FDA Investigating Mail-Order Abortion Pill Company as Access Grows
This week, news outlets like The Daily Beast and Vox reported that an abortion pill ordering service called Aid Access is being investigated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Aid Access is a six-month-old online company started by a Dutch physician named Rebecca Gomperts. They “support women who are not able to access local services” by allowing them to do an online consultation and, if they qualify, receive abortion pills in the mail, provided their pregnancy is at about 9 weeks or younger.
The startup’s site is full of typical jargon: “For many women, girls and trans men it is very difficult to access abortion care because of the cost of abortion, mandatory 24-72 hour waiting periods, the requirement of parental consent for minors, or the fact that clinics have been forced to close completely…Aid Access supports women who cannot otherwise access an abortion and protects their human rights.” . . .
Pill-induced (also called medical) abortions are increasingly sought after, especially in states where the nearest abortion clinic is difficult to get to. They can be obtained up to about 10 weeks’ gestation using a two-drug combination of mifepristone and misoprostol that’s widely deemed safe if administered correctly to women experiencing normal pregnancies (although the two-drug combo can be quite dangerous, for example, to women with ectopic pregnancies, and online services like Aid Access do not require physician supervision for administering the meds).
Online pill abortion delivery services are legally suspect in the United States, so Aid Access obtains their pills from pharmacies in India. Thus far, the FDA has not found significant issues with adulteration of the pills. Still, the agency is concerned about the group’s sourcing of their drugs, since mifepristone has been linked to 22 deaths to date. It’s unclear how these deaths occurred and why people aren’t more alarmed by them. (Read more from “FDA Investigating Mail-Order Abortion Pill Company as Access Grows” HERE)
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