How technology could preserve abortion rights
Abortion rights advocates are exploring how technology might preserve or even expand women's access to abortion if the Supreme Court scales back Roe v. Wade. A nonprofit group is testing whether it's safe to let women take abortion pills in their own homes after taking screening tests and consulting with a doctor on their phones or computers. Because the study is part of an FDA clinical trial, the group isn't bound by current rules requiring the drugs be administered in a doctor's office or clinic.
The group, called Gynuity Health Projects, is carrying out the trial in five states that already allow virtual doctors to oversee administration of the abortion pill, and may expand to others. If the trial proves that allowing women to take the pill at home is safe — under a virtual doctor's supervision — the group hopes the FDA could eventually loosen restrictions to allow women to take pills mailed to them after the consult. If FDA took that step, it could even help women in states with restrictive abortion laws get around them, potentially blurring the strict boundaries between abortion laws in different states if — as is likely — the Senate confirms a high court justice who is open to further limits on Roe.
[...] Right now, even in states that allow a licensed provider to administer the abortion pill by video hookup, the provider must watch, in person or by video, as a woman takes the first medication in a clinic or other health care setting. The drugs abort the fetus without surgery but are safe and effective only in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy. If the group's study shows it's safe for women to administer the drug themselves after an online consultation with a health care provider, it will petition the FDA to lift the requirement.
Or: Get a drug printer, download drug plans, print desired drug.
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CVS dives deeper into medical services, offering virtual visits through Teladoc
CVS' MinuteClinics are going virtual. The drugstore chain plans to make video visits available nationwide by the end of the year through a partnership with Teladoc Health, CVS' latest pivot away from retail and toward health-care services. CVS already offers virtual appointments, branded as MinuteClinic Video Visits, in nine states and the District of Columbia.
MinuteClinics treat people with minor illness and injuries like coughs and rashes. These walk-in locations are a way to keep customers coming into CVS' stores as more shoppers buy everyday items on Amazon. Making it possible to visit a MinuteClinic without actually walking into one may hamper that, but it could help CVS reach more people.
With virtual visits, known in the industry as telehealth or telemedicine, CVS can reach people who may not be able to visit one of its roughly 1,100 locations. MinuteClinics are a key part of CVS' $69 billion acquisition of health insurer Aetna.
Also at USA Today.
Previously: CVS Attempting $66 Billion Acquisition of Health Insurer Aetna
Related: CVS Health Is Sued Over 'Clawbacks' of Prescription Drug Co-Pays
CVS Limits Opioid Prescriptions
Telemedicine Prescriptions Could Undermine State Abortion Restrictions
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 01 2018, @06:27AM (8 children)
Is worth a functioning light switch.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Joe Desertrat on Wednesday August 01 2018, @07:01AM (7 children)
Abortion pills will help prevent your home being overrun with screaming brats.
(Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 01 2018, @07:07AM (5 children)
So will a lot of other, less horrific things.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Wednesday August 01 2018, @12:07PM
Abortion pill doesn't sound too horrific. Why not give the women a choice on whether they can withstand the horror?
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 01 2018, @12:55PM (3 children)
That is up to the woman who is faced with the decision. Nobody else has the right to tell her what to do with her body.
If you do not want the fetus to die, then it must be extracted and put on life support. If you don't know how to keep the fetus alive outside of the womb, I would suggest figuring out how. Wombs may be may things, but they are not supernatural.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 01 2018, @01:05PM
FTFme
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday August 01 2018, @05:06PM (1 child)
I've been anticipating the development of the artificial womb [soylentnews.org] for a long time. However, its development alone probably won't lead to full criminalization of abortion. If the woman herself is pregnant, she's still carrying a parasitical being, and removing it from her will still require surgery, which means potential risk of death from superbug infection or other complications. Instead, I think we'll see couples switching to something like IVF or lab-combined embryos grown in artificial wombs from the start. But some of these couples will divorce before the baby is even born. Or one or both of them won't want the child, but because it's in an artificial womb, there is no standing to abort. This is when you will see some interesting legal battles. Oh, and without the rush of hormones that comes with pregnancy + breastfeeding, etc., will the "mother" have the same emotional attachment to a lab-grown child?
Very interesting developments.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 01 2018, @06:43PM
Well, I'm sure that 715547 [soylentnews.org] will fund the procedure and take custody of the child once it's viable outside of the artificial womb.
We should be able to find satisfactory information on present-day women who adopt infants, including what women who breastfeed adopted infants in the present day have to report.
(Score: 2) by stretch611 on Wednesday August 01 2018, @08:07AM
Abortion pills will help prevent your home being overrun with screaming Anonymous Cowards.
FTFY
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
(Score: 5, Interesting) by stretch611 on Wednesday August 01 2018, @08:04AM
If you live in one of those states of severe government intrusion into the lives of women (i.e. restrictive abortion states)
this is more likely to have the effect of state governments opposing telemedicine.
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday August 01 2018, @04:28PM
Make Coat Hangers Great Again, or Make Alley Abortions Kill Again ?