First, it's done very early -- up to 9 weeks -- so women can act quickly and get it over with.
It's private. One doesn't necessarily have to go to a special clinic. Any doctor can prescribe the pills. One can even buy them over the Internet to get around idiotic laws.
It's safe and effective.
And it's cheaper than surgical abortion, but still quite a lot of dough to find on short notice.
For all those reasons, zygote zealot are pushing hard to demonize and/or place unnecessary restrictions on the procedure.
Today, there are three stories about medical abortion.
From Prince Edward Island, which anti-choicers like to style as 'North America's lone life sanctuary' because no abortions are done there, comes a story of -- SHRIEEEEEK!-- a woman who had a medical abortion right there in the green little sanctuary.
She found a doctor who wrote the prescription.
So, while the Fetus Lobby is working to out the damn doctor (PEI is a pretty small place after all), the provincial health authority shows no interest in it.
Richard Wedge, acting CEO of Health PEI, said the agency does not track this kind of procedure in the province, but he believes it is uncommon.(By the way, there's a poll at that last link, now running 86% in favour of both surgical and medical abortions being done on the Island.)
"I'm not aware of actually any physicians that are actively promoting this kind of treatment," said Wedge.
"It's quite likely that somebody could learn about it, keep the medications in their office or provide prescriptions for women to go to the stores, but we don't track it and we don't have any organized clinic for medical abortions."
In Ireland, where the Catlick church is having paroxysms over the possible loosening of abortion law in the case of imminent death of the woman, there comes this sad, infuriating tale.
In fact, Claire’s dire financial situation is such that, having decided to end her pregnancy, she quickly discovered that she couldn’t afford the €1,000 cost of travelling to the UK to get one. The only other option for previous generations would have been a backstreet abortion but Claire searched online for a website from which she could buy drugs to induce a medical abortion, and stumbled across a website of a non-profit group that offers assistance to women in countries where abortion is illegal. Completing the online consultation, which is then forwarded to a licensed doctor who makes a decision about whether the drugs (which can only be taken up to nine weeks’ gestation) are a suitable treatment, Claire encountered another problem.Yup. Officials in Ireland go through the mail to seize drugs.
The website no longer posts drugs to Ireland because of the number of seizures by customs officials. Instead, women are advised to have the drugs sent to nearby jurisdictions where they can be collected.
Claire, who was seven weeks’ pregnant, ordered the drugs for €100 [$135 CAD] and had them sent to the North. She collected them on Wednesday and took them at home the next day.
“I felt awful for about three hours — severe cramp and nausea — but then it was over and I felt instant relief,” she said.
In 2009, 1,216 tablets were discovered while this figure dropped to 671 tablets in 2010 and 635 in 2011, although it remains unclear if this fall coincided with the decision of the website to stop delivering to Ireland.That price seems pretty reasonable. In the US, Planned Parenthood says costs range from $300 to $800. That would include consultation and after-care, but still, rather a lot.
So, the Fetus Lobby will go nuts if this proposal in Australia is successful.
The federal government will consider subsidising controversial abortion drugs - allowing women to end pregnancies for as little as $12 [$12 CAD].Twelve bucks.
. . .
Reproductive health group Marie Stopes International Australia has lodged an application with the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) Advisory Committee in the hope the drugs will become taxpayer funded.
Only 187 authorised medical clinics were approved to distribute the two drugs, and campaigners claim the current $300 cost has been prohibitive for many women on lower incomes seeking a non-surgical abortion.
SHRIEEEEEEK!
Image source.
3 comments:
Is there any sort of privacy legislation that might shield or give recourse to the good doctor if his/her identity is uncovered. Is there no protection based on the phrase " . . . between a woman and her doctor." I think that a lot of us conflate the right to privacy with the anonymity we enjoy - they are not the same. While it's easy to skate through life anonymously, we forget that our rights to privacy will need to be defended vigorously and repeatedly (for those inevitable special times).
I'm not sure what the doctor ordered but mifepristone is not available in Canada yet, unfortunately (talking to you Health Canada). And the internet is not recommended as much of it is fake.
"It's quite likely that somebody could learn about it, keep the medications in their office or provide prescriptions for women to go to the stores, but we don't track it and we don't have any organized clinic for medical abortions."
Honestly, officer, I didn't see nuthin.
Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil?
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