American Women Are Now Receiving Abortions by Mail
A women’s group that has helped women end their pregnancies abroad by sending them abortion pills in the mail has launched a new project to send pills to the U.S., according to a report Thursday.
Women on Web founder Rebecca Gomperts, who has helped women have illegal abortions across Europe, quietly launched a new service, Aid Access, that sends abortion pills to America, The Atlantic reported Thursday.
“Women on Web is a digital community of women who have had abortions, medical doctors, researchers, and individuals and organizations that support abortion rights,” the group says on its website.
The cost of shipping abortion pills to the U.S. is approximately $95, but Aid Access will seek to help women who cannot afford to pay the full cost of the pills plus shipping, according to The Atlantic.
Aid Access screens women online to ensure that they are not more than nine weeks pregnant, the report said.
Gomperts, who is a physician, fills the prescriptions.
She told The Atlantic that she sends them to a pharmacy in India, which ships the abortion pills to the U.S.
It is not clear how the screenings reliably eliminate recipients who are more than nine weeks pregnant. Women on Web provides pills to women who are up to 12 weeks pregnant.
Women on Web’s website directs women to take the abortion drugs under their tongue so that “no remains of the pills can be found in the event that you need to go to a hospital.”
Women who seek to abort with medication in the U.S. must go to a hospital or abortion facility to take the pills and be advised by a doctor.
“Handing out deadly drugs through the mail is a disaster waiting to happen,” Students for Life of America President Kristan Hawkins said in a statement Thursday.
“These dangerous drugs have also been used by abusers to end wanted pregnancy, something that this distribution model would make even easier,” Hawkins added. “Women deserve better.”
Gomperts claims her activities are legal. She purports that the Food and Drug Administration allows people to import medicines for their personal use, putting her provision of the pills within the bounds of law.
Aid Access has sent roughly 600 pills to the U.S. so far, but Gomperts sought to keep the new group’s activities off the radar until now.
Gomperts said she was worried American pro-life organizations would try to shut down Aid Access but decided she had to act despite any obstacles she might face.
“Something had to be done,” she said.
Women on Waves, Women on Web and ROSA Northern Ireland joined together to send abortion pills to women in Northern Ireland in May.
Tomorrow, abortion robots will deliver abortion pills to women in Belfast. Together with @abortionpil and @RosaWomen in Northern Ireland, we'd like to call attention to the restrictive abortion laws and the prosecution of women in the country. #AbortionRobot #Bus4Choice pic.twitter.com/yOeqcKSEwI
— Women on Waves (@WomenOnWaves_) May 30, 2018
They sent the pills via robot, but police seized the illegal drugs and the robots that delivered them shortly after their arrival.
“I hope I will be the first of many others,” Gomperts told The Atlantic, expressing hope that other doctors will soon begin sending abortion pills as well.
Women on Web did not respond to The Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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