Widespread use of abortion pills without prescription in India

I wonder if abortion advocates who pushed for the widespread distribution of RU-486 pills would have ever imagine something like this could happen in a country where abortion is legal.

According to them, last three-four years had seen abuse of abortion pills in the city. Swamped with cases, where both married and single women took these pills without expert's guidance and landed in life-threatening situations, leaving doctors worried.

Thanks to chemists, illegally selling drugs without prescription, sale of the abortion pill has shot up significantly, but so has the number of cases of women with complications rushing to the doctors.

According to estimates of chemists' association, in past three years growth in sale of abortion pills has shot up to nearly 300%. As per health department figures, as much as 65-70% of abortions still go unreported as women want to maintain secrecy. And a considerable 23,000-25,000 number of annual maternal deaths in India are attributed to abortions.

The story also notes that abortion pills are more popular than contraceptives.

Sale of abortion pills: 20% more than contraceptive pills