The Atlantic: Abortion by Mail

For many years, organizations like Women on Web assist women in challenging settings like war zones to obtain medications to induce abortions. Women on Web provides Skype consultations, prescriptions and pills that trigger miscarriages, but also was “inundated with requests from women in countries such as the United States, where abortion is technically legal but growing more difficult to access,” explains Olga Khazan for the Atlantic. Women on Web once did not deem it necessary to help US women, but the founder changed her mind as US laws become more restrictive, providers refuse to get involved, and some online services are simply unreliable. The pills include “misoprostol and mifepristone, which together are about 97 percent effective in causing an abortion within the first trimester and already account for a third of all abortions in the United States,” writes Khazan. A Guttmacher Institute report on self-managed abortion and the World Health Organization describe the service as an acceptable option if women follow instructions. An early decision is required, and women should not be more than nine weeks pregnant. So far one doctor handles the US requests. – YaleGlobal

The Atlantic: Abortion by Mail

Global abortion-pill provider that never shipped to the US quietly starts new service specifically for Americans, Aid Access, and worries about being inundated
Olga Khazan
Friday, October 19, 2018

Read the article from the Atlantic about a online service for US women who seek abortion pills.

Olga Khazan is a staff writer at The Atlantic.       

 Women on Web and Aid Access screen women for eligibility through an online process before sending abortion pills.

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