New Zealand officials have launched a telephone hotline and website designated to provide the abortion pill for women who want to carry out DIY chemical abortions at home. Titled “DECIDE,” the initiative bills itself as “the place for information about abortion services.”
The pro-life organization Voice for Life reports that the 800-number allows women to call and have abortion pills delivered directly to their homes, at no cost to New Zealand residents. As the organization notes, this opens the door to a number of problems, including the fact that minors could order the pills without parental knowledge, or women could be coerced into ordering the pills. Another danger is that men could order pills and then slip those pills into a pregnant woman’s drink — something has already allegedly happened elsewhere, multiple times.
The abortion pill procedure begins when a woman takes mifepristone, which blocks progesterone and causes the lining of her uterus to break down, starving the baby of the nutrients he needs to survive. Typically 24-48 hours later (though sometimes sooner), she takes misoprostol, which triggers contractions and bleeding and causes her to deliver the baby. Complications are many and can include severe cramping, contractions, heavy bleeding, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, and headaches. This process has been found to be four times more dangerous than a first-trimester surgical abortion.
One of the biggest concerns with DIY mail-order abortion pills is that women take the pills without medical oversight. Without an in-person physical examination, there is no way of knowing the woman’s true gestational age, or whether or not she has an ectopic pregnancy. Taking the abortion pill past 10 weeks gestation increases the risks of complications; two women in the United Kingdom died after taking the mail-order abortion pill past the recommended time period. A lawsuit currently underway against a Planned Parenthood facility alleges that staff prescribed a woman the abortion pill, despite the fact that she was in her third trimester of pregnancy. She gave birth at home to a stillborn 30 to 36 week baby, leaving her shocked and traumatized.
New Zealand’s “DECIDE” initiative is blatant government promotion of abortion, offering an overwhelming amount of pro-abortion propaganda without any real advice or help for women who want to continue their pregnancy and are looking for the resources to do so. It’s yet another example of the push for abortion worldwide without any regard for even the health or well-being of pregnant women.
