THE CONUNDRUM WITH “DO IT YOURSELF” ABORTION PILLS
Every individual has the right to freely and responsibly decide the highest standard of sexual and reproductive health. Despite legalization of abortion, over the counter illegal sale and unsupervised self-administration of abortion pills has shown a rapid spurt in recent time in spite of the legal ban on over-the-counter sale. “DIY” abortion is when a person performs their own abortion outside of a medical setting. This rising phenomenon endangers the woman’s life. Medical abortion is a safe method of termination of pregnancy when performed as per guidelines. Legalization of abortions was done with the aim of reducing maternal death but its very alarming that each year between 4.7% – 13.2% of maternal deaths can be attributed to unsafe abortion. Out of 46 million abortions performed annually, 19 million are estimated to be unsafe. As far as the reason for self-administration of abortion pill is concerned, lack of awareness about the legality of medical abortion is the primary fa...