Chemical abortion (also known as RU-486, medical abortion, at-home abortion, self-managed abortion, & pill abortion) is marketed as a “quick fix” compared to the much more inconvenient surgical methods of abortion. In brief, women who buy the pills are instructed to take the first one immediately, wait, take the second one, then sit on a toilet and just keep flushing. The problems with chemical abortion are legion. But one that should concern the greatest number of Americans is what harm the drugs can do to women.
1. It could hospitalize you.
The FDA and major medical entities recognize a wide variety of potential side effects that may come with chemical abortion. These include, but are not limited to:
- pain, possibly severe
- heavy and/or prolonged bleeding for multiple weeks
- fever
- infection
- incomplete abortion (requiring surgical follow-up)
- nausea and vomiting
- diarrhea
- feeling dizzy or heaving a headache
- short-lasting hot flashes
- hemorrhage
- blood clots
- undetected ectopic pregnancy, which is life-threatening
Since the chemical abortion regimen was fast-tracked by the FDA in 2000, they have reported 4,207 adverse events, 1,045 hospitalizations, 603 transfusions, 413 infections, and 97 ectopic pregnancies.
A 2018 study in Sweden, where abortion is legal and not altogether controversial, reported:
- Complications occurred in 7.3% of the medical abortions < 12 weeks. Over time, the rate of complications for medical abortions < 12 weeks increased from 4.2% in 2008 to 8.2% in 2015. […] The most common complication (57%) related to medical abortions < 12 weeks was incomplete abortions, which occurred 153 times, comprising 4.1% of all medical abortions.
2. It could sterilize you permanently.
The successful push for no-test chemical abortion (i.e. the sale of abortion pills with no examination or office visit) opens the door for permanent infertility for mothers whose blood type is Rh negative, as well as mothers unknowingly facing an ectopic pregnancy.
On the ramifications of Rh negativity, consider this testimony from SFLA’s Kristi Hamrick:
“My husband and I are polar opposites when it comes to blood. Like 15% of the population, I am Rh negative, whereas he is Rh positive. The first child from that combination is usually fine, but then antibodies build up when blood comes in contact, such as during birth, accident, or abortion. These antibodies can cause later pregnancies to end in tragedy, when the mother’s own antibodies attack the blood cells of children in her womb, often causing death.
There is a solution — injections of Rh immunoglobulin, which stop the mother’s body from making those antibodies. Those shots have saved me from tremendous heartbreak. But timing is everything. They must be administered during pregnancy and right after delivery or following the end of a pregnancy.
The complications of the abortion procedure, whether from surgery or drugs, are dumped on the women who may be risking more than her health and the life a child. The ability to ever have a family may also be on the line — because for an Rh negative woman, unless those antibodies are dealt with immediately, she will carry them forever.“
A similarly harrowing prospect is that of an undiagnosed ectopic pregnancy, which is also entirely plausible without an examination by a doctor. An ectopic pregnancy is also known as a tubal or extrauterine pregnancy and occurs when the newly-conceived human implants somewhere other than the uterus (most commonly, in one of the fallopian tubes).
Ectopic pregnancies are extremely serious. In the female body, only the uterus is designed to successfully house and nourish a growing human being. If the new child implants elsewhere, his or her growth will invariably lead to dire complications such as a burst fallopian tube and internal bleeding. These are genuine “life of the mother” cases.
The longer an ectopic pregnancy goes undiagnosed… the higher the danger for the mother and the more destructive the procedure is to save her. In many cases, doctors must perform surgery, which takes the form of either a salpingostomy or a salpingectomy. The former involves incising a hole into the fallopian tube and removing the blastocyst/embryo. The latter involves removing the entire section of fallopian tube where the new human implanted. This sort of invasive procedure, especially after delay by lack of ultrasound by an abortion pill salesman, can render a woman infertile.
3. It could psychologically traumatize you.
New studies have shown that women who have abortions are 81% more likely to experience subsequent mental health problems:
- Suicide
- Regret
- Substance Abuse
- Sense of loneliness or isolation
- Loss of self-confidence
- Insomnia or nightmares
- Relationship issues
- Depression
Abortion heightens the risk of mental health issues with studies showing that women are34% more likely to develop anxiety disorders,37%more likely to develop depression,110%more likely to rely on alcohol use or abuse,115% more likely to develop suicidal behavior, and 220% more likely to take on marijuana use or abuse.
Data aside, the personal accounts of women who chose chemical abortion are shocking. Women share stories of seeing their babies still alive when they come out at home, debilitating regret, mental breakdowns, and more. Read their stories here.
4. It could enable abuse towards you.
Now that health and safety standards (REMS) have been removed from chemical abortion sales and manufacturers of them are jumping on the post-Roe sales opportunity, it is too easy to procure the drugs. Already, stories of men secretly drugging women with chemical abortion pills were plentiful. And it’s likely to get worse.
Last year, in Japan, an investigation began after 21-year-old Jin Mimae allegedly snuck his 18-year-old girlfriend two separate doses of Mifepristone, the first of the two-drug chemical abortion regimen. The child’s mother was about 5 weeks along and, unsurprisingly, became sick after being unknowingly drugged. The abortion attempt succeeded in October 2020.
Upon his arrest on suspicion of attempted abortion without consent on February 22, Mimae admitted to the allegations. “I didn’t want to marry her,” the suspect was quoted by police. “Because of the current economic conditions, I did not want to raise a child.” He was sent to prosecutors two days later.
This is not the first case, in Japan or any other country, of an abusive man taking advantage of a woman and ending the life of her child without her knowledge. A Wisconsin man was accused of slipping abortion drugs in his pregnant girlfriend’s drink in March 2020. An ex-Trump campaign staffer allegedly did the same in his girlfriend’s drink in September 2018. And a doctor in D.C. allegedly spiked his ex-girlfriend’s drink with the same drug in May 2018; he got 3 years in prison. The stories abound; click HERE to read almost thirty different cases.
5. It could kill you.
The FDA reports that 26 women have died in correlation with chemical abortion since 2000. Deaths were associated with sepsis in eight of the 26 reported fatalities. Seventeen of the 18 remaining U.S. deaths involved two cases of homicide, two cases of combined drug intoxication/overdose, two cases of ruptured ectopic pregnancy, two cases of drug intoxication, and one case each of the following: substance abuse/drug overdose; methadone overdose; suspected homicide; suicide; delayed onset toxic shock-like syndrome; hemorrhage; bilateral pulmonary thromboemboli; unintentional overdose resulting in liver failure; and a case of natural death due to severe pulmonary emphysema. In the eighteenth case, the cause of death could not be established despite performance of an autopsy. There were 12 additional reported deaths in women in foreign countries who used mifepristone.
Regulation of the drugs is abysmal across the board. Abortion facilities nationwide advertise the pills up to varying gestational ages, including those that exceed the FDA’s safety recommendation of 70 days (10 weeks) LMP. If you search “medical abortion” online, you’ll find results containing many different assertions as to the cutoff for “safe” chemical abortion, ranging anywhere from 5 weeks to 15+ weeks.
But, because no one in the entire United States of America wants to be the one that curtails abortion in any way, lest they be deemed a zealot, women are being hurt. And they deserve better.
Have you changed your mind after taking the first abortion pill? Hundreds of babies have been saved by Abortion Pill Reversal. Chat online or call their 24-hour hotline: 1-877-558-0333.