Ronan Farrow: ‘Self-Abortion’ Laws Are on the Ballot Next Week
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NN FEMALE: "It was terrifying to think of because I’m a college student. I feel like I'm smart and I couldn't imagine that I was resorting to these kind of methods."
GRAPHICS: Do-it-yourself abortion. Vocativ scoured the web to find women willing to talk about self-abortion.
CARRIE: "I found out I was pregnant in June, but I still don’t feel like I was ready to be a mother."
GRAPHICS: These women asked us to conceal their identities and locations.
CARRIE: "At first, I started calling any clinic that I could to see what my options were. Most of them were between $600 and $700. It was then that I decided to look into what my other options were. So I first started googling 'natural abortion remedies' and things like that and I got some pretty crazy stuff. I did go to a Planned Parenthood where I was living to see if there was a financing option, or just any other option was available so I didn’t have to resort to this. And immediately I was greeted by tens of protester who had pictures of dead fetuses on posters and it was just mortifying. So it was a combination of all these things, I just decided to bite the bullet and pull whatever money I had. I ended up selling some family jewelry to buy these abortion pills."
GRAPHICS: Vocativ found an underground abortion pill provider.
MOLLY: "I don’t really think that I’m a hero or a villain. I am just somebody who is providing for people who are not getting provided for. Everybody is used to fighting laws in the states. And what I realized was that the laws didn't matter as much as the access matter. I saw that no matter what, it still seemed like they were playing defense. Everybody is always combating the next regulation. Well, you just keep combating the next regulation, you are just more slowly losing ground. I wanted to take the fight in a different way."
GRAPHICS: 'Molly' started providing pills to women who found her online.
MOLLY: "They would usually find me through things I have written about how to perform a surgical abortion. These were usually women who were looking how to perform their own abortion on the Internet. And at the point where women are looking for that, they are usually desperate."
GRAPHICS: 'Molly' got the pills from overseas pharmacies. They cost about $50.
MOLLY: "I have never once taken money for abortion pills. This is been something I have paid for out of my own pocket all along and I would put them with their instructions into an envelope, and I would send those along their way. I would always women to please let me know when their abortion was complete and also to let me know if they had any complications."
GRAPHICS: Since 2010, more than 50 abortion clinics have closed across the country.
MOLLY: "Ten years ago, I would get an e-mail maybe every four to six months. Now, I get e-mails more than once a week. I stopped sending pills out about a year ago. I started getting worried because some states seemed to be on a kind of a crusade to punish people who are self-aborting."
GRAPHICS: In 39 states it is illegal for a woman to self-abort. 'Carrie' bought abortion pills on-line from India. Her self-abortion did not work.
CARRIE: "I definitely don’t think the underground abortion network is safe at all. While I appreciate all the help I got in doing things myself, I was still terrified every minute of the whole ordeal."
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