Abuse of abortion pills on the rise

Abuse of abortion pills on the rise

Bushra Baseerat TNN

Hyderabad: Walk into a chemist shop and ask for an abortion pill without a prescription, you are bound to get one. Alarmed at the manner in which this prescription drug is being doled out by many chemists as over-the-counter pill, city-based gynaecologists have pressed the panic button.
    According to them, the last two years had seen a widespread misuse of abortion pills in the city. Swarmed with cases of women, both married and single, where they have administered these pills without expert guidance and landed up in life-threatening complications, doctors are worried.
    Thanks to the chemists illegally selling the drug without prescription, the sale of the abortion pill has shot up significantly, but so has the number of cases of women with complications rushing to the doctors.
    Gynaecologists say the cases relate to botched up attempts by women to end the unexpected pregnancies with the easily available abortion pill and add that they were literally forced to pull out many of them from the jaws of death. Maintaining that the pill is safe only when judiciously used (within 7 weeks) under a doctor’s guidance, the doctors say that they are unnerved by its blatant misuse.
    According to the doctors, after a medical abortion (abortion using a pill), even if a tiny portion of the foetus remains in the uterus, the woman will suffer from continuous bleeding and that left untreated, she can die.
    “If an expert is handling the case, the doctor will know through an ultrasound scan if the abortion is complete or not. If there are fetal remains, they need to be scraped out of the womb surgically in time. Women who resort to self treatment based on hearsay or information on the web land up in deep problems,” says Dr B Balamba, a senior gynaecologist.
    As much as 65-70% of abortions still go unreported as women want to maintain secrecy. And a considerable 23,000-25,000 number of annual maternal deaths in India are attributed to abortions. According to experts in the pharma industry, a significant number of the 8,000 pharmacies in the twin cities are selling this pill costing Rs 350-400 without a prescription because of the huge margins involved.
    Dr G Shailaja, former superintendent, Government Maternity Hospital, Sultan Bazaar, says that chemists are not supposed to dispense abortion kits without a prescription.
    “Quite a high number of women are using it without medical advice and repeatedly. Instead of using temporary contraception, they are increasingly popping these pills as an easy way out. What women don’t understand is abortion carries a lot of risk,” she says.
    A recent patient of Dr Tripura Sundari, head, gynaecology, Gandhi Hospital, was the latest such case. A mother of two, she popped the pill and collapsed due to profuse blood loss.
    “Half of the time women don’t reveal that they have taken the pill. We had to do an emergency evacuation of the uterus and administer two bottles of blood to this patient,” says Dr Tripura, adding that a good drug is being misused.
    Doctors note that the misuse of this pill has increased phenomenally in the last 2-3 years ever since the chemists began selling them without prescriptions. The pill, experts say, is not advisable for a woman who has undergone a cesarean in the previous pregnancy. Also, it cannot be taken to stop a pregnancy that is growing outside the uterus, referred as an ectopic or tubal pregnancy. Its usage can rupture the fallopian tube leading to infertility.
    Doctors are now taking pains to explain to women not to misuse the pill. Meant for emergencies, they say it should be taken only when there is indeed one and under expert guidance.