Clinic Closings Lead To Increase In Black Market Abortion Drugs

Ignoring the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion, the GOP has moved to prevent women from exercising their constitutional rights. As a result, the black market for pregnancy termination drugs has increased.

Sales of Misoprostol, a drug intended to prevent stomach ulcers but also used to induce abortions, are rising as desperate women seek ways to terminate pregnancies. Cartons of the drug are now valued at £130 [$197], as its value rises due to Texan women turning to the black market to terminate their pregnancies, according to a Sunday Times report.

At least one woman is now in prison for trying to assist her teenage daughter end her pregnancy.

The online market for drugs such as mifepristone, used in terminating pregnancy and inducing labour, is also increasing. Jennifer Whalen from Pennsylvania is serving a prison sentence of 18 months for obtaining abortion drugs over the internet for her 16-year-old daughter. The 39-year-old bought mifepristone online for £30 [$46]. The family live 75 miles from the nearest clinic and Whalen could not afford to take time off work to make the journey which would have required an overnight stay.

By: Mark Quincy Adams

A proud 'pragmatic progressive' Mark Quincy Adams has been a political
talk show host and prolific pontificator since 1992. Find him on Facebook and Twitter @politicalglutton