A recent op-ed in Juno News highlighted the connection between abortion pills and human trafficking. A devastating story is shared of a young teenager forced into prostitution, with handlers tracking everything she and the other girls do. This includes tracking periods to keep an eye out for “anything that might interrupt business.” When a period is missed, action is swift. A phone call is made, an address provided, and abortion pills arrive.
Any girl thought to be pregnant – no pregnancy test, doctor appointment, or ultrasound needed – is given the pills and watched to ensure they take them. There is no follow-up care, only a quick turnaround expected to get back to work.
Advocates for the abortion pill repeatedly push for easier access, working to eliminate steps such as mandatory ultrasounds and doctor appointments. These safeguards, though, are needed to protect women. We already know that abortion pills kill pre-born human beings, and there are no safeguards for them. But also removing important safeguards for women in the name of ease of access shows a further callous disregard for human well-being.
Doctor appointments are an important opportunity to screen for abuse or coercion. Ultrasounds are essential for dating accuracy, as the abortion pills are approved by Health Canada for use in the first nine weeks of pregnancy. Follow-up appointments can check for infection and other physical concerns as well as evaluate psychological and emotional well-being. The removal of these safeguards has left women with fewer supports and opened opportunities for abusers who use women for their own purposes.
As is always the case in advocacy for abortion, the result is that pre-born children die, and women suffer. The ease of accessing the abortion pill allows this to happen more often now behind closed doors, away from medical care and clinics. But the suffering is happening nonetheless and may in fact be more dangerous than ever.