HEALTH COACH - Women safely take abortion pills at home, online consulting

HEALTH COACH -

 Women safely take abortion pills at home, online consulting  

 Medical abortions performed at home with online help and mail-in pills appear to be as safe as those performed in a clinic, according to a new study. 







 The research tracked the results of 1,000 women in Ireland and Northern Ireland who used a website led by a group called Women on Web to get abortion pills. 







 
 
 The Netherlands-based nonprofit organization provides counseling and pills to women seeking early abortion in more than 140 countries where access to abortion Is restricted. Ireland and Northern Ireland possess some of the toughest laws in the world, often only granting approval when the life of a woman is threatened. 







 To use the service, women complete an online form, which is examined by a doctor. They are sent two medications by mail - mifepristone and misoprostol - and gives instructions on how to take the pills, which have been used since 1988 to cause early abortions. They are then asked to complete an evaluation form. 







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 About 95 percent of study women reported successfully terminating their pregnancy; Almost all had less than nine weeks of pregnancy at the time of online consultation. The researchers reported that less than 10 percent reported symptoms of a potentially serious complication, such as very heavy bleeding, fever or persistent pain, comparable to rates for women seeking medical abortions in Clinics where abortion is legal. 







 Seven women needed a blood transfusion and 26 received antibiotics. No deaths have been reported. Follow-up information was missing about one-third of the 1,636 women who received pills for three years, so some complications may have been missed. 







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 The study was published Tuesday in the British newspaper The BMJ. Women on Web provided patient data and comments for the study; Two of the authors are affiliated to the group. Over the past decade, the group has assisted about 50,000 women with medical abortion at home. 







 "We now have evidence that self-managed medical abortion that is entirely outside the formal health care system can be safe and effective," said Dr. Abigail Aiken, University of Texas at Austin, who conducted the study. 







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 "Women are very capable of managing their own abortions and they can determine when they need to see a doctor." 







 Other experts agreed that the study should show how women could safely bypass restrictions on abortion. 







 "This undermines the effectiveness of these laws and leaves them inapplicable," said Bernard Dickens, Professor Emeritus of Health Policy and Law at the University of Toronto, who co-authored Accompanying commentary. He cited a number of legal flaws that would make it difficult to prosecute people who help women with an abortion at home. 







   " Women are very capable of managing their own abortions and they can determine when they need to be treated." 
 
 Aiken said the website does not work in the US, but that a study on telemedicine of the pill against abortion is underway. 







 Linda Kavanath, a spokesperson for the Irish Abortion Rights Campaign, said women should be reassured about the safety of medical abortion on their own, A prison sentence of 14 years in Ireland has had a cooling effect. 







 "These services will exist until the legislation is changed to grant women access to abortion," she said. "Women will always find a way of abortion and we are lucky that these methods of safety exist now."