USA – To Make a Documentary About Abortion, They Had to Fight the Right’s War on Information

The experience was not unlike the obstacles abortion providers face.

JULIANNE MCSHANE,  Mother Jones
Nov 17, 2023

In 2019, when Tracy Droz Tragos started filming Plan C, her new documentary about a network of activists and medical providers helping Americans access abortion pills—which are approved by the FDA but restricted in some states—she knew some people might see it as a touchy subject. But she didn’t expect she’d have to fight to find a home for the film—or that she’d come up against the same barriers as some of the activists she followed.

“It was not easy to get this out,” Droz Tragos said of the film on a Zoom call this week.

Continued: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/11/plan-c-abortion-documentary-streaming/


‘I feel called to do this’: US providers sending abortion medication by mail

The documentary Plan C embeds with the organization sending FDA-approved abortion pills to recipients in all 50 states

Adrian Horton
Thu 9 Nov 2023

The question of why hangs over Plan C, a new documentary on efforts to expand access to medication abortion in the United States. Why seek a medication abortion? Because it’s safe, says one woman. (The two-pill combination of mifepristone and misoprostol, both certified by the FDA, are approved for the termination of pregnancy in the first trimester in 90 countries, although its use is severely restricted in the US.)

Because of the comfort and safety of being in one’s own home, says another in a montage of phone calls seeking medication abortion by mail. Because the fear of facing screaming protesters at clinics, because her family’s military doctor refused to tie her tubes at 24, because “I felt more comfortable doing this at my own pace, at my own time”.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/nov/09/plan-c-documentary-mail-abortion-pill-ban


USA: Exploring the Feasibility of Obtaining Mifepristone and Misoprostol from the Internet

ABSTRACT

Objectives.
We aimed to document the experience of buying abortion pills from online vendors that do not require a prescription and to evaluate the active ingredient content of the pills received. Study Design. We searched the internet to identify a convenience sample of websites that sold mifepristone and misoprostol to purchasers in the United States and attempted to order these products. We documented price, shipping time and other aspects of ordering. We sent the samples received to a testing laboratory that measured the amount of active ingredient in individual tablets.

Results. We identified 20 websites and ordered 22 products: 20 mifepristone-misoprostol combination products and two that contained only misoprostol. We received 18 combination products and the two misoprostol products from 16 different sites. No site required a prescription or any relevant medical information. The time between order and receipt of the 20 products ranged from 3-21 business days (median 9.5 days). The price for the 18 combination products ranged from $110 to $360, including shipping and fees; the products without mifepristone cost less. Chemical assays found that the 18 tablets labeled 200 mg mifepristone contained between 184.3 mg and 204.1 mg mifepristone, while the 20 tablets labeled 200 mcg misoprostol contained between 34.1 mcg and 201.4 mcg of the active ingredient.

Conclusions. Obtaining abortion medications from online pharmaceutical websites is feasible in the US. The mifepristone tablets received contained within 8% of the labeled amount of active agent. The misoprostol tablets all contained that compound but usually less than labeled.

IMPLICATIONS STATEMENT
Given our findings, we expect that some people for whom clinic-based abortion is not easily available or acceptable may consider self-sourcing pills from the internet to be a rational option.

Continued at source: http://www.contraceptionjournal.org/pb/assets/raw/Health%20Advance/journals/contra/CON_8985.pdf

See also this Commentary: http://www.contraceptionjournal.org/pb/assets/raw/Health%20Advance/journals/contra/CON_8984.pdf