Safety of Abortifacients by Mail Focus of Recent Study

New York Times (Nov. 10, 2016):  A Study Tests the Safety of Women Using Abortion Pills Sent by Mail, by Phil Galewitz:

The idea of giving more women access to abortion care by delivering medication through the mail without an in-person visit to a physician is an idea grounded helping women obtain birth control more easily.  "Australia and the Canadian province of British Columbia allow women to get abortion pills by mail after consulting with a physician or other health care provider via phone or the internet. Several international organizations offer mail service in countries where abortion is otherwise unavailable or severely restricted."  There is no such service in the United States.  The Food and Drug Administration prohibits pharmacies from filling prescriptions for the most common medical abortifacient mifepristone.  It must be procured directly from a clinic that stocks the drug.

A research effort permitted by the Food and Drug Administration is being conducted in Hawaii, New York, Oregon and Washington to evaluate the safety of medical abortion by mail.  91% of women surveyed reported that they did not have any complications and would recommend the service to a friend.  Women who use telemedicine and receive abortion medication by mail report a great sense of well being having control over the abortion decision and being able to conduct a medical abortion on their own time and in the privacy of their own home. 

Abortion foes, who have been up in arms about the mail-order medical abortion experiment, have raised a hue and cry over its safety.  Of course, the mail-order alternative does not entirely remove doctors and nurses from the equation.  A woman who wishes to receive abortion medication by mail must first consult with a physician and submit to an ultrasound and blood work.  Follow-up care includes an ultrasound to confirm that the abortion is complete a phone consultation to go over the results.        

Even if the study supports wider access to abortion via telemedicine, nineteen states nonetheless ban the method, requiring a physician to be physically present when consulting with a women on abortion.