An investigation by the New York Times into Google searches for DIY abortions has found a very strong, no bullshitting around link between how difficult it is for women to access safe and legal abortions, and women seeking out illegal or “backyard” abortions.
It found that in the United States in 2015, there were more than 700,000 Google searches for self-induced abortions. That figure includes:
- About 119,000 searches for “how to have a miscarriage”.
- About 160,000 searches for abortion pills through unofficial channels.
- About 4,000 searches for directions on coat hanger abortions, including 1,300 for “how to do a coat hanger abortion”.
- And several hundred searches into achieving an abortion by bleaching your own uterus or punching your stomach. What the fucking fuck.
The link between a lack of access to safe abortions and the rise in backyard ones has been long-established, but it’s scary AF to see at a time when abortion clinics are closing in the United States at a rapid rate; since 2011, 162 providers have closed and just 21 providers have opened, with the most common reason being legislation.
“Many states have completely reformed the law or even decriminalised it which is completely the case in Victoria and the ACT and largely in Tasmania,” said Professor de Costa.
“There’s been reform in the other states but in New South Wales and Queensland you have really half the Australian population, the law still remains very much as it was written in the criminal legislation of the 19th Century.“It is modified by the fact that cases have been brought against doctors for performing abortions in that time and most of them have been acquitted. Those cases act as a precedent as case law but this has the effect of stigmatising abortion.“This isn’t true of any other health procedure.”
Reproductive Choice Australia co-president Jenny Aljak and Public Health Association of Australia chief executive Michael Moore backed these sentiments, with Aljak calling for abortion to be treated a health issue and not a criminal one.
