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Pills appear to be quick fix for those here on work permits
 A DRUG used to treat stomach ulcers is being abused by foreign women in Singapore looking for quick, clandestine abortions.
While it is not banned here, Cytotec is available only with a doctor’s prescription. It is, however, relatively easy to obtain on the black market.
The drug causes uterine contractions and thinning of the cervix, which can induce abortions.
The owner of a provision shop in Lucky Plaza toldThe Straits Times that women, mainly from the Philippines, regularly ask for the drug.
She claimed her shop did not sell it, but added: “They know they can get it at Lucky Plaza, but they don’t know exactly which shop they can get it at. It’s an open secret that it’s easy to get here.”
She said the drug was available at several provision shops and hair salons on the mall’s third floor. However, The Straits Times found just one shop that sold it, at $75 for four pills.
A Filipino shop assistant, who looked to be in her 30s, said she would call a supplier who would then bring the pills to the shop. Customers place their order, and return to collect the pills later.
She added that the number of pills required for an abortion depended on how advanced the pregnancy was.
 A spokesman for the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) said a raid was conducted yesterday at three shops in Lucky Plaza. An assortment of medicinal products, including contraceptives, sexual enhancement medicine, antibiotics and cosmetic products containing poisons, was seized from two of the three shops raided.
The spokesman added that investigations are ongoing and the three shop operators are assisting in them.
The pills appear to be a quick fix for those who are here on work permits. They are sent home if found to be pregnant, as they would be breaching Manpower Ministry laws that allow them to work here. Only those married to Singaporeans or permanent residents are exempted with the Government’s permission.
Improper use of Cytotec can be dangerous. An Indonesian maid from Batam, who took the drug to induce a miscarriage in her third month of pregnancy, told The Straits Times she suffered an incomplete abortion.
She said: “There was bleeding but the baby did not come out. My abdomen was very painful... In the end I had to see a doctor for an abortion.”
Professor Kuldip Singh, a senior consultant at the National University Hospital’s department of obstetrics and gynaecology, said he has seen cases of botched abortions resulting from the use of Cytotec by both Singaporean and foreign women.
He added that they experienced symptoms like abdominal pain, bleeding and fever. “If the abortion is incomplete, infection can set in.”
It is unclear how many women seek illegal abortions here. However, a pharmacist at a local pharmacy chain said he gets about one inquiry about Cytotec every month – mainly from Filipino women. “We usually just turn them away and tell them they need to have a doctor’s prescription to get the drug,” he said, adding that a pill costs $2.66.
Prof Singh said that though the use of Cytotec for illegal abortions did not appear to be widespread, it was “difficult to tell” if the problem would grow.
A recent report by New York-based advocacy group Centre for Reproductive Rights on unsafe abortions in the Philippines highlighted the widespread use of the drug. Abortions are illegal there.
The group’s spokesman, Ms Dionne Scott, said that in countries where abortion is restricted, women go on the black market and put themselves at risk of complications.
“In the Philippines, women use Cytotec without getting appropriate information on how and when to use it, and when they do experience complications, they don’t have safe access to medical facilities,” she said.
Dr Susheela Singh, vice-president for research at the Guttmacher Institute, a United States-based non-profit organisation, said there were no official statistics on unsafe abortions in Singapore. She added that research on Cytotec use was limited, but showed its use for abortions was prevalent in Latin America and Asia, especially in countries where legal abortions are not available.
A HSA spokesman said that over the past three years, one offender was prosecuted under the Poisons Act and fined $4,000 for the illegal sale of controlled substances, including Cytotec.
Those prosecuted under the Act can be fined up to $10,000 and/or jailed for up to two years. According to the Penal Code, there is a maximum jail term of seven years, a fine, or both for a person who voluntarily causes a woman to miscarry.
Not to be used by pregnant women
 CYTOTEC was licensed in Singapore in 1989 as a prescription drug to prevent and treat gastric and duodenal ulcers. It should not be used by pregnant women as it can cause contractions resulting in miscarriage and birth defects.
A spokesman for the Health Sciences Authority cautioned that Cytotec should be used only under strict medical supervision. Adverse effects following its use include abnormal contractions, bleeding from the womb and incomplete abortion, the spokesman added.
In 2001, an Indonesian maid who took Cytotec to abort her five-month-old foetus suffered an incomplete abortion.
Complications developed and doctors had to remove her uterus.
The 24-year-old woman, whose Singaporean boyfriend had bought the pills from a Filipino maid at Lucky Plaza, was jailed for nine months for causing a miscarriage. He was also jailed for helping her buy the pills.
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