Catholic Medical Quarterly Volume 68(3) August 2018
News
Is Medical Abortion Really Acceptable Medicine?
The Women's Equality Party launched a new campaign in February calling for the second pill in a medical abortion to be available to be taken at home. To promote their campaign they told this story from Claudia Craig, a 23 year old woman.
The reality of “medical” abortion
"One year ago I took Misoprostol to terminate a pregnancy," she writes. "By law I had to take the pill at the hospital. I had no idea how quickly it would take effect. I was lucky I had enough money for a taxi - it was a 15 minute drive, but in those 15 minutes I turned pale green and could feel the process starting. I was counting down the seconds until I arrived home. I collapsed almost as soon as I got inside and started vomiting and miscarrying on the bathroom floor."
This story is the centrepiece of a campaign to enable women to have abortions in their own homes. We feel bound to ask if the supporters of abortion have lost touch with reality. Surely abortion is an awful thing and an awful experience for women. To be campaigning for that to be done at home, alone and without support is simply outside of what would be acceptable medical practice in any other branch of medicine.