A website where women in the Netherlands can order abortion pills online without seeing a doctor first has been put on hold because demand is too great, five days after its launch.

Thuisabortus.nl provides abortion pills for women up to nine weeks into an unwanted pregnancy but the site’s medical team was unable to process the requests, which totalled 150, or 30 a day, Nu.nl reported.

The team evaluates the information on a form filled out by the women and either agrees to issue a prescription for the pills or refers the woman to a doctor.

Family doctor Peter Leusink, who came up with the idea of distributing the abortion pills online, said he had expected “five to seven requests” a day.

“We are a team of family doctors who do this outside of our regular job. The idea was an hour in the morning, an hour in the afternoon and an hour at night. We didn’t see this coming,” he said.

Leusing said four of five more doctors would be added to the team this week to ensure a proper evaluation of the requests. The site will reopen after Easter with one doctor working full-time, he said.

Criticism

The website had come in for criticism from family doctors association LHV, doctors federation KNMG and abortion doctors association NGvA. Their main objection is that the women do not see a doctor before deciding on the treatment and that vulnerable women, who may need extra help, will disappear under the radar.

But according to Leusink, that attitude is “paternalistic” and women who want more information are free to see their doctor.

Karin van der Velde, of sex education centre Rutgers, said she does not share the concerns about the low-threshold provision of the pills. “Where you get the pills has no bearing on how women have come to their decision. It’s as if they can’t make up their mind without a talk to the doctor,” she said.

Research

According to American research, 99% of women stand by their decision to end a pregnancy five years later, she said and the online route is much more common abroad. “We are not exactly inventing the wheel here,” she said.

Leusink does not expect the number of abortions in the Netherlands, currently at 40,000 a a year, to rise because of the website. Most women would have abortions anyway but for some it will make a difference in how they achieve one, he said.

“Some women find out relatively late that they are pregnant and can’t immediately go to an abortion clinic. Or they are controlled by their partners  or not allowed to go out unaccompanied. The website can help those women,” he said.