Teenage girls are risking their lives using counterfeit abortion pills bought online for as little as 78p each because they are too terrified to tell their parents they are pregnant, experts warn.
The drugs, which have labelled 'modern-day back street abortions', are easily available from hundreds of pharmacy sites, but they can be fatal if taken in wrong doses.
Most of the drugs come from India where legal loopholes mean domestic firms are allowed to produce generic versions of branded medicines.
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Desperation: Teenage girls are turning to counterfeit abortion pills bought online, because they are too terrified to tell their parents they are pregnant
However some are now understood to be imported from China where they are produced by criminal gangs with no regulation or quality control, the Daily Mirror reports.
Ann Furedi, chief executive of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, said: 'It is extremely troubling if any woman feels her only course of action is to buy this medication online to end her pregnancy.
'With the appalling exception of Northern Ireland, abortion in the UK is safe, free, and confidential for women, including teenagers, up to 24 weeks of pregnancy.
'The biggest risk when you buy online is that you don't know what you are getting, nor what doses are needed for it to work. While medical abortion is safe, this is not something women should have to go through without clinical advice and support in place.
DANGERS OF 'DIY TERMINATIONS'
Side-effects of taking the tablets include excessive bleeding, infections of the womb and, in rare cases, blood poisoning.
Women who have this type of abortion are twice as likely to need hospital treatment as those who have the procedure done surgically.
Up to 1.5 per cent are admitted to hospital suffering from complications, compared with 0.6 per cent who have surgery. Around 1 per cent develop pelvic inflammatory disease, an infection of the womb which can cause infertility.
And in some cases women have lost so much blood they have needed a transfusion.
Most suffer pain or cramps in the abdomen. Diarrhoea, nausea and vomiting are also common.
There have been two known deaths caused by early medical abortion tablets since they were first offered in Britain in 1991
'Women should know that they can access free abortion services often without seeing their GP, and we would urge any woman considering this to contact us in total confidence for help.
'But there is a lesson for all of us here - it illustrates that any attempts to further restrict the already heavily regulated area of abortion will simply lead to women taking their health into their own hands. Online pills will be the backstreet abortions of the 21st Century.'
The pills allow women to terminate their pregnancies quickly and quietly in their own home rather than having to make several trips to a clinic, which may involve taking time off work or school.
They are far cheaper than having the treatment privately, which can cost up to £500.
Women who have this type of abortion are twice as likely to need hospital treatment as those who have the procedure done surgically.
Side-effects from taking the tablets include excessive bleeding, infections of the womb and, in rare cases, blood poisoning.
A Mail investigation in 2011 was able to but pills online easily from aLondon-based online pharmacy for £15. But since then the price appears to have plummeted.
Dr Kate Guthrie of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists said: ‘There is still a social prejudice about abortions.
‘Women may turn to these websites because they are embarrassed or they are just so appalled by their pregnancy.
'They might be reluctant to see their GP in case they think badly of them. They are effectively backstreet abortions.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2545769/Britains-modern-day-street-abortions-Teenage-girls-buying-deadly-abortion-drugs-online-Far-East-just-78p.html#ixzz2rd95UiTi
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