A website offering guidance to assist women to abort their unborn baby at home has been heavily criticised in the US.
The website, run by a group calling itself Women Help Women (WHW), promotes the use of abortifacient drugs without a prescription or supervision.
Kristi Hamrick, spokeswoman for Americans United for Life, warned that chemical abortion drugs are “dangerous” and that “women have died when taking them”.
‘Dangerous’
WHW does not provide direct access to the drugs in the US, but does offer ‘online counselling’ and recommends where to find them.
Hamrick said the drugs such as Misoprostol and Mifepristone are “particularly dangerous to women who are later in pregnancy and women who are experiencing an ectopic pregnancy. That is why a physical exam must be required and supervision needed”.
She went on to criticise the abortion industry for pushing for the removal of restrictions.
“Its fight to sell drugs in such a way as to risk women’s lives and health shows its true loyalty – to money over the needs of women.”
Severe cases
Under US law, women who take the drugs at home without the supervision of a licensed healthcare professional could be arrested and charged with a felony.
The Food and Drug Administration released a report in 2011 which found “at least 2,207 cases of severe adverse events”, including “several cases of severe systemic infection including several deaths” since the approval of Misoprostol and Mifepristone in September 2000.
In the UK, abortion pills that were illegally purchased online were recently seized in a fresh attempt to enforce the law in Northern Ireland, where abortion is illegal except to preserve the life of the mother.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) made the announcement in March that over 100 abortion pill packets have been seized and prosecutions could follow.