In the wake of Texas passing the most restrictive abortion measures in the country, many health experts are worried that low-income women may travel to Mexico for “abortion pills.”
According to a report from the New York Times, women commonly request abortion-inducing pills from Mexican pharmacists, which are openly available in Mexico for as little as $35. The pills are also reportedly available in Texas flea markets. However, the concern that health experts have is that no medical advice is usually accompanied with these kinds of purchases.
Under the proper care, misoprostol, which causes uterine contractions and cervical dilation, induces a miscarriage about 85 percent of the time. But when this method is sought out in an environment lacking medical professionals, experts agree that women can be subject to incorrect advice on dosage, which in turn can cause serious bleeding or a “partial miscarriage.”
Erick Eckholm of the Times writes:
Lacking health insurance or fearing the stigma of being seen at an abortion clinic, thousands of Texas residents every year are already making covert use of this pill or trying other methods to induce abortions on their own, according to Dr. Dan Grossman, an obstetrician in the San Francisco Bay Area and vice president of Ibis Reproductive Health, a nonprofit research group.
The law recently passed in Texas will undoubtedly cause most abortion clinics in the state to close, leaving them open to financial pressure that critics say are designed to to force their shutting down. The new law also requires that drug-induced abortions be performed at surgery centers, with the medication being administered at “outdated” dosages, according to medical experts.
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