Self-managed abortion and criminalization in the post-Dobbs US

Pregnant people have, for millennia, sought to self-manage their own fertility. Records from ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome document a range of practices, including herbs, vaginal douches, and suppositories, that pregnant people themselves used to induce abortions. Indigenous communities around the globe hold deep knowledge of native herbs that can be used to bring on a menses. Today, we would refer to these methods collectively as self-managed abortion, a term commonly defined as “any action a person takes to end a pregnancy without clinical supervision.” Recent World Health Organization estimates suggest that nearly half of the 56 million abortions worldwide may be self-managed. In some countries, such as India, estimates suggest that self-managed medication abortion (eg, using misoprostol with or without mifepristone for abortion without clinical supervision) may comprise up to 80% of all abortions. Decades of experiential evidence from around the globe has demonstrated that access to misoprostol (and mifepristone, where available), with or without a prescription, coupled with accurate information offers people the ability to safely and effectively self-manage their own abortions.