London - Aid Access Telemedicine Service that provides abortion pills to pregnant women in the United States has been founded by an European doctor. Since Roe v. Wade was repealed, it receives 600 to 700 emails per day.
CBS News' Dr. Rebecca Gomperts stated that the U.S. situation is the same as it was in Poland and Malta 18 years ago. Because access to abortion is becoming more difficult... "Because access to abortion is now becoming so difficult, I believe that everyone should be able to get the medicines in their own homes or for someone they know in the future."
After more than a decade of running similar groups in countries where abortion is prohibited or restricted, Gomperts established Aid Access in 2018. Aid Access connects U.S. citizens with a network U.S.-based healthcare professionals that can prescribe abortion pills, or where legal, with Gomperts in Austria.
Gomperts stated, "From Austria, where I am a doctor, I act according to the regulations as well as the medical ethics guidelines and laws."
Gomperts stated that her organizations are working on a long-term strategy in order to have one of the drugs used for an abortion approved in the United States.
Two drugs are used in medication abortion: misoprostol and mifepristone. Mifepristone blocks progesterone, which is what causes a woman's uterus to break down and the pregnancy to stop. The uterus becomes empty with misoprostol.
Gomperts stated that the potential for the mifepristone to be used as a contraceptive is what we see. It can be used as an on-demand method that women can use whenever they need it. For example, if they are having a lot of sex they can use it every week. They can use it for a morning-after pill if they only have sex occasionally. Gomperts explained that if they have an unplanned pregnancy, they can keep it in the cabinet so they can use it to have an abortion.
Gomperts stated that small clinical trials have been conducted to evaluate mifepristone as a contraceptive's safety and effectiveness. However, it is necessary to conduct a larger trial to approve the contraceptive by both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and an equivalent agency in Europe.
According to her, her organizations have received the approvals necessary for a large-scale clinical trial in Moldova. This would see 949 women using mifepristone as a contraceptive once per week for one year. She stated that her organizations are still raising funds to conduct the trial.
"What matters most is that women who don't want their baby to get pregnant aren't having one. They can do it in many ways. Gomperts stated that you could use a contraceptive pill or the morning after pill to achieve this, but it is also possible to do it using an abortion pill.
CBS News reported that Gomperts said that 18 years ago when she founded her telemedicine company "Women on Web", it was "very controversial" because many people believed it wouldn't be possible or that it would be unsafe. We are now 18 years later and it is mainstream medicine. You need to look ahead in order to make changes. It's also part our work to improve the vision and the ways people create these types of ideas.
