PRESS RELEASE | Women on Web Telemedicine Abortion Service Turns 15!
For 15 years now, Women on Web, the first ever telemedical abortion service, has made sure that pregnant people around the world have access to safe abortions. The first abortion Women on Web provided was to a woman living in Lisbon, who completed the online consultation on May 10, 2006, when abortion was still illegal in Portugal.
For 15 years now, Women on Web, the first ever telemedical abortion service, has made sure that pregnant people around the world have access to safe abortions. The first abortion Women on Web provided was to a woman living in Lisbon, who completed the online consultation on May 10, 2006, when abortion was still illegal in Portugal.
Since then, Women on Web has supported over 650,000 people with information; provided over 100,000 people with access to abortions by mail; answered over a million emails in 25 different languages; contributed to nearly 20 different case studies and research papers that have informed the medical community and overcome censuring by governments and corporations alike, and these are just on paper! This list doesn’t take into account the ripple effect of influencing the reversal and revision of policies and government bans in countries like Ireland and Northern-Ireland, much less the impact on the lives of countless women and families.
A recent 10-year evaluation study that analyzes the follow-up evaluations of over 30,000 Women on Web service users from all over the world concluded, once again, that self-managed abortions are a safe, effective, and acceptable option for women and pregnant persons.
This past year, the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed blind spots in countries that still criminalize abortion or heavily regulate access to the abortion pills in countries where abortion is legal even though they are safer than most over-the-counter pain killers. At the same time, however, the pandemic showed that telemedical abortions are the solution to overcoming these persistent barriers to abortion access, barriers such as travel, childcare, privacy, and anonymity. Countries like France, Ireland, the UK, and the USA have all expanded the scope of their healthcare to include telemedicine abortion.
Women on Web will now move beyond being an emergency solution to the next frontier of women’s health; making sure women and pregnant people around the world will be able to have a safe abortion the way they prefer.
On behalf of all the pregnant people we have been able to support, we want to thank everybody who has made this work possible.
Here is just one of the thousands of thank you emails we’ve received:
"I am so happy and relieved that everything went fast and safe and I would like to tell other women who are in my situation to not be worried. Doing this at home without judging like it is in hospital is so relieving and peaceful for a woman and it is best way to do such traumatic thing. I want to thank you to the moon and back to you even exist and especially for helping me. You are my angels because it was middle of a night when I was sobbing because I didn't have any options to have abortion by myself and I was honestly so depressing that I was thinking about taking my own life. And then I accidentally saw your page and didn't believe at first that's even existing.
As an in-person celebration is not yet possible, we will have a virtual celebration over the next 15 days with more news and updates. For more information on current campaigns and advocacy work, visit our News and Updates, or follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn.
For more information on medical abortions or if you would like access to a consultation, email us at info@womenonweb.org
To support our work, please visit our website