Last year, state-run hospitals in Mumbai treated 39 cases of complications resulting from the indiscriminate use of abortion pills.
When 19-year old college student Vinita (name changed) discovered that she was a few weeks pregnant recently, she feared going to a gynaecologist and went to a local general practitioner instead who gave her the medical abortion pill. She bled profusely for 12 days after taking the pill. She was finally admitted to a Bandra nursing home where doctors removed her foetus completely. She could have lost her life.
Medical abortion pills are prescription drugs that are different from emergency contraceptive pills. They are taken between 7-9 weeks of pregnancy and cause the embryo to be expelled from the uterus.
Last year, state-run hospitals in Mumbai treated 39 cases of complications resulting from the indiscriminate use of such pills. Of these, 22 cases were of incomplete abortion, while four cases could have been fatal.
Last month, the state government declared that it wanted to regulate the casual disbursal of medical abortion pills in the city. However, women rights activists protested claiming that regulation would infringe on a woman’s right to abortion.
“The law states that this is a prescription pill only,” said Dr Rekha Daver, head of department, Gynaecology and Obstetrics, JJ hospital.
“The chemists can dispense the drug only if it’s a prescription by a person who is registered under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act,” said Dr Daver. However, general practitioners and chemists routinely recommend and dispense the drug.
Doctors say it is crucial for abortion pills to be taken under supervision. “If they aren’t, it is as good as getting abortion done by a quack. It can even spoil the obstetric career of the girl,” said Dr Piyush Goyal, Agarwal Nursing Home, Bandra.
Dr Rajshri Katke-Sokawde, assistant professor, Cama Hospital said that a qualified gynaecologist ought to prescribe the pills considering the history of the patient, whether the patient is anaemic or not, and after a sonography. “The doctor must explain that the pill has side-effects and should insist on a follow-up especially in case of acute pain, fever or bleeding,” she said. In extreme cases she said the patient may suffer sepsis and may even require a blood transfusion.
Chemists, however, shrug off these allegations. “98% of the time, the patient is administered the pill directly by the doctor. This drug doesn’t even make up 2% of sales,” said Prasad Danave, secretary of Retail Chemists and Druggists Association (RDCA).
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