Web Cam Abortions Available In Iowa
October 28, 2010 No Comments
Women in rural communities usually have the worst access to abortions and it seems Iowa has found a way around this by using web cams.
The Planned Parenthood doctors video conference with a patient in a rural community, talk to her about her pregnancy, talk to her about how the abortion pill works, and if everything goes well, they will push a button to open a drawer remotely. Out pop the pills, the woman takes them while the doctor watches on, and – hey presto! – the abortion begins.
I think this is a brilliant idea! They have been doing it for two years now and more than 1,500 patients have used this option.
Iowa Right to Life, as expected, is opposed. They recently presented a petition with just under 4,000 signatures against this program to the Iowa Board of Medicine. They say that this should be against the law because doctors have to provide abortions. But we all know it’s an issue with abortion itself, not telemedicine.
The Board did not make any decisions and says that the “issue of telemedicine remains under study.”
And Planned Parenthood says that “the telemedicine program was thoroughly researched to meet all legal requirements.”
This really should be the way forward for medicine.
It will allow women (and men and other people with other issues) to access health care that they otherwise wouldn’t be able to. Either their local doctor doesn’t have the expertise or they can’t get to the clinic or the local doctor just doesn’t have the resources to help all the patients. This kind of system would allow access to experts remotely, and if there are any problems patients could access local doctors for emergency treatment.
I’m definitely a fan of telemedicine and I hope Planned Parenthood doesn’t lose this very essential program.
