About 40% of all abortions in the US are now done through medication – rather than surgery – and the option became all the more important during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Advocates for abortion rights say the pandemic has proven that the value of medical care is virtually offered, including the privacy and convenience of abortions taking place in a woman’s home, rather than a clinic. Opponents of abortions, who are concerned that the method will become increasingly prevalent, insist that legislation in several Republican-led states restrict it and in some cases prohibit providers from prescribing abortion drugs via telemedicine.
Ohio has introduced a ban this year, proposing that their doctors who violate it file legal complaints. The law would take effect next week, but a judge temporarily blocked it in response to a lawsuit over the planned parenting.
In Montana, Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte is expected to sign a ban on telemedicine abortions. The sponsor, rep. Sharon Greef, called medication abortions’ the wild west of the abortion industry ‘and says the drugs should be taken under close supervision of medical staff,’ not as part of a do-it-yourself abortion. a clinic or hospital. ”
Opponents of the ban say telemedicine abortions are safe, and the ban will have an exaggerated effect on rural residents facing long journeys to the nearest abortion clinic.
“If we look at what state legislators are doing, it becomes clear that there is no medical basis for these restrictions,” said Elisabeth Smith, chief executive for state policy and advocacy at the Center for Reproductive Rights. “It’s just meant to make it harder to access this incredibly safe medication and raise doubts in the relationship between patients and providers.”
Other legislation has sought to ban the delivery of abortion pills by mail, shorten the ten-week window allowing the method and that doctors should tell women undergoing drug abortions to be reversed throughout the process – a claim that critics are not backed by science.
It is part of a broader wave of anti-abortion measures being considered by many states this year, including some that would ban almost all abortions. Proponents of her case have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online. Proponents of her case have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online.
Legislation seeking drug abortion was inspired in part by developments during the pandemic, when the Food and Drug Administration – according to the federal court order – eased restrictions on abortion pills so that they could be mailed. A requirement for women to upload them personally is back, but anti-abortion opponents are worried that Biden’s government will end the restrictions permanently. Abortion rights groups are appealing for the move.
With the rules lifted in December, Planned Parenthood in the St. Louis area would Louis sends pills for telemedicine abortions overseen by the health center in Fairview Heights, Illinois.
A single mother from Cairo, Illinois, more than two hours drive from the clinic, chose the option. She learned she was pregnant just months after giving birth to her second child.
“It would not have been a good situation to bring another child into the world,” the 32-year-old woman said, provided her name was not used to protect her family’s privacy.
“The fact that I was able to do it comfortably in my own home was a good feeling,” she added.
She was relieved to avoid a long journey and grateful to the clinic employee who spoke to her through the procedure.
“I did not feel alone,” she said. “I felt safe.”
Medication abortion has been available in the United States since 2000, when the FDA approved the use of mifepristone. Taken with misoprostol, it forms the so-called abortion pill.
The popularity of the method gradually increased. The Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that supports abortion rights, estimates that it accounts for about 40% of all abortions in the U.S. and 60% of those that occur up to ten weeks of pregnancy.
“Apart from the extraordinarily safe and effective record, the abortion of medicine is so important, how comfortable and private it can be,” said Megan Donovan, senior policy manager at Guttmacher. “That’s exactly why it’s still subject to onerous constraints.”
Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio, which includes Cincinnati, says drug abortions are a quarter of the abortions it produces. Of the 1,558 abortions of medicine that have taken place in the past year, only 9% were done via telemedicine, but the organization’s president, Kersha Deibel, said the option is important for many economically disadvantaged women and those in rural areas.
Mike Gonidakis, president of Ohio Right to Life, said: ‘no woman deserves to be subjected to the gruesome process of a chemical abortion that may be hours away from the doctor who prescribed the drugs. ”
In Montana, where Planned Parenthood operates five of the seven abortion clinics in the state, 75% of abortions are done through medication – a major change from ten years ago.
Martha Stahl, president of Planned Parenthood of Montana, says the pandemic – which has increased dependence on telemedicine – has contributed to the increase in the percentage of medication abortions.
In the sprawling state, home to rural communities and seven Native American reservations, many women live more than five hours’ drive from the nearest abortion clinic. For them, access to telemedicine can be of great importance.
Greef, who sponsored the ban on telemedicine abortions, said the measure would ensure providers can look for signs of domestic abuse or sex trafficking while personally caring for patients.
Proponents of the telemedicine method, however, say patients are grateful for the convenience and privacy.
“Some are in a bad relationship or a victim of domestic violence,” said Christina Theriault, a Maine Family Planning nurse who can perform abortions under state law. ‘With telemedicine, they can do it without their partner knowing. There is a lot of relief from them. ”
The group has health centers in the far north of Maine where women can get abortion pills and take them home under the supervision of health care providers who communicate by phone or video conference. It saves women a trip of three to four hours to the nearest abortion clinic in Bangor, Theriault said.
Maine Family Planning is among a small group of providers participating in an FDA-approved research program to allow women to receive the abortion pill by mail after video consultations. Under the program, the Maine group can also mail pills to women in New York and Massachusetts.
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Samuels is a corps member of The Associated Press / Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a non-profit national service program that puts journalists in local newsrooms to report on subjects.