So, last Thursday I took the abortion pill.

[EmilyAnne]

Life is funny.

I was happily pregnant, having morning sickness, taking naps at odd hours of the day, reading lists of baby names, even craving pickles.
Last Wednesday, my husband and I go in for my first ultrasound and, lo and behold, there was NO BABY!
Just some pitiful, empty gestational sac; the source of all my morning sickness symptoms and the numerous positive pregnancy test results.
Its called anembryonic gestation or "blighted ovum."
I had never heard of such a thing, but supposedly its very common and one of the main reasons women miscarry.
Usually, they miscarry before ever having an ultrasound so they never know there wasn't an embryo.

I was given three options.
1. Wait for a natural miscarriage. It could happen in three hours, three days, three weeks, even a month. In the middle of a yoga class, at a grocery store, on the bus, while teaching english to my class of refugees...you get the picture.
2. Have a surgical procedure.
3. Take the "abortion pill" and go through the miscarriage at home.

I chose the pill.

I am writing this to any pro-life/ conservative lurkers who believe that allowing women access to this pill will lead to its rampant overuse.
This was a truly MISERABLE, painful experience.
No way in hell would a woman go through that and then decide to run out and have indiscriminate, unprotected sex simply because they now have such an "easy" way out.
That is an absolute bullshit claim made by people who are either ignorant or who are willfully ignoring the truth.

Thanks to Pennsylvania's conservative abortion laws, getting the pills required jumping through a lot of hoops at an emotionally vulnerable time.
The doctor (DOCTOR!) I had been seeing during the pregnancy was not authorized to prescribe them and I was sent to another office in the basement of the hospital.
That doctor could only prescribe, but he told me it would be illegal for him to actually have the pills in his office.
He also mentioned that this hospital (Magee Womens Hospital of UPMC) was the ONLY hospital in all of NE Pennsylvania that was allowed to have the pills on site.
But, they couldn't be kept at the regular hospital pharmacy where I filled my prescriptions for antibiotics and the pain killers I would need.
Nope.
I had to go to the second floor, down a hall, behind the cafeteria to a small window that apparently only administered the "abortion pill."

The ultrasound technician couldn't tell me that there was no embryo, but she shouldn't be a poker player because it was immediately obvious.
So I was sent to my doctor who had the right to make the official diagnosis, but not the right to prescribe the pills.
Then to another doctor who did not have the right to make the official diagnosis, did have the right to prescribe the pills, but had no right to actually give them to me.
Then to an on-premises pharmacy that had the right to give me the Schedule III drug Vicodin, but had no right to give me the "abortion pill."
Then to another seemingly secret on-premises pharmacy that had the right to give me the "abortion pill."

Arguments against the use of this pill for abortion include this beauty: it causes pain, cramping and bleeding.
NO SHIT!
Its a miscarriage. That's what happens.
Then they go on to say that the pill is an "easy way out," so it will be abused by irresponsible people who want to have sex without consequences.
Without consequences?
What about all that pain, cramping and bleeding?

Because I had a medical reason, the pills were covered by my insurance.
A woman taking the pills for an abortion would be paying between 350 and 650 bucks.
Again, not such an "easy way out."

Now I know what taking the "abortion pill" (Mifepristone and Misoprostol) is like.
Yes, its painful.
I've never felt so much pain in my life, in fact.
The idea that women would do this over and over again just for the hell of it is ridiculous.
The difficulty in acquiring the pill seems designed to encourage women to just give up before jumping through all the necessary hoops, especially if she is embarrassed to be discussing the pregnancy with so many strangers.

It pisses me off that the pro-life agenda even affected someone like me who needed the pills for another reason altogether.
They weren't insurmountable odds, just random and silly obstacles.
I was lucky to be able to remain in the same building through this all so whenever I felt the need to start crying about the shocking news that there was NO BABY, I could find some lonely corridor to duck into for a few moments.
Another women who received such disappointing news in, say, Meadville, PA would not have access to these pills unless she drove two hours to my hospital.
That would be a very sad drive, indeed.

Thanks, pro-lifers!