Anti-abortion Laws prove to be dangerous

Women in more than 70 countries, especially those living in countries with tight restrictions, are using the Internet to obtain pills for do-it-yourself abortions, according to a study published this week in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

The study looked at women across the world who used the Web site, Women on Web, which is available in five languages and offers the abortion drugs mifepristone and misoprostol. Mifepristone is sold in the U.S. as RU-486 and misoprostol is sold as Cytotec and is commonly used for the prevention of gastrointestinal bleeding in the U.S.

The site says ingesting a combination of pills containing these two ingredients causes the non-surgical termination of a pregnancy and can be used up to the ninth week of pregnancy.

Although the site claims to help women "gain access to a safe abortion with pills in order to reduce the number of deaths due to unsafe abortions," the study found some troubling results.

Eleven percent of 400 customers studied went on to need a surgical procedure after taking the two drugs obtained on the Web site, 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 percent said they were just grateful to have been able to have an abortion in this way with 30 percent finding it stressful but an acceptable experience.

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