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mahatmakanejeeves

(60,935 posts)
Sun Oct 31, 2021, 06:47 AM Oct 2021

The next normal: The future of medication abortion is at home

Outlook • Perspective

The next normal: The future of medication abortion is at home

By Abigail R. A. Aiken
Abigail R.A. Aiken is an associate professor at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin.
October 29, 2021 at 9:00 a.m. EDT

We’ve all spent the past year thinking about the “return to normalcy” in the wake of the pandemic. But our world’s always changing, even outside of the moments that seem obviously exceptional. Sometimes that change takes the form of some dramatic, unforeseen rupture; often, it happens more subtly. What aspects of the imagined, far-off future might soon become part of our ordinary present? We’re asking policy experts, historians, scientists, economists and creators about the ways they think that society will shift next — transformations that once may have seemed inconceivable, but now seem possible. — Sophia Nguyen

This has been the worst legislative year for U.S. abortion rights on record. More restrictions have been passed in 2021 than in any year since Roe v. Wade. In the most extreme case, Texas banned abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. The Supreme Court may be poised to overturn Roe. Yet despite moves by some states to make abortions harder to obtain from a clinic, an increasing number of people are using abortion pills at home.

Medication abortion, which involves two pills taken 24 hours apart to terminate pregnancies up to 10 weeks, is one of the simplest and safest procedures in all of medicine. The pills cause bleeding and cramping. Afterward, a simple pregnancy test can confirm that the pills have worked. But for many in the United States, accessing these pills is an obstacle course, thanks to a rash of state-level restrictions blocking clinic access. With no federal and little state funding available, the price tag of $300 to $800 often falls on the individual.

Ironically, it is exactly these restrictions that have sparked innovation in where and how people access the medication. When laws prohibit in-clinic access, people often take matters into their own hands and self-manage their abortions outside of formal health care settings. Indeed, some people prefer self-management; it offers convenience, privacy and an alternative for some who may distrust the formal health care system. A 2020 study suggests that approximately 7 percent of U.S. women have attempted a self-managed abortion — in any form, including pills — in their lifetime.

Though the historical record indicates that people in North America have managed their own abortions for centuries, evidence also suggests that self-managed abortion using pills has been on the rise in recent years. In 2018, an Amsterdam-based doctor launched Aid Access, the first online telemedicine service to provide self-managed medication abortion to people living in the United States. The service operates entirely outside of the formal health care system and outside of Food and Drug Administration regulations, which ban mifepristone imports. Aid Access serves people in all 50 states, providing mifepristone and misoprostol up to 10 weeks of pregnancy for home use. People make a donation of around $110 and fill out an online consultation form, which is reviewed by a doctor, and then medications are mailed to their home. A help desk is available for information and support. Testifying to the scale of demand, the service has received 57,506 requests during its first two years of operation.

{snip}

By Abigail Aiken
Abigail R.A. Aiken is an associate professor at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin. Twitter https://twitter.com/ProjectSANAteam
12 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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The next normal: The future of medication abortion is at home (Original Post) mahatmakanejeeves Oct 2021 OP
I have thought for a few years now that science would make this whole argument moot Walleye Oct 2021 #1
"The future of...abortion is at home" markie Oct 2021 #2
The underlying costs of the medication is what i would have explored Tetrachloride Oct 2021 #3
These drugs are used by vets to terminate pregnancies in multigraincracker Oct 2021 #7
Thank you for posting this valuable and important information. The woman-hating niyad Oct 2021 #4
OUTSTANDING post! dixiechiken1 Oct 2021 #5
K & R...nt Wounded Bear Oct 2021 #6
Kick. MontanaMama Oct 2021 #8
Interesting, thank you. Joinfortmill Oct 2021 #9
Back to the future.... paleotn Oct 2021 #10
Need to educate women on the availability of "day after" meds too oldsoftie Oct 2021 #11
You can buy the abortion pill over the counter Farmer-Rick Oct 2021 #12

Walleye

(35,663 posts)
1. I have thought for a few years now that science would make this whole argument moot
Sun Oct 31, 2021, 06:53 AM
Oct 2021

But, like all other rights for women it’s moving very slowly. Don’t know what the right wing are gonna do if they no longer have this issue.

markie

(22,925 posts)
2. "The future of...abortion is at home"
Sun Oct 31, 2021, 07:06 AM
Oct 2021

can't come soon enough... my first abortion (before Roe V Wade) was self induced with herbs... Women need and deserve good medicine for their health!!

Tetrachloride

(8,447 posts)
3. The underlying costs of the medication is what i would have explored
Sun Oct 31, 2021, 07:24 AM
Oct 2021

What cost compared to Canada?

What raises the price besides profits ? Regulation?

multigraincracker

(34,075 posts)
7. These drugs are used by vets to terminate pregnancies in
Sun Oct 31, 2021, 08:47 AM
Oct 2021

farm animals. So, are they the same as used for people?

"administration of luteolytic doses of prostaglandin F 2 alpha (PG). From 150 days onwards and till term bovine and bubaline pregnancies can be safely terminated by administration of a combination of PG and dexamethasone."

If so, do they sell them at farm supply stores?

asking for a friend.

niyad

(119,907 posts)
4. Thank you for posting this valuable and important information. The woman-hating
Sun Oct 31, 2021, 07:45 AM
Oct 2021

gestational slavers will do everything in their power to stop this. How DARE women do something private. How DARE they not have to run gauntlets of haters, screaming and threatening them.

Now for fda to overturn the ban on those two drugs, because the ban is about controlling women, not issues of safety.

paleotn

(19,181 posts)
10. Back to the future....
Sun Oct 31, 2021, 09:24 AM
Oct 2021

Since many cannot access or afford safe, medically prescribed abortion pharmaceuticals, we're back to the days of pennyroyal and other herbs that have killed women seeking abortions for millennia.

 

oldsoftie

(13,538 posts)
11. Need to educate women on the availability of "day after" meds too
Sun Oct 31, 2021, 09:35 AM
Oct 2021

These are not very expensive; easy and safe to use. And using them stops having to do more drastic measures at home later on.

Farmer-Rick

(11,401 posts)
12. You can buy the abortion pill over the counter
Sun Oct 31, 2021, 09:37 AM
Oct 2021

In India but a lot of pharmacies don't stock it.

In Nigeria they sell the pills over the counter but outlaw abortions. Weird way of saying go ahead and do it, just don't let me catch you.

Christian Americans are really stupid if they think they can stop a woman from taking 2 pills. It's that easy. 90+ percent of women who have used the abortion pills had successful outcomes with no side affects. And it turns out, you can use the pills for even later pregnancy with over an 80 percent success rate without major side affects.

The abortion pill is a really the wave of the future and governments and Christians, who can't understand their own bible, will never stop women from controlling their own reproduction.

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