Telemedicine Abortion Could Save Lives During the COVID-19 Pandemic
ZawnVillines
Thursday April 16, 2020
Telemedicine abortion for early pregnancy is safe and technically feasible. Yet states across the nation have moved to ban remote abortion services. Many of the same states that ban telemedicine abortion have also capitalized on the COVID-19 crisis to close abortion clinics, endangering the lives and health of pregnant people.
Is Telemedicine Abortion Safe?
Telemedicine abortion might seem like an odd concept, especially to people who conceive of abortion as a surgical procedure. But the approval of medication abortions revolutionized pregnancy terminations. Fully 40% of abortions in the U.S. happen via pill. Most experts say the figure would be even higher if the FDA relaxed politically motivated restrictions on the abortion pill. In Europe, between 60 and 90% of abortions occur via pill.