Abortion pills are safe, effective, and legal, but in many parts of the US it can be difficult to actually get your hands on them. For the first time, an online service is making the pills directly available online, through a loophole that they say is legal in the US.
The service is called Aid Access. Its sister organization, Women on Web, has long provided consultations and shipping pills to countries where abortions are even harder to access than the US. But the Atlantic reports that the group’s founder has started a separate service for US users, because she’s been “inundated with requests” from people in the US who can’t access the drugs. (The FDA has restricted which pharmacies can provide it, and many states’ laws place extra burdens on patients that often require travel, extra expense, and time off work.)
The process of using the pills is fairly simple, and you can read about it in detail at abortionpillinfo.org or plancpills.org. Basically, the pills induce a miscarriage, and they are safe in most pregnancies up to 10 weeks. If you use Aid Access, the doctor will help you figure out if the pills are appropriate for your pregnancy, and you can ask questions during the process.
Aid Access is run by a Dutch doctor, who sends your prescription to a pharmacy in India. The pharmacy ships the pills to your home. Here’s the legal gray area: the FDA turns a blind eye to “personal importation” of drugs. The policy is intended to allow patients to access certain unapproved drugs or to continue care that was begun in another country. It’s not clear how the FDA or US customs would react to one-off importations of legal, approved abortion pills in this specific scenario, so at this point we’re not saying you should try it. But it seems to be an option worth knowing about.