Is it Safe to Induce an At-Home Abortion?
Lately there’s been a lot of talk about how to induce an at-home abortion. On social media platforms like Tumblr and Reddit, people share ways to perform at home abortions such as performing menstrual extraction or sharing herbal remedy abortion information. So let's keep the convo going. Is there any safe way to do it? Is it legal? Why are women doing it?
By Woodbury Options for Women Staff - 04.03.2020
First of all, why are women attempting to perform a medical procedure by themselves?
Many women state that it is because the prices of abortions are outrageous. Other women do it because abortion restriction laws are making it more difficult to obtain one. Others say that they prefer the comfort and anonymity of doing it in their own homes. Got it. Let’s talk about legality.
Legality is tricky.
There are some ways to do it legally. However, the commonly associated forms of ‘at-home abortions’ are illegal. In this article we are speaking specifically about ‘home-made’ abortions that women attempt without a prescription. So we’re talking about herbal remedies, alcohol or drug consumption, consuming excessive amounts of vitamins, or inserting dangerous objects such as broken glass bottles or knitting needles into the uterus in an attempt to end the pregnancy.
Now the most important question, is it safe???
Spoiler alert: No.
According to the World Health Organization, nearly 70,000 women die each year due to unsafe abortion. Medical News Today and the World Health Organization warn of the serious risks associated with inducing at-home abortions:
Incomplete abortion
Toxicity (from things like consuming excessive amount of herbal remedies)
Hemorrhaging
Infection
Scarring
Uterine perforation (caused when the uterus is pierced by a sharp object)
Damage to the genital tract and internal organs by inserting dangerous objects such as sticks, knitting needles, or broken glass into the vagina or anus. (WHO, 2020 & Leonard, 2020)
In commenting about the safety of using at-home abortion kits called ‘aspiration kits’, Dr. Brian Levine, Ob/GYN states that though using it “might seem appealing to some women, it is far too risky.” (Grant, 2016)
Dr. Levine goes on to say that "This is a serious medical procedure with serious ramifications if not done correctly…Any time you are instrumenting anything into the uterus, you put yourself at risk of perforation, of bleeding and hemorrhage, of infection, of sterility. It is not something to experiment with. I think the women who say it's safe to do at home are overstating their capabilities."