Training Clandestine Abortion Pill Vendors

Providing inaccurate information about abortion pills puts women at risk, physically and legally.

THE NEED:

Abortion is completely prohibited in Honduras, forcing women to buy abortion pills through clandestine vendors on social media networks and Twitter ads. While some of these distributors provide accurate information about dosage, side effects, and signs of an emergency, there are many who do not. Providing inaccurate information about this medicine puts the women taking it at great risk, physically and legally.

OUR APPROACH:

Optio is teaching clandestine abortion pill vendors how to use a safe abortion app, designed by a US-based non-profit organization called Hesperian. Once we determine the number of clandestine vendors there are in each country, we meet with each vendor in person, working with them to incorporate either the abortion app itself or images from the app into their protocols. For example, many of the vendors that we’ve worked with now send screenshots to their clients that show information about dose, side effects, and what to do in case of an emergency. This harm reduction strategy aims to provide women who have already chosen the engage with these vendors the necessary information to keep themselves safe and avoid prosecution.