In states that have banned abortion, some women with unwanted pregnancies are pursuing an unconventional workaround: They are “self-managing” their abortions, seeking out the necessary know-how onl…
In states that have banned abortion, some women with unwanted pregnancies are pursuing an unconventional workaround: They are “self-managing” their abortions, seeking out the necessary know-how online and obtaining the medications without the supervision of a clinic or a doctor.
There are no reliable estimates of the number of women who undertake their own medication abortions, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which researches and supports abortion access. Other medical complications can be missed, they say — including ectopic pregnancy, in which the fertilized egg implants outside the uterus.
The procedure typically involves taking two drugs: mifepristone, which stops the pregnancy by blocking a hormone called progesterone, followed a day or two later by misoprostol, which causes the uterus to contract. The drugs are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, however, and are intended to be taken under a doctor’s supervision. The agency discourages internet purchases of mifepristone because patients will be “bypassing important safeguards,” officials said in a statement.
Cassie, 20, who uses the pronouns they and them and asked that only a first name be used because they reside in Texas, where most abortions are banned after about six weeks of pregnancy, managed their own abortion in January. MYA Network provides physicians who answer questions about self-managed abortion, and Abortion Pill Info offers tips on keeping online research private.
“I couldn’t afford a pregnancy and was not well enough, physically or mentally, to carry a pregnancy,” she said. Her self-managed abortion was “no worse than a normal period for me.” Complications are the rare exception. Another recent study looked at self-managed abortions in Nigeria, where abortion is banned except to save the life of the mother, and in Argentina .
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