Women on Web starts providing abortion pills in advance

How to Keep Your Abortion Private

Police in states with strict abortion laws or abortion bans could access phones and computers, and use surveillance technologies, to investigate people receiving, or helping others to receive, abortion care. Your personal devices – including your phone, tablet, and computer – and the apps and websites you use collect information about you. Companies often store this information so that their services function properly, but they may also sell your data to advertisers or share it with law enforcement during an investigation.

We’ll show you how to limit the sensitive information you share online, as well as how to control the way your abortion data links to your identity. Here are 11 steps on how you can keep your abortion private.

Women on Web, an international telemedicine abortion service, opens a new service that enables women to request abortion pills before an unwanted pregnancy

With the help of this new service, women can request abortion pills in advance and take them as soon as they discover they are pregnant. Women on Web's medical team will prescribe the abortion pills to people who are not yet pregnant but who anticipate that they may need them in the future.

“Abortion pills are an important family planning tool. Having a solution in your medicine cabinet before you are pregnant is a way to feel more protected and prepared. Advance access to abortion pills is especially important for anyone living in a country or community where access to abortion is restricted or limited, or for anyone who considers themselves at high risk of an unwanted pregnancy”, Venny Ala-Siurua, Executive Director, WoW

Today, 41 percent of women of reproductive age live in countries under restrictive abortion laws. Advance access to the medicines mitigates the impact of legal restrictions, unnecessary medical requirements, and other financial and logistical access barriers. It expands the window of care and enables women to access abortions faster and therefore have safer pregnancy terminations in the earliest gestations.

How does it work?

Women can make a request on Women on Web’s website by completing an online consultation that is reviewed by our medical team to detect any contraindications to taking the medicines. Once the request is approved, the medicines will be mailed to your home address in a discreet package. Everyone using the service will receive instructions on how to use the medicines and they will be asked to get in touch with Women on Web when they are ready to take them. Our medical team and help desk are available for questions 7 days a week.

Medical abortion is a protocol that involves taking two different drugs, Mifepristone and Misoprostol, and is a safe and highly effective method to end an early pregnancy, endorsed and recommended by the World Health Organization. With good information and instructions, women can manage their abortions in the privacy of their own home, with very low risk of complications.

Many women prefer taking abortion medications outside a formal medical setting for a range of reasons, including increased privacy, control over the process, and easier access, especially for those who live in remote areas.

About Women on Web

Since 2006, Women on Web has provided over 100,000 medical abortion services in almost 200 countries. Our mission is to provide accessible and dignified abortion care that meets the needs, rights, and autonomy of women and pregnant people. We are committed to advancing a future where at-home abortions are common, where health providers work as supportive partners in abortion self-care, and where abortion pills are available over the counter.

We have watched how our telemedicine service has impacted people, policies, and legislation worldwide. Advance provision is the next step to make abortion access as easy as possible and enable people to access abortions on their own terms.

Women on Web is available to all people who need help ending unwanted pregnancies. We are committed to ensuring that everyone, including trans, non-binary, genderqueer, and gender non-conforming people can safely access abortion with respect and dignity.