A group is operating under the radar through international texting app “WhatsApp” to help women in Brazil illegally abort their unborn babies.
“This is a feminist group for selling medication. Our group is a place of support and assistance so, for security reasons, we ask you to delete the history of the group at least once a week,” the anonymous group moderator wrote. The WhatsApp group also forbids women from discussing anything other than abortion procedure when exchanging messages.
It is “forbidden to share group prints or conversations with outsiders,” however, a BBC News reporter posed as a Brazilian woman seeking an abortion to gain access to the group’s conversations. After revealing her identity to the group, BBC reporter Nathalia Passarhino interviewed the group’s founder who agreed to the interview given that the identities of all group members remain hidden.
The group sells abortion-inducing pills to women by bank transfer, and most pills cost roughly $265. “I did the procedure alone at my house and reported the time I was going to start to the WhatsApp group,” an anonymous woman told BBC News.
Abortion is illegal in Brazil except in cases of rape or where the mother’s life is in danger. Women who abort and those who facilitate illegal abortions face up to four years in prison.
The group’s founder started the virtual organization after she was raped by a police officer. “I don’t think it’s fair that we are forced to do this [remain pregnant],” she said. She explained that other women shouldn’t have to go through what she did, and that “virtual midwives” help the women in the group while they undergo their abortions. (RELATED: California Think Tank Guide Encourages Docs To Tell Women Getting Abortions They’re Being ‘Responsible’)
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“These women are facing risks,” said Gynecologist Alessandra Giovanini, warning that illegal abortion procedures are extremely dangerous. Roughly 25 million unsafe abortions occur each year, the World Health Organization reported.
The Guttmacher Institute reported that 22,800 women die every year from trying to abort their babies illegally, according to its March 2018 fact sheet. The organization envisions “a world in which all people are able to exercise their rights and responsibilities regarding sexual behavior and reproduction freely and with dignity.” It also reported that 25 percent of all pregnancies in the world ended in abortion between 2010 and 2014.
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