intimate decisions in their lives. it s now apparently gonna affect within days, another way for women in states with abortion bans, to access abortion maybe for them to get abortion pills, which again you can use for many abortions in the first ten weeks or so a pregnancy. if you get abortion pills, prescribed by a provider overseas, provider in another country, who is therefore beyond the reach of u.s. state laws, designed to block that sort of thing. that is an approach pioneered by a doctor named, rebecca gomperts. she s a dutch doctor. she has spent decades figuring out innovative ways, to get abortion services to women in countries where abortion is illegal. her organization, women on waves, has, for example, provided abortions on ships, floating in international waters. she then created women on web, to male abortion pills to patients all around the globe. in 2018, she saw into the
the united states as well. figuring out how to get abortion services to women in states where it is illegal. the time now, for americans who have done pioneering work for decades. joining us is the doctor, the founder of women on waves and aid access. doctor, i appreciate you joining us. especially given how late it is where you are. it is really kind of you to be here. thank you so much, rachel. i m glad to be with you. let me ask you first about the roe v. wade decision by the united states supreme court. i think it could not be described as a surprise in this country, even though i think it was still a shock. i know enough about your work to know that you probably saw it coming better than maybe some of us here did, and you have also taken steps even ahead of that ruling to try to mitigate some of the severe restrictions that
concept in terms of how women can make decisions, about the most intimate decisions in their lives, it will apparently affect them within days. another way for women in states with abortion bans to access abortion may be for them to get abortion pills which you can use for many abortions within the first ten weeks or so of pregnancy, you can get abortion pills prescribed by a provider overseas, a provider in another country, who is there beyond the reach of u.s. state laws designed to block that kind of thing. behind the dutch doctor, spent decades figuring out innovative ways to get abortion services to women in countries where abortion is illegal. her organization, women on waves has for example provided abortions on ships, floating in international waters, and she then raet created women on web,
as women on waves based in the netherlands say they are facilitating the drugs to women in the u.s. they re promising to step up no matter where the women are or what state laws say. what i m doing is legal under the laws where i work from. and actually i have a medical oath to do this. i m a doctor. my oath is that i help people that are in need and that is what i am doing. reporter: in many states where lawmakers are trying to stamp out abortion rights, the simple truth is they have written a lot of special lines in their laws to keep outside providers of these pills from accessing their population. but, abortion rights defenders say it s only five little pills and they believe there is a way to get them to the women they see in need. tom foreman, cnn, washington. our thanks to tom foreman. we re seeing wave after wave
effective, available and now used for more than half of all abortions. abortion activists have been quietly building a whole new business model to target young women on their phones, to click, get information and receive abortion drugs by mail. reporter: the food and drug administration approved mail-order supplies with a prescription this past december for women in the first ten weeks of pregnancy. advocates insist it s less invaszive, more discrete and safer than surgical. they want to be able to manage their abortion in their own home with their family and around in a surrounding with people they re comfortable with. we ve seen an incredible increase of requests. people are really, really scared of what s going to happen. that s why some abortion rights supporters, such as women on waves in the netherlands, say