Not all abortions with misoprostol are as painful or risky. Doctors recommend that women take misoprostol with another drug, mifepristone, which prepares the body for the procedure, which facilitates the procedure.
But mifepristone is hard to find in Venezuela, so most women do it the hard way.
When Jessika arrived at her place, her friends urged her to go to the hospital.
“Do not take me anywhere,” she said.
She was terrified of the police.
After that, she played the events of the night for weeks.
“You say to yourself, ‘Well, it happened, but it could have been worse. It could have gone differently. I could have died in the process, but I did not, and that’s OK, ” she said.
“But it’s not OK,” she continues.
‘It’s not OK for me to have an abortion in a warehouse. “It’s not OK that I’m dead, that I’m depressed, and that I do not feel the way I do, ” she said as the words tumbled in anger. ‘It is not OK for the country to drive you into this desperation, and for it to just close its doors to you. I’m resilient, yes. But at some point we all get tired. And I’m tired. I’m so tired. “
In the absence of other assistance, some non-profit organizations have become critical resources for women, offering cheap or free contraception. Most are supported by international funds.
At the five clinics run by one of the organizations, Plafam, the waiting rooms are always packed. Women sometimes sleep outside, desperate to be among those who get free contraceptive implants on distribution days.