In countries where abortion is illegal or difficult to access, people turn to online vendors and underground networks to source medical abortion pills (mifepristone and misoprostol). Misoprostol can be purchased from pharmacies in some countries, while mifepristone is often harder to buy locally but is widely sold online because so many manufacturers in India and China produce generic mifepristone products. Abortion pills can be complex to import because of customs interception, so activist networks coordinate shipments across borders. Self-managed abortion is supported by extensive online treatment communities of activists who support pill users to undergo clandestine abortion and avoid detection if they live in countries where abortion is a crime. Medication abortion with pills has transformed the safety and accessibility of abortion, dramatically changing the relationship between what is legal and what is safe: pills make safe but illegal abortion possible with concrete benefits for health and bodily autonomy.

For example: Abortion is almost completely illegal in Poland. Polish activists use online platforms to share information about how to buy pharmaceutical abortion pills from Indian manufacturers and distributors, and how to obtain these products in Poland without violating its highly restrictive abortion law. They have developed complex systems to help people travel across borders for abortion, when they need clinical care, while helping others to obtain abortion pills by mail or through local networks when they can use medication at home for self-managed terminations.