As Abortion Access Dwindles, This App Offers Safe, Discreet Options - 精东影业 Magazine Solutions Journalism

Obtaining medically accurate information about abortion can be difficult yet dire for pregnant people desperate for answers.

Why you can trust us

By Erin Sagen

4 MIN READ

Sep 25, 2019

Each year, 25 million unsafe abortions are performed around the world. The rate of unsafe abortions is higher where access to skilled providers and effective contraception is limited or unavailable, or where sexual education is lacking.

Accessing medically accurate information about abortion can be a sensitive pursuit for people desperate for answers; it鈥檚 particularly dire if they鈥檙e pregnant without wanting to be. Decisions based on misinformation can lead to disability鈥攁nd even death.

Earlier this year, Hesperian, a Berkeley, California-based nonprofit that develops and publishes health information on a range of global issues, created the Safe Abortion app as a way for people to learn about their medical options safely and discreetly.

Users of the app can find a pregnancy calculator, descriptions of different abortion methods, and instructions for how to administer misoprostol for a medical abortion.

The app can be downloaded for free and operated offline, a design feature to safeguard privacy. Because of its offline functionality, however, users aren鈥檛 able to connect with one another to build community through engagement.

Additionally, despite providing an 鈥渆xtensive FAQ section,鈥� according to its website, the app doesn鈥檛 offer a list of resources for where to find providers or misoprostol, crucial information for people who live where abortion is being legislatively attacked, restricted and dismantled.

In May, Alabama鈥檚 governor signed into a law聽an abortion ban that would exempt only those whose lives are at risk or whose fetuses aren鈥檛 viable. Since then, a number of states鈥攊ncluding Missouri, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Georgia鈥攈ave moved to drastically restrict access.

鈥淚t鈥檚 getting harder and harder for them to get鈥� accurate information about abortion, said Sarah Shannon, executive director of Hesperian. It鈥檚 already hard in many places in the world.

Users from more than 220 countries visit Hesperian online, researching information on topics from malaria to HIV to midwifery, and on matters as practical as latrine building. Content is translated into more than 80 languages.

But Shannon said she and Hesperian staff noticed that the most popular search on the site was for unsafe abortion.

鈥淯niformly, this was always among the top, if not the most visited, piece of content from anywhere in the world,鈥� she said.

There are about聽2,700 crisis pregnancy centers in the U.S., more than three times the number of clinics that perform abortions.

To date, Shannon said, the app has had about 4,600 active users. 鈥淭his is a really engaged group of users,鈥� each of whom is 鈥渁veraging four sessions, at least,鈥� she says.

鈥淲e believe it鈥檚 either information shared with others, which we really hope to be the case, or a woman consulting it multiple times to just make sure she鈥檚 got the right information.鈥�

The top users of the app are from the United States, Nigeria, India, Argentina, Cameroon, and Mexico, but people interact with it differently depending on where they live, she says.

For example, across Latin America and in Nigeria聽, performed legally only under the most extreme circumstances鈥攖o save the parent鈥檚 life. People know where to get abortion pills, but they don鈥檛 know how to take them, or they might not take them because they don鈥檛 know the effects.

In the U.S., where abortion is restricted in many states, people risk being misled by anti-choice apps and by crisis pregnancy centers, which in many cases are not pregnancy centers at all.

Operating in communities across the country, these fake pregnancy centers are 鈥渟torefronts that use false and misleading advertising and the offer of free pregnancy tests or other services鈥� to counsel people against abortions, according to NARAL Pro-Choice America.

Although some of the clinics do provide support and information that benefit pregnant people, many do not: 20% of the 聽falsely told clients that abortion causes an increased risk of breast cancer, and 73% investigated in Minnesota 鈥渟uggested a link between abortion and future miscarriages.鈥�

鈥淎n app isn鈥檛 the solution for everyone, but the more solutions and options, the better.鈥�

About , more than three times the number of clinics that perform abortions.

Far less is known about online efforts to influence people against abortions. Anti-abortion centers such as Birth Choice Centers and Care Net, which has a 鈥渘etwork of more than 1,100 affiliated pregnancy centers,鈥� offer mobile apps to stop people from obtaining abortions. Their features include scripts that anti-abortion advocates can use to dissuade people considering an abortion, and tools for scheduling 鈥渇ree and confidential鈥� visits at the clinics.

For many, shame and stigma from an unintended pregnancy can instill fear of exploring medical options, says Renee Bracey Sherman, senior public affairs manager at the National Network of Abortion Funds and founder of We Testify, a leadership program for abortion storytellers.

鈥淧eople who are pregnant don鈥檛 know where they can go for information,鈥� she says. 鈥淎nd the anti-abortion movement wants that.鈥�

But Bracey Sherman said visibility and community, two features the app鈥檚 architecture lacks, are also key.

鈥淥f course, some people will want someone to talk to about their experience,鈥� she said in an email, 鈥渟o an app isn鈥檛 the solution for everyone, but the more solutions and options, the better.鈥�

Shannon agreed that a forum or some online portal to foster community would benefit users, as would a list of local abortion providers or pill distributors. Her team decided against it, though, to avoid exposing clandestine distribution channels of the pill and jeopardizing people鈥檚 health in parts of the world where .

She said she looks forward to the app being used more so that 鈥渁nybody who needs it has that information.鈥�