SYDNEY, Australia, April 17, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – LifeSiteNews.com has exclusively obtained a copy of a now-defunct website at the centre of professional misconduct allegations against a Brisbane obstetrician, which could see her registration as a health practitioner cancelled.
A series of six videos at the former website, www.safeabortion.com.au, provide instructions on how to carry out chemical abortions up to the 29th week of pregnancy, solely using the drug misoprostol. In one of the videos, the website’s creator, Dr. Adrienne Freeman, says: “Side effects can be expected, and in fact are eagerly awaited.”
Dr. Freeman also suggests purchasing drugs on the black market, but adds the warning: “take care with your source.”
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A lighthouse at dusk appears at the top of each page on the website, alongside the taglines: “The Planet Guide for Lonely Females” and “Do It Yourself Termination of Pregnancy”, with the phrases “Safe Choice”, “Secret Choice” and “Eclectic Choice” written on the right-hand-side.
The website was originally published by Dr. Freeman in 2010, although she pulled it down voluntarily more than a month before it was due to be formally launched, after the Medical Board of Australia and the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG) questioned its legality.
On the home page of the website Dr. Freeman states: “The World Health Organization in 2009 designated misoprostol an agent classified so safe and efficacious, and often life-saving, that it is a human and health right of females everywhere to have access to a supply of it.”
In fact, the only official statement from the WHO in 2009 on misoprostol was in regards to its use in the treatment of post-partum hemorrhage. The statement said: “WHO does not recommend distribution of misoprostol to community level health workers or women and their families for routine or emergency use,” citing, among other reasons, a possible increase in the risk of maternal mortality.
In mid-march hearings against Dr. Freeman were adjourned by the Deputy President Judge of the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal, Fleur Kingham, after Dr. Freeman made last-minute attempts to submit evidence. Eighty-one of the 104 documents she submitted as evidence were rejected by the tribunal.
Judge Kingham did not say when the disciplinary hearing, which has been brought forward by the Medical Board of Australia, would resume.
In 2010 – after a drawn-out series of appeals – Dr. Freeman was found guilty of unsatisfactory professional conduct for sending a patient home to abort her 19-week-old baby using misoprostol without clear instructions.