Misoprostol, the abortion pill and latest panic
The New York Times waxes, well, something, about a pill that seem to be an abortion pill when used "off-label" by Dominican women:
www.nytimes.com/2009/01/05/nyregion/05abortion.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&em
It was 12 years ago, but the memory remains vivid: She was handed a packet of pills. They were small and white, $30 for 12. Ms. Dominguez, two or three months pregnant, went to a friend’s apartment and swallowed the pills one by one, washing them down with malta, a molasseslike extract sold in nearly every bodega in the neighborhood. The cramps began several hours later, doubling Ms. Dominguez over, building and building until, eight and a half hours later, she locked herself in the bathroom and passed a lifeless fetus, which she flushed. The pills were misoprostol [cytotec], a prescription drug that is approved by the Food and Drug Administration for reducing gastric ulcers and that researchers say is commonly, though illegally, used within the Dominican community to induce abortion. Two new studies by reproductive-health providers suggest that improper use of such drugs is one of myriad methods, including questionable homemade potions, frequently employed in attempts to end pregnancies by women from fervently anti-abortion cultures despite the widespread availability of safe, legal and inexpensive abortions in clinics and hospitals. [emphasis mine]But then they write:
Ms. Dominguez, for her part, said she had no insurance or money to pay for an abortion, and could not fathom getting one for fear her mother would find out. One of her friends had spent $1,200 on an abortion that left her with a uterine infection, and another friend endured the procedure without anesthesia, she said.So safe, legal and inexpensive abortions cost $1,200? Wow, glad they're not expensive or anything. Fortunately we have it under control:
In 2007 in Massachusetts, an 18-year-old Dominican immigrant named Amber Abreu took misoprostol in her 25th week of pregnancy and gave birth to a 1-pound baby girl who died four days later; a judge sentenced her in June to probation and ordered her into therapy. In South Carolina in February, a Mexican migrant farm worker, Gabriela Flores, pleaded guilty to illegally performing an abortion and was sentenced to 90 days in jail for taking misoprostol while four months pregnant in 2004.I guess women being punished for seeking abortion is happening after all. Not the murder penalty some would like, but maybe this will teach them.
Washington Heights is a tightknit community where abortion — as well as birth control — is shunned; if Ms. Dominguez were spotted entering a clinic, rumors could fly.In fact, because abortion doctors can't be there every day, there are "abortion days" such that women who go to the Planned Parenthood clinic on those days are known to probably be getting abortion rather than birth control or "well-woman" services. I was lucky enough to have to go on one of those days back in the day, because of my weird schedule, for not-an-abortion, and got heckled.
That's good information!
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Just for readers' information -- I checked the above link, because it seems like those "great site" spam links.
But that website looks to have good information. I especially liked this article:
http://www.thesignsofpregnancy.com/female-condom/
about the female condom, complete with demonstration on how to use it.
Thanks, AbortionPill!
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I've read the article and liked the idea. Though I am not sure it is comfortable for a woman. I searched for additional info on this topic at http://www.rapidsharemix.com but didn't find much. Perhaps I need to search somewhere else. I am particularly interested in the effectiveness of this method.
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janetta, I think Google would work better than that spam link! Nice try.
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I am not pro abortion nor against it. I think it's every woman's right to chose weather she wants to keep a child or not. But taking ulcer pills to induce it seems barbaric. Which is the extent of religious indoctrination you can reach in order to risk your life just to keep an abortion secret?
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I guess women being punished for seeking abortion is happening after all. Not the murder penalty some would like, but maybe this will teach them.
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Underground Guitarist, apologies for not activating your comment until now. For some reason it ended up in the spam filter with the Rolex watches.
Obviously, I disagree with you.
I am surprised that you are one of those who actually does think that women seeking abortion should be punished -- most of those who oppose abortion are nonplussed when asked what penalty those women should face.
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actually the people who make abortion pills should be punished,because they are the ones who are marketing the products,if they wont make any pills then females wont be able to take them,so no killing.
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That would imply that the correct punishment for murder is imprisoning the people who make the bullets.
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Not the murder penalty some would like, but maybe this will teach them.
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