THE ABORTION PILL: What Do We Actually Know and Why Should we be Concerned?

The abortion pill accounted for 53% of abortions in the US in 2020. However, the current movement in the abortion industry to move away from surgical to chemical abortions is puzzling. Self-administered chemical abortions, such as the abortion pill, remove the women from professional environments such as hospitals, in which they are more likely to receive proper care, and life saving attention if necessary. Chemical abortions, which women often perform alone in their homes, seem more similar to dangerous ‘backstreet’ abortions that the abortion industry was apparently desperate to get away from. These chemical abortions that isolate women must be explored and defended by the abortion industry before they are labeled as ‘safe’. 

Who invented the abortion pill?

The history of the abortion pill is grim. In a full report about the pill, LiveAction states that Dr Etienne-Emilie Baulieu, who was looking for an abortifacient and first developed the abortion pill, advocated RU-486 (the original name of the progesterone blocker) to be “contragestive,” and a once- a-month pill to replace birth control. Baulie said women in the “Third World” would be the “main target.” But eventually, “it could be used protectively in developed nations, like a monthly contraceptive pill.” Ron Weddington, who served as a co-counsel in Roe v. Wade, revealed that he had been discussing setting up a non-profit organization to license and distribute the abortion pill, saying “26 million food stamp recipients is more than the economy can stand.” Weddington then joked about sending “dart guns [of birth control] to the ghetto.” The origins of the abortion pill, and its purpose of targeting poorer women and reducing the population do not corroborate well with the line that it empowers women. 

What is the abortion pill? 

The abortion pill is often distributed over the counter or through the mail, or after an in office consultation with a doctor. This is marketed by the pro-abortion industry as more convenient and comfortable for women, however it is somewhat disturbing that a woman can perform an abortion without medical attention or advice, and immediate access to medical care if something goes wrong. The abortion pill is distinct from the morning after pill, and usually a two step process. The first pill blocks the hormone progesterone from going to the baby, effectively starving it, and the second pill, taken 6-48 hours later, induces contractions which expel the baby from the women’s body. 

What are the effects of the abortion pill?

Hemorrhaging is not uncommon, with 16% of women from a study in Finland experiencing serious hemorrhaging, and 7% from the same study experiencing an incomplete abortion. Even if the abortion proceeds as expected, the results are far from pleasant. Most women experience abdominal pain, bleed for 9-16 days, and still need to deliver the remains of their small baby. 8% of women bleed for more than 30 days, and 1% require medical intervention. Since 2000, there have been 28 reported deaths caused by the abortion pill. 

Personal experiences

Many women regret their use of the abortion pill, and suffer trauma from this experience. LiveAction released a series of videos sharing individual women’s experiences with the abortion pill. One woman, Natalia, shares that “When it first started happening, it felt like being stabbed in the stomach. And I looked down and saw him. It was (like) a baby.” Other women report amounts of bleeding “like a horror movie”. 

These are all cases of women choosing to use the abortion pill. How much more horrifying and dangerous then, are the cases in which women have been unknowingly poisoned by the pill. There are many cases, and probably many more unreported ones, of boyfriends sneaking abortion pills in their pregnant girlfriends drink, or telling them they are iron pills or other supplements. This is the kind of abuse and exploitation that the abortion pill enables.

Like any other medication with dangerous and life-threatening results, access to the abortion pill should be seriously reconsidered by medical professionals in our country. It serves to isolate women, and have them go through the traumatic experience of abortion often alone and unprepared. The abortion pill’s side effects are often not fully disclosed, and it can be used against women to terminate their pregnancies against their will. This is not a pro-women pill. 

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Sources:

https://www.liveaction.org/post-abortive-women-share-traumatic-abortion-pill-stories

https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/abortion-pill-misoprostol-boyfriend-arrested-pregnant-girlfriend/#textWATERTOWN202D20A20Massachusetts20man20hasordered20held20on20241002C00020bail