The article centers around a woman referred to as “Kate” and her experience turning towards methods against the law in the process of terminating her unwanted pregnancy. Neither Kate nor her boyfriend were at the place mentally nor financially to support the child. Kate called the nearest abortion clinic in her state and the attendant explained to her the options for terminating a pregnancy less than 10 weeks in, the process being a dose of a drug called mifepristone to be taken at the clinic and another dose of a different medication, misoprostol, to be taken at home with a total cost of $800 that Kate could not pay. Not being able to go to the clinic, Kate decided to terminate the pregnancy on her own without assistance from a medical professional. Kate used a website called Aid Access founded by the Dutch Dr. Rebecca Gomperts to purchase pills to terminate her pregnancy. The Aid Access website has given poor women across the US access to the abortion that was previously hidden behind many obstacles whether it be stemming from a financial standpoint or from the restrictions in their state. Upon receiving the kit, Kate successfully terminated her pregnancy. The article concludes with statistics about the drug that Kate illegally purchased, the same drug that is used in abortion clinics, stating that there have only been 19 deaths reported to the FDA out of the more than three million women in the US who have used mifepristone to terminate a pregnancy followed up by a quote from the New England Journal of Medicine, “Pregnancy-related death…is 14 times higher.”
A hot political discussion is one that focuses on the possibility that Roe v Wade might be overturned and the decision is left up to the states, which will likely force many women to turn to alternative methods in terminating their pregnancies. Services like Women on Web and Aid access, both founded by Rebecca Gomperts have been studied and ruled safe by several organizations. Many women who do not have the financial access to an abortion by a clinic should know about their options which is why it important that Roe v Wade is not overturned because it will likely take away the options for many women. In the case that Roe v Wade is overturned, which in my eyes looks very likely, women need to know what safe and inexpensive options they have, those like Women on Web and the newly introduced Aid Access.
Reading the overview of this article, I am surprised to learn that having 19 people die is consisdered a low number, along with the fact that proper pregnancy related death surpass that at triple the rate when using the abortion pills. I would like to hear if you could make a comparison to a historical event.
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