VIDEOS PROMOTING ‘AT-HOME’ abortions using unregulated methods have been viewed over a million times on TikTok since May.
The timing coincides with the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn a decades-old ruling which liberalised abortion rights.
Many clips have cited the court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade, which removed federal protection for abortion in the US and triggered state bans on abortion in the process.
These videos have become more frequent on TikTok since the ruling, containing footage of young, female creators explaining how to terminate a pregnancy without medical intervention or supervision by using over-the-counter items.
However, the methods promoted in these videos are completely unproven and potentially dangerous and should not be attempted according to experts.
Three experts who spoke to The Journal warned against using such medications or remedies for the purposes of terminating a pregnancy at home.
Although the clips are seemingly addressed to women who have recently been denied access to abortion in the US, they are cropping up in the feeds of Irish women too.
One such video seen on TikTok, with 243,000 likes at the time of writing, suggests using a combination of unproven methods.
“I would try using a lot of these at once rather than just rely on one remedy as a whole,” the video’s creator says.
Another clip with over 100,000 views repeated similar “remedies” which rely on over-the-counter items, which the video’s caption describes as “Plan C” – a seeming reference to ‘Plan B’, a popular morning-after pill brand in the US.
“With the possibility of Roe v Wade being overturned, I would like to share some at-home DIY pregnancy remedies,” the woman in the video says.
She clarifies that “at-home abortions are never going to be 100 per cent safe” with women forced to turn to them as a result of banning legal alternatives.
Despite this, she tells the camera: “This is how to have an abortion at home in the safest way possible.”
But the methods described are not known to be effective and could be unsafe.
The most common “at-home abortion remedies” listed in videos recommended consuming papaya, mugwort tea, high doses of Vitamin C, and high doses of ibuprofen.
While studies conducted on rats suggest mugwort tea and unripe papaya may induce uterine cramping that could be harmful to pregnancy, these are far from conclusive.
There is no proof these methods are safe or even effective for humans, with US expert Dr Aviva Romm warning “the amount required to induce an abortion may pose toxicity risks to the mother, including kidney and liver damage”.
No peer-reviewed study has shown Vitamin C to be an effective abortifacient in humans either. Exceeding the maximum daily dose, which the ‘remedy’ demands, can cause vomiting, diarrhea, and nausea.
Ibuprofen is not clinically approved to induce abortion and there is little to no research regarding its safety and efficacy as an abortifacient alone.
According to the UK’s National Health Service, taking too much ibuprofen is “very dangerous”; the health service recommends going to an emergency department as soon as possible if the maximum dose is exceeded.
Most “abortion remedies” which rely on ibuprofen recommend taking more than the maximum recommended dose for adults, which could cause kidney failure and seizures among other side effects.
The Journal asked three medical experts to asses the ‘at-home’ abortion remedies featured in various TikTok videos.
All three experts unanimously warned against attempting any of the methods, citing the dangerous complications arising from medically unsupervised abortions using internet remedies.
Dr Peter Boylan, former master of the National Maternity Hospital in Dublin, said that sticking to prescribed medication was the best option for terminating a pregnancy.
“There is a very well-recognised medication with minimal side effects,” he said. “If these other things were effective, they would be recommended by doctors. But they’re not.”
Boylan explained that there could be complications from attempting to carry out a termination outside a medical setting, some of which he had seen while working as a consultant in Ireland before the country’s abortion ban was lifted in 2019.
Some of the natural products which are suggested in the videos could interact with medications and increase the chances of bleeding, bruising or other medical problems.
“A few things could happen. One is bleeding but no termination, and if you bleed extensively without medical supervision it could be quite serious,” Boylan said.
“If a woman is taking other medications or had a previous C-section or might not be sure how far along she is, all of those factors could cause serious side effects.”
Dr Vicky O’Dwyer, Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at the Rotunda Hospital, also shared doubts about whether at-home terminations would work and, like Boylan, pointed out the potential risks to patient safety.
“The issues with home abortions are that they put women at risk of significant pain, bleeding and risk of infection with no healthcare support,” she said.
“The videos claim these methods work by inducing uterine contractions, but it’s hard to know as they are unregulated.”
Dr Jonathon Lord from the UK’s Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists also said at-home or herbal terminations are not recommended by medical professionals.
“The safest abortions are medical and surgical abortions which are effective procedures that have been thoroughly researched, whereas there is no evidence to support using herbs in this way,” he said.
The three experts all said that anyone who wanted to terminate their pregnancy should seek medical help from healthcare professionals and not try any of the methods outlined in the TikTok videos.
No available research supports the claim that any of those methods are effective in inducing a termination of pregnancy safely or effectively.
In contrast, the methods could have potentially harmful side effects which would be exacerbated if a termination was attempted without medical supervision.
“Taking large doses could damage a developing embryo, it would not be recommended because it might not result in termination but could possibly end up damaging an embryo,” Boylan concluded.
While some women may turn to these methods out of desperation, the advice is still resoundingly for them never to do this.
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