More and more people are looking on the internet for information about sexual and reproductive health and accessing these services online. For young people, the internet is an important, if not the only, resource for this information. This is why criminalising and restricting abortion is not the only way to attack abortion rights today. Limiting or banning information about abortion or putting out deliberately confusing material can have a devastating impact on abortion access.
Since 2005, Women on Web, where I am the executive director, has used the internet and digital technology to break down the barriers. We have provided more than 100,000 safe medical abortion services. Our website offers comprehensive and easy-to-read information about abortion in 27 languages and our multinational helpdesk team has responded to more than a million emails in 16 different languages in the past 17 years.
The internet has enabled us to reach those previously excluded from accessing services because of legal restrictions and cultural and social norms. We have been able to provide them with much-needed privacy, anonymity, and increased control over the abortion process. The internet has enabled us to challenge the power relationship between patient and provider. We have been able to reframe the provider’s role altogether by putting abortion pills directly in the hands of the people who need to end unwanted pregnancies.
