Mail-Order DIY Abortion Pills in Canada Raise Safety Concerns: Pro-Life Group

An abortion drug is shown in a file photo. Phil Walter/Getty Images

Chemical abortions, using pills, have been available to Canadian women since 2017 and have since proliferated. But the relative lack of physician oversight, with some pills sent out by mail order, has sparked concerns about the welfare of women and unborn babies.

Cases have been documented in the United States of men spiking their pregnant girlfriends’ food or drink with the pill to cause undesired abortions. Such cases were compiled by think tank The Heritage Foundation in a December 2023 report, which also noted that the pills may leave women open to abuse and coercion.

“Coerced and forced abortions are already happening. And every time safety protocols are degraded, it becomes easier for an unsupportive partner, abuser, or trafficker to harm women, girls, and unborn children,” the report said.

Prolife Alberta echoed these concerns and others—including the health risk of complications during the at-home procedure—in a March email campaign calling for more stringent rules around the pills. The U.S. Supreme Court on March 26 heard arguments on limiting access to the pills.

“Supporters of abortion like to claim that abortion is ‘just another medical procedure.’ Well, if abortion is just another medical procedure, then shouldn’t we be treating it as such? No other ’medical procedure' is so devoid of accountability and oversight,” the Alberta group, which describes itself as a political organization aimed at promoting pro-life public policy, said in a March 11 email as part of the campaign.

The group urged Albertans to ask Health Minister Adriana LaGrange for policy change to require medical supervision for chemical abortions and to prohibit the use of telemedicine for the procedure. The group also called on the minister to make it mandatory to report adverse events in order to better track harmful outcomes from taking the pills.

The group takes issue with Calgary’s Alberta Medical Abortion Clinic, which provides pills via telemedicine. Toronto-based organization Women on Web also provides the pills via telemedicine and furthermore advertises mail-order pills for “future use.”

The Epoch Times did not receive replies from either organization as of publication. A spokesperson for the Alberta clinic recently told the Western Standard that the clinic’s doctors provide consultation and support to women virtually to mitigate risks and that mail-order pills allow women in remote areas to access abortion.

The process for obtaining pills for future use through Women on Web starts with filling out a medical history form online. The applicant then receives a confirmation email that also gives instructions on how to make a donation to the organization.

“Within 24 hours of sending your donation, you will receive another confirmation that a medical doctor has approved your request,” its website says. “Within 1-3 business days of sending your donation you will receive an email with information about the shipment and a tracking number.”

Prolife Alberta says these are the new “back-alley abortions,” now conducted by women alone in their bathrooms. “These abortions are performed in secret, are high-risk, and lack appropriate medical oversight.”

What Health Officials Say

Health Canada spokesperson André Gagnon told The Epoch Times via email that the department has initiated an assessment of Women on Web’s practices following a complaint. Health Canada is looking at how Women on Web advertises the pills to see if it complies with the Food and Drugs Act, but it’s the provinces that regulate the “practice of medicine,” he said. When asked about concerns related to telemedicine, he cited the product’s monograph.

The product, called Mifegymiso, includes two different medications taken together to terminate a pregnancy. Its monograph says health-care professionals are to ensure that patients have access to emergency medical care in the 14 days after taking the pills. Side effects include serious bacterial infections, which can lead to fatal septic shock, and serious skin reactions, including a life-threatening blistering and peeling of the skin called toxic epidermal necrolysis. It is also important to confirm termination of the pregnancy, the monograph says.

This is a concern of Prolife Alberta as well—that some unborn babies are seriously harmed and may continue to suffer. Live fetuses may be expelled and the psychological impact of a woman witnessing that could be detrimental.

Even if the fetus isn’t alive when expelled, the psychological impacts could be great, the group says. Surgical abortions are performed by others, but a mother has more personal agency in abortion using the pills, says Prolife Alberta.

In 2022, 26 “live-birth abortions” occurred in Alberta, and 149 in all of Canada, the group says.

Alberta’s health ministry told The Epoch Times via email that determination of treatment is a clinical decision made by individual physicians. The ministry did not comment further on Mifegymiso except to say that its costs are covered by the provincial health insurance plan.

Ontario’s health ministry told The Epoch Times to reach out instead to the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada (SOGC) for comment on practices involving Mifegymiso.

Obstetrician and gynecologist Dr. Dustin Costescu, an associate professor at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, responded on behalf of SOGC.

“The SOGC supports the use of virtual care that ensures equitable access to health services across the country,” he told The Epoch Times in an email. Additional tests, such as ultrasound or bloodwork, are often required, he said. “Some patients can undergo medication abortion without testing, but in all cases a medical evaluation is recommended.”

Prolife Alberta is concerned that medical evaluations mean little if the pills are provided via mail order, as it may not even be the person who underwent the evaluation who uses the pills. The pills may also not be used within the appropriate time frame, as gestational age is important. The product monograph says Mifegymiso should only be used for pregnancies with a gestational age of up to 63 days.

Reporting on the number of women using Mifegymiso is limited. The Canadian Institute for Health Information, in its most recent data release on induced abortions in Canada, published March 21, notes that its method of data collection does not allow it to track Mifegymiso use comprehensively. It does track Mifegymiso-induced abortions conducted in hospitals, reported voluntarily by clinics, and captured in physician billing codes, it says.

In 2022, the most recent year reported on, about 38,500 medical abortions occurred nationwide, or roughly 40 percent of the nearly 97,000 induced abortions that year, with the remaining being surgical abortions.

That’s an increase over 2021, when about 32,000 medical abortions occurred, or roughly 37 percent of the over 87,400 induced abortions in Canada that year.