United for Life, told The New York Times.
Carol Tobias, President of the National Right to Life Committee, agreed.
“If pills are sent through the mail, who are they supposed to call if they have a problem?” she told the Times.
“There are serious downsides from the pills,” she said, adding, “and just talking to someone over a computer and sending pills in the mail, to me, that is just reckless.”