Original article: https://www.vice.com/en/article/qjby4b/anarchist-collective-shares-instructions-to-make-diy-abortion-pills
Original video: https://archive.org/details/FTVDIYA
Original Usage Information: https://archive.org/details/miso-medication/mode/2up
Original English subtitles file (SRT): https://archive.org/details/ftvdiya-subtitle
Video created by: Michael Laufer of The Four Thieves Vinegar Collective
This video was uploaded for archival purposes. Merchants of Misery cannot speak to the safety of making your own pills.
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That’s fucking dangerous. Why would you do intentionally harm yourself with random poison someone from the internet concocted?
Being pregnant and giving birth are also very dangerous. This is meant for women who do not have access to Plan C or a doctor who will perform an abortion. Misoprostol is not a random poison-- it is a drug that is ~85% effective in inducing abortion and commonly used to induce abortions in conventional abortion pills.
https://twitter.com/pleasetryathome
https://twitter.com/MichaelSLaufer
Dr. Laufer’s a pretty educated guy with a long history of successful biohacking. “Please Try This at Home” is a queer anarchist biohacking convention. I’m a research scientist and while I understand your concerns, I urge you to consider the concerns of women who cannot otherwise access Plan C pills or a doctor who will perform an abortion.
In fact, I was initially shown this video by a leftist friend of mine who is also a scientist and considerably more educated than me. I disagreed with her and felt the same way as you-- that it was irresponsible for us to share a video created by some rando telling women to make their own homebrew abortion pills. She pushed back and explained that a) misoprostol isn’t some sketchy drug, b) Michael Laufer and the Four Thieves Vinegar Collective aren’t some randos speaking on subjects they don’t understand, and c) this is meant for women who are in dire situations who have no other options of inducing an abortion, plain and simple.
This isn’t meant for women who have access to Plan C. This isn’t meant for women who can have abortion pills mailed to them. This is meant for women who, for whatever reason, cannot otherwise access abortion pills or a doctor who can perform an abortion.
I’ll remind you that coathanger abortions were and still are a thing, unfortunately. For women who are in situations as dire as that, inducing an abortion through homemade abortion pills containing misoprostol is a considerably safer option.
I get what you’re saying-- I can’t say I’m comfortable having to share this video but I’ve talked to a number of my friends who are women about this, many of which are also scientists, and every single one basically said the same thing as my friend who shared the video with me-- that this isn’t an ideal option but for women without any other safer options, this is the least worst option.
Do you get what I mean? And again, I strongly encourage you to take that doubtful energy and look into the work of the Four Thieves Vinegar Collective, Michael Laufer, and “Please Try This at Home”.
a) misoprostol isn’t some sketchy drug, b) Michael Laufer and the Four Thieves Vinegar Collective aren’t some randos speaking on subjects they don’t understand, and c) this is meant for women who are in dire situations who have no other options of inducing an abortion, plain and simple.
I acknowledge and support all of those points but that still doesn’t make it very safe. I mean, you can probably die from both the pill and a birth.
How effective is a regular abortion pill and why is the aftercare section so short? This doesn’t read like a package insert but more like a leaflet from some weirdo. If b is correct, they should certainly up their game.
I acknowledge and support all of those points but that still doesn’t make it very safe.
It makes it safer than the alternative that is having an unwanted pregnancy. The likelihood of dying from pregnancy and giving birth, especially if one cannot access adequate healthcare and support afterwards, is considerably higher than the likelihood of dying from misoprostol.
I’m going to answer your question by encouraging you read up on Michael Laufer and the work that went into creating this instructional video. A regular abortion pill is ~95% effective because it contains both misoprostol and mifepristone, the latter of which is considerably harder to source than the former, thus the reason why these DIY abortion pills are ~85% effective, since they do not contain mifepristone.
It’s unfortunate that you’re curious enough about this to call the creator of the video a weirdo, and the drug a “random poison”, but you aren’t curious enough to take even a few minutes to read up on the Michael Laufer, The Four Thieves Vinegar Collective, or the research behind these DIY abortion pills.
If you were pregnant and under no circumstances did you want to give birth, but you did not have access to Plan C or a doctor who would perform an abortion… what would you do? It’s a shame that as a leftist, you seem more concerned with casting baseless aspersions than learning about this potentially lifesaving information.
Who is the target audience? I thought this was about Roe v Wade. I guess people in the US have access to healthcare, just not abortions specifically?
It’s unfortunate that you’re curious enough about this to call the creator of the video a weirdo, and the drug a “random poison”, but you aren’t curious enough to take even a few minutes to read up on the Michael Laufer, The Four Thieves Vinegar Collective, or the research behind these DIY abortion pills.
Where did I write that the creator of the video was a weirdo? And how is it my job to research those pills when there’s a literal document with missing information?
Who is the target audience?
I answered this already. I said "This is meant for women who do not have access to Plan C or a doctor who will perform an abortion. "
Where did I write that the creator of the video was a weirdo?
You said
“This doesn’t read like a package insert but more like a leaflet from some weirdo.”
If you’re more concerned with arguing semantics about whether or not you explicitly referred to the video’s creator as a weirdo, that’s on you.
And how is it my job to research those pills when there’s a literal document with missing information?
I didn’t say it was your job, I said if you’re curious enough to be interested in a discussion about this important subject, I would encourage you to be an adult and look into the wealth of information available on this DIY process and the main drug it relies on for efficacy.
