In a small town in Hungary one April afternoon, Vivien, 24, knew that her period was 10 days late. 

While she dreamed of one day starting a family with her fiance, she also knew that now was not the right time. So, she took a pregnancy test, where she learned that she was indeed pregnant. 

A few days later, she ordered abortion medication online, which is illegal in Hungary, from the international nonprofit Women on Web (WoW). She felt that the pills were her only option to protect herself now — and in the future.

“I was worried that [doctors would] mess up something during the [abortion] surgery, and perhaps later on, when we are ready, we won’t be able to have a child,” said Vivien, explaining why she opted for medical abortion via pills instead of a surgical abortion carried out in a hospital.

Vivien, who spoke to More to Her Story without her full name for her safety, is one among thousands of Hungarian women who have turned to WoW for online medical consultations and mail-order abortion drugs. According to the WoW website, the number of abortion pill requests from Hungary rose by 40 percent between 2021 and 2023 as abortion access declined in the country over the last few years. The latest abortion restriction, known as a “heartbeat law” introduced in 2022, requires women to view the vital signs of a fetus with a medical professional before undergoing an abortion, adding both bureaucratic and emotional challenges to the process. New data from WoW shared with More to Her Story shows that following this restriction, the number of women who turn to the internet continue to increase.

“This does not mean that the number abortions is increasing,” Hazal Atay, a researcher at WoW, told More to Her Story. “But what this does show us is that the [government] restrictions are not effective; they are just pushing women outside of formal healthcare.” 

In Hungary, surgical abortions are legal for up to 12 weeks. But the far-right nationalist government of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who has been in power since 2010, has implemented various measures to curtail access, beginning with Orbán’s government banning medical abortions in 2012.

“We call this a sneaking restriction,” says Krisztina Les, a social worker with the women’s rights and abortion access advocacy group Patent, in describing Hungary’s controversial heartbeat law. Orbán’s government has long been keen on increasing the country’s birth rate through implementing sweeping measures, such as offering financial help for parents who start families. Abortion restrictions are part of this plan. 

“You never know when the pro-natalist government will impose tighter rules, which makes women, and us, vulnerable,” says Les.

Vivien decided to use an abortion pill to end her pregnancy, because she didn’t want to go through “the humiliation that people who choose this path get in Hungarian hospitals,” she says.

“I had a friend who chose that path and was treated horribly, even though they didn't know anything about why she made that decision,” she says, referring to poor bedside manner and unsolicited judgments from the healthcare professionals, which most women who went through an abortion reported in research by Patent. 

Before the termination of the pregnancy, women are required to attend two counseling sessions with nurses who are legally required to dissuade them, along with a visit to a doctor to view any vital signs of the fetus. Women then have to secure a place in their local public hospital to undergo the abortion procedure. While some hospitals admit women overnight, and others send them home after a few hours, pregnant women have reported long wait times in hospitals. Many, especially those who notice the pregnancy in later stages, struggle to remain in the 12 week legal requirement to attain an abortion..

Since 2023, dozens of Hungarian women have traveled to Austria weekly to seek medical abortion. The trip can cost €500, roughly half of an average monthly wage in Hungary, or the average monthly rent in the capital, Budapest.

In comparison, WoW provides abortion pills for €70 - 90, depending on location. According to the WoW website, the organization offers free abortion care for those in “difficult financial situations,” including Ukrainian refugees in Poland. 

The World Health Organization and a French manufacturer has tried to bring abortion pills to the Hungarian market since 2007, but the procedure has since stalled, and the use of mifepristone-based medication eventually banned in Hungary in 2012, points out Réka Lebedi, a lawyer at independent NGO Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (TASZ). 

Ordering medication to terminate pregnancy amounts to a misdemeanor in Hungary. Authorities could confiscate the pill and issue a warning or even a fine. If the pregnancy is above the legal limit of 12 weeks, opting for medical abortion could amount to a felony. 

However, doctors don’t have an obligation to report on their patients, Lebedi adds. And while the Hungarian government could try to restrict access to the WoW website, they could not take it off the web as it’s legal in its origin country, Canada. 

Nevertheless, the legal ambiguity can result in fear for many women.

“I didn’t tell the doctor anything,” Rita, 25, says, referring to her plans to end her pregnancy with an abortion pill she attained online via WoW. The medication didn’t trigger a miscarriage, and she needed a surgical abortion to remove the fetus. At the time, she was 23 and already had an 8-month-old son. 

“I was afraid that there would be consequences,” she says. She agreed to tell her story without her real name. She took the pill when she was an estimated 6 weeks pregnant, and soon started bleeding heavily. Worried about the consequence of ordering the pills illegally, she didn’t reach out to a doctor despite the bleeding. After two weeks, she was admitted to a hospital, and received a surgical abortion. 

“I shut everyone out of the process. In hindsight, I’ve regretted it all,” she says, referring to ordering the pill without consulting her family or a doctor for support. “I wish I could turn back time.”

None of the women’s organizations More to Her Story spoke to were aware of any legal cases against women who ordered abortion pills. 

In a political environment where discussing abortion openly can be fraught with fear, the anonymity offered by online platforms allows women to explore their options and share their experiences without risking exposure.

“It’s absolutely necessary to have platforms where women talk about these things and support each other,” says Les, the social worker with Patent. “The anonymity of social media helps women discuss their options freely.”