Abortion Termination Pills Internet Sales | Health | Sky News

Abortion Termination Pills Internet Sales | Health | Sky News: "Abortion Pill Sales Boom Over Net
On Abortion Issues Video

* Baby Survival Spurs Abortion Row 2:19


Abortion Pill Sales Boom Over Net
On Abortion Issues Video

* Baby Survival Spurs Abortion Row 2:19

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12:10pm UK, Friday July 11, 2008
Women living in countries where abortion is restricted - including Northern Ireland - are using the internet to buy abortion pills that allow them to have a termination at home.
Abortion Pill

Women increasingly buy abortion pill over the internet

More than one in 10 customers on one of the most well-known websites needed a surgical procedure after taking the medication, a medical study has found.

Women in more than 70 countries, including Northern Ireland, have used the internet site Women on Web to buy the drugs for £55 a time.

Women on Web is available in five languages and offers the drugs mifepristone and misoprostol; it says a combination of the pills causes the non-surgical termination of a pregnancy and can be used up to the ninth week.

The website says it helps women "gain access to a safe abortion with pills in order to reduce the number of deaths due to unsafe abortions".

But a study in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology found that 11% of 400 customers went on to need a surgical procedure - either because the drugs had not completed the abortion or because of excessive bleeding.

Of 200 women who answered questions about their experiences, almost 60% said they were just grateful to have been able to have an abortion in this way with 30% finding itstressful but an acceptable experience.

Women on Web posts the drugs only to countries where abortion is heavily restricted, and to women who declare they are less than nine weeks' pregnant.

Customers must answer 25 questions before they are allowed to purchase the drugs, and women are advised to have a pregnancy test and an ultrasound if possible.

The website says it is "a digital community of women who have had abortions and individuals and organisations that support abortion rights".

Anti-abortion campaigners have labelled the development "worrying".