Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell reminded the world of the horrors of backstreet abortions. Investigators raided his filthy clinic in 2010. They discovered cupboards full of baby body parts, disgusting, out-of-date medical equipment and unqualified staff. They found evidence of a litany of botched abortions and the murder of viable late-term babies.

The term “backstreet abortion” was used by pro-abortion activists to promote their version of baby killing. Their version was supposed to be “legal, safe and rare.” The only thing that happened was that the abortionists moved from backstreet to main street. Dr. Ulrich Kopfler’s stash of dead babies is another grim reminder of the gruesome reality of legalized abortion.

Now a new horror threatens women and their children. Instead of backstreet abortion we’ve got bathroom abortion. Medical abortions have been around for some time, but a new online provider is making the baby killing pills available by mail.

Promoting “Safe Abortions” With Rose-Tinted Language

It is easy to imagine that medical abortion is quick, easy and painless. The pro-abortion activists would have us believe that it is simply a matter of the woman taking a couple of pills. She allows the “product of conception” to be flushed away. She then bounces back having solved a “health care problem.”

A medical abortion, however, is more complicated and dangerous than that. For a woman to eliminate the child who has already been conceived and is in gestation, her whole physical system has to be violated. The mother’s whole body is working in intricate harmony to nurture and support the new life within her. A medical abortion interrupts that natural phenomenon with a violent chemical intervention.

The Planned Parenthood website gives the rose-tinted version of the trauma the woman experiences. Here’s how they describe the painful side effects the mother experiences as the powerful chemicals violate her natural responses:

First, you take a pill called mifepristone. This medicine stops the pregnancy from growing. Some people feel nauseous or start bleeding after taking mifepristone, but it’s not common. Your doctor or nurse may also give you antibiotics to take to prevent infection.

The second medicine is called misoprostol. You’ll either take the misoprostol right away, or up to 48 hours after you take the first pill — your doctor or nurse will let you know how and when to take it. This medicine causes cramping and bleeding to empty your uterus.

For most people, the cramping and bleeding usually starts 1-4 hours after taking the misoprostol. It’s normal to see large blood clots (up to the size of a lemon) or clumps of tissue when this is happening. It’s kind of like having a really heavy, crampy period, and the process is very similar to an early miscarriage. (If you don’t have any bleeding within 24 hours after taking the second medicine, misoprostol, call your nurse or doctor.)

The cramping and bleeding can last for several hours. Most people finish passing the pregnancy tissue in 4-5 hours, but it may take longer. The cramping and bleeding slows down after the pregnancy tissue comes out. You may have cramping on and off for 1 or 2 more days.

Requires Medical Consultation and Possible Medical Intervention

This is a nice way of talking about a traumatic experience. The woman goes through the violent reactions of the medicine first “stopping the pregnancy from growing.” This means killing the child. She then expels the “clumps of tissue.” This means delivering the dead child through forced labor.

In this video a doctor explains the procedure. He is more realistic about the side effects. Planned Parenthood stresses that the pill must be taken after proper medical consultation. They also stress that the woman must remain in touch with the physician, even though the process will take place in her home or even a hotel room.

When the second pill kicks in the cramping, bleeding and trauma can be extreme. And when the woman witnesses her tiny child being expelled and flushed into the toilet, the personal distress of the “bathroom abortion” must be extreme. The fact that many women go through this shameful procedure on their own must add to their distress.

“Technically Breaking the Rules” — a.k.a Illegal

If this procedure isn’t horrible enough, now the abortion pills are being made available online. This article from Medium explains in the usual, artificially cheerful manner how to have a “mail order abortion”:

Aid Access, an online organization that allows women to order abortion-inducing medications shipped directly to their home, has been discreetly operating in the United States for the last six months.

Aid Access isn’t a new idea — it’s a spinoff of Women on Web, a site founded in 2005 by Dutch physician Rebecca Gomperts to supply abortion-inducing drugs to women in countries where abortion is outlawed — but it is new to the U.S., offering a more reliable alternative to shady online sites already selling the drugs.

The pregnant woman who gets in touch with Aid Access is given an online evaluation. Once she assures the provider that she is less than ten weeks pregnant and is within one hour’s travel from medical help, she is given a prescription for the drugs. They are shipped from a supplier in India.

The author of the article trips blithely over the fact that this process is illegal:

Despite the fact that mifepristone is approved by the FDA, ordering it online is technically breaking the rules. FDA rules stipulate that the drug must be taken in a clinical setting or under a doctor’s supervision and that it can only be dispensed by clinicians who have been pre-approved by the FDA and obtained it from an approved supplier. Since Aid Access provides the medications from a source other than an FDA-approved supplier, it’s not in compliance with the REMS.

Offering Huge Risks to Vulnerable Women

Not only is the process illegal, but it doesn’t take a truckload of common sense to see the huge risks. All these risks will be taken by the vulnerable woman in a crisis pregnancy.

The first risk is that the woman may be more than ten weeks pregnant. How does she assess how far along she is through an online interview? Exact timing for length of pregnancy is uncertain even for experts. The woman herself may be uncertain. If she is young and inexperienced, how will she know?

Furthermore, if she is desperate, it would be natural for her to underestimate the length of time she is pregnant. The later the process is started, the more pain, nausea and cramping she will experience, and the more risk she will face of unwanted complications.

If she is alone and there are complications, how will she know what to do? Furthermore, a woman in a crisis pregnancy is also likely to be uncertain or untruthful about the availability of medical assistance, should something go wrong. If she is assured that the whole procedure is “easy and safe,” she will be unprepared for any complications.

Aid Access Should be Shut Down

Because these “bathroom abortions” are available privately online, they are also much cheaper. ($95 as opposed to $450-$500 for a medical or surgical abortion in a clinic.) There is every incentive, therefore, for a low-income woman with an unwanted pregnancy to take this option. It seems cheap, private and easy.

Instead, experience tells us that she will go through a violent physical reaction. She will face severe pain, bleeding and personal distress as she first kills, then expels her unborn child.

“Bathroom abortions” are simply the new form of “backstreet abortions.” Aid Access should not only be investigated. Their vile trade should be shut down.

Fr. Dwight Longenecker is a Catholic priest, author and speaker. Listen to Dwight Longenecker’s podcast, Stories of the Unexpected at dwightlongenecker.com.