How to Get a Safe Abortion in the Mail
Termination pills are safe, effective, and legal , but can be difficult to obtain in many parts of the United States. For the first time, an online service is making tablets directly available on the Internet through a loophole they say is legal in the US.
The service is called Aid Access . Its subsidiary, Women on Web, has long consulted and delivered pills to countries where abortion is even more difficult than the United States. But The Atlantic reports that the founder of the group launched a separate service for US users because it was “inundated with requests” from people in the US who cannot access drugs. (The FDA has limited the number of pharmacies, and many state laws place an additional burden on patients, often requiring travel, additional costs, and absence from work.)
The process of using the pill is quite simple and you can read about it in detail at abortionpillinfo.org or plancpills.org . The pill usually causes miscarriage and is safe for most pregnancies up to 10 weeks. If you are using Aid Access, your doctor can help you find out if the pills are right for your pregnancy and you can ask questions during the process.
Aid Access is operated by a Dutch doctor who sends your prescription to a pharmacy in India. The pharmacy sends the pills to your home. Here is a “gray area” in the legislation: the FDA turns a blind eye to the “personal import” of drugs. The policy is designed to allow patients to access certain unapproved drugs or to continue treatment started in another country . It is unclear how the FDA or US Customs will respond to a one-off import of legal, approved abortion pills in this particular scenario, so at this stage we are not saying that you should try this. But this seems to be an option worth knowing about.