When Parliament learned in April that Mifegymiso, or abortion pills, were dispensed more than 4,000 times in Canada last year, abortion advocates celebrated. \u00a0Provinces that do not yet fund the pills are being pressured to do so. Abortion advocates continue to call for fewer restrictions on the pills in hopes that medical abortions will rise next year, and surgical abortions decrease.<\/p>\n

Currently, medical abortions make up only a small percentage of abortions in Canada. They are expected to increase as access to and funding for the abortion pill increases. Changes<\/a> were introduced late last year to allow the drug to be prescribed up to nine weeks into a pregnancy and, as of November 2017, doctors no longer need special training on the drug to be able to dispense it.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A common accusation against pro-lifers is that we care only about babies before they are born \u2013 not women, mothers, or born children. Pro-choice activists talk about the desperation women feel in an unplanned pregnancy and cite drastic, dangerous measures they may take to end their pregnancy if \u201csafe and legal\u201d abortion is not readily available.<\/p>\n

Even if you take no position in the abortion debate, you\u2019ve likely heard stories of coat hangers and back alley<\/a> abortions that make you shudder. As the DC Abortion Fund<\/a> states, \u201cThe coat hanger is a reminder of women\u2019s suffering when abortion is placed out of reach.\u201d Perhaps, like them, you believe that this is sufficient justification for abortion on demand, regardless of whether abortion is morally wrong.<\/p>\n

This is where the discussion gets interesting, because abortion advocates LOVE the abortion pill. This, they say, is the answer to accessibility. Women on Waves<\/a>, which runs an \u201cabortion ship\u201d in international waters and sends drones carrying abortion pills into countries with strict abortion laws, says,<\/a> \u201cWe witness the creation of an underground network of emboldened, informed activists, working at the cutting edge of global reproductive rights, who trust women to handle abortion themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trust women to handle abortion themselves.<\/em><\/p>\n

The same groups that decry restrictions that might drive women to undertake their own abortions are advocating for private, self-administered abortions via pills.<\/p>\n

Mifegymiso\u2019s promoters point to it as the answer for women without the financial means or social support needed to travel for an abortion, take time off work, or arrange care for other children. The abortion pill allows every woman to access an abortion from her family doctor, her pharmacist, a walk-in clinic, or even over the phone or internet<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Its promoters see only \u201cbarriers to access\u201d in things like mandatory ultrasounds to determine the gestational age of the child or mandatory training for medical professionals on the risks of the drug. But the \u201crestrictions\u201d are designed to protect women\u2019s health and safety.<\/p>\n

If the pregnancy is too far along, the pills can cause hemorrhaging or other complications<\/a>. Why would you take the risk of skipping a dating ultrasound if you truly cared about the mother\u2019s best interests? The pill\u2019s advocates claim such \u201cbarriers\u201d would stall access for women in remote areas. But these are the same women who will have the least access to emergency medical care when complications occur. Convenience, cost and accessibility do not trump safety and accountability. No one is suggesting everyone in remote areas be allowed to self-prescribe penicillin for their own ear infections, despite how convenient that would be.<\/p>\n

Requiring special training for doctors ensured that they could properly inform their patients. Fully informing them should include telling them about the abortion reversal pill<\/a>, should they change their mind. Instead, Mifegymiso\u2019s promoters favour access without properly trained personnel, fully informed patients, or even a face to face visit with the doctor.<\/p>\n

Essentially, abortion advocates support a return to secretive, do-it-yourself abortions. A Vancouver clinic<\/a>, for example, promotes the abortion pills as a way to pass off your at-home abortion as a miscarriage to others. Though abortion advocates encourage people to break stigma by sharing<\/a> their abortion stories with pride, they cannot help but recognize the reality that most women have a natural desire to hide their \u201cchoice\u201d of abortion.<\/p>\n

As Frederica Matthewes-Green said, “There is a tremendous sadness and loneliness in the cry \u2018A woman\u2019s right to choose.\u2019 No one wants an abortion as she wants an ice-cream cone or a Porsche. She wants an abortion as an animal, caught in a trap, wants to gnaw off its own leg.”<\/p>\n

The advocacy efforts of pro-lifers don\u2019t promote back alley abortions or encourage desperate women to procure their own abortion. Quite the opposite \u2013 it\u2019s the promoters of\u00a0abortion pills who are encouraging a climate of secrecy and shame. Meanwhile, we\u00a0as a pro-life movement will\u00a0continue advocating for women, seeking out long-term social and financial support that enable a woman to mother confidently and securely, and advancing laws that respect the inherent value of life from its earliest stages.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Parliament learned in April that Mifegymiso, or abortion pills, were dispensed more than 4,000 times in Canada last year, abortion advocates celebrated. \u00a0Provinces that do not yet fund the pills are being pressured to do so. Abortion advocates continue to call for fewer restrictions on the pills in hopes that medical abortions will rise […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3014,"featured_media":726,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[281,284,282,322],"tags":[79,759,761,219,200,760],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.weneedalaw.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2667"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.weneedalaw.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.weneedalaw.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.weneedalaw.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3014"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.weneedalaw.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2667"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/test.weneedalaw.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2667\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2669,"href":"https:\/\/test.weneedalaw.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2667\/revisions\/2669"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.weneedalaw.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.weneedalaw.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.weneedalaw.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.weneedalaw.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}