MErcy’s periods had always been very regular, so when she missed one in 2016, she immediately took a pregnancy test. It was positive and she managed to get an appointment at an abortion clinic the next day.
Despite being able to act quickly, she was in the seventh week of pregnancy when she was able to take abortion pills in Ohio – a state where at the time there was debate about banning abortion from the moment fetal heart activity is detected (usually around six o’clock). . to soften). Ohio has since established abortion rights in the state constitution after a referendum.
After the Supreme Court heard oral arguments this week in its first abortion case since it overturned Roe v Wade nearly two years ago, Mercy reflected on her experience accessing a medical abortion. There are concerns that the case — U.S. Food and Drug Administration v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine — could limit access to medication abortions, though legal experts say things don’t appear to be going well for anti-abortion doctors.
When she arrived at the clinic, Mercy, then 22, was confronted with harassment. “There were protesters outside the building. They had signs and a billboard with a cut up baby on it. They yelled at me as I entered the building. It felt very threatening and judgmental – I put myself in hoodies to hide my identity.”
During a follow-up appointment, she arrived just before the clinic opened and hid behind nearby bushes to avoid the protesters. “I was terrified,” she said. “I felt like a sitting duck.”
Despite the intimidation of protesters, Mercy, now 29, knew she wasn’t ready to grow older.
“I wanted it, but it wasn’t planned,” she said. “I couldn’t have children at the time; I was studying and had trouble paying for things. There is no way I could have supported a baby.”
Amid the debates over “heartbeat laws,” Mercy was aware that there were inevitable delays. At her first appointment, the providers at the abortion clinic could not find the embryo with an ultrasound and the appointment was rescheduled for a week later. Mercy then had to wait 24 hours between seeing the ultrasound and having the abortion, but due to her class schedule and the clinic’s opening hours, she had to wait another week.
The staff at the clinic were compassionate and nonjudgmental, she recalls, saying, “They were wonderful to me. It was one of the most powerful experiences I’ve ever had. They assured me it wasn’t my fault, I had taken precautions and things happened.”
Her experience taking abortion pills in her seventh week was smooth. She took the mifepristone at the clinic, and later misoprostol, along with a single dose of an antibiotic, which the doctor told her might make her drowsy. She said: “I just rolled over on my bed and went straight to sleep. I don’t know how bad the cramps were, but by the time I woke up the next morning it was like having a heavy period.”
She described her experience as “very simple and non-traumatic”.
“I was happy to be in a place that I considered safe, without the judgment of others, and that I could process it,” she said.
Caitlin, 35, underwent a medical abortion at a California hospital the day after news broke that the Supreme Court would overturn Roe v Wade in 2022.
“It was a very somber experience, and the doctor who prescribed me the medication was obviously incredibly upset,” she recalls.
“My nervousness about the abortion was overshadowed by the leak. In some ways it helped with nervousness – as if we were all in this together – but it was emotionally painful. I realized that it would affect me in California much less than it would affect people in other parts of the country – but depending on who is in power in the US, it could become a nationwide thing. I wondered: is this the last time I have this operation? I may never want or need it again, but I want the option,” she said.
After an ultrasound, which she didn’t want to see, Caitlin took the mifepristone pill in the hospital and the misoprostol at home. She was nine weeks pregnant. “It was quite painful,” she said. “It’s a lot for your body. I thought: no one does this because they want to.” But she was happy to be home, with support from her partner and roommate.
She said she had been “manically refreshing” the news for updates on the Mifepristone case at the High Court.
“I’m very nervous about the outcome. I greatly appreciate the ingenuity of the providers who send medications to states where abortion is illegal. We are forced to get creative. “I am not surprised that conservatives are trying to undo the work that has been done,” she said. “I see the anti-abortion movement here as another way to subjugate people in poverty.”
Kelly, 46, has had three medical abortions over the years. Her first was in early 2001, shortly after mifepristone was approved for use by the FDA in 2000. After trying unsuccessfully to access the morning-after pill in Salem, Oregon, she went to a Planned Parenthood clinic in Portland, where staff confirmed she was pregnant. “It was an accidental pregnancy at the age of 23, I didn’t have a steady job – and I knew from an early age that I didn’t want children,” she said.
Her experience in 2001 – and in 2016 and 2017 – accessing mifepristone at Planned Parenthood in Portland was straightforward, with “very clear instructions” from the clinic. She was prescribed a painkiller to help with the severe cramps associated with the second pill, misoprostol.
Kelly believed that being able to take abortion pills at home made the process easier. “Medical conditions cause me a lot of anxiety – it felt more comfortable to do it at home. My partner made me dinner, I was allowed to sit on the couch and be in my own bathroom,” she said.
“During my later two abortions, I was very stuck in my career, but again I didn’t want children. I have never regretted it, and never had any mental health problems as a result. I am determined not to have children.”
Reflecting on the Supreme Court case, Kelly said: “As a lifelong feminist, I am shocked that we are at this level in the US. We have just reached a point where access to abortion in the US has been turned upside down. Mifepristone is completely safe. Fortunately, it appears they will not be in favor of (restricting access) – but the fact that it could be (restricted) is frustrating.”