This telephone line, which she co-founded and to which some 70 health professionals take turns and volunteer, aims to answer questions from American women seeking abortions.

Especially to those performing a medical abortion alone at home, without seeing a doctor, because the procedure is now illegal in their state.

In 2019, Linda Prine and another colleague decided to set up this hotline in the face of growing restrictions under Donald Trump. They are then only 12 professionals to take turns.

Then, a year ago, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed federal abortion protection. In the process, fifteen states have banned or severely restricted access to abortion.

This decision has caused "a huge increase" in the number of calls, the doctor told AFP.

Even on vacation in a small rental house near New York, she ensures that day her permanence. In four hours, she receives 13 calls, and answers 18 different people by text.

"Before I could do other things at the same time. Now I sometimes don't even have time to go to the bathroom," laughs the activist who has been committed to abortion rights for decades. The permanence is sometimes "exhausting", she confides.

Reassure

The most frequent question of calls? How to find abortion pills. The "hotline" does not provide them directly, but redirects to other sites. In states where abortion is prohibited, it is still possible to order abortion from abroad.

Many call after taking them, to make sure the abortion actually worked. Pregnancy tests can remain positive for up to several weeks after a voluntary termination of pregnancy (IVG), sometimes causing confusion.

Linda Prine, doctor and founder of a phone line to answer questions from women seeking abortions, May 30, 2023 in New York © ANGELA WEISS / AFP

Tirelessly, Linda Prine asks benevolently: "Before taking the pills, did you have a sore chest, fatigue and nausea?" Have these symptoms "disappeared"?

Sometimes the anxiety comes from bleeding that lasts for several weeks -- which can be normal.

"Most of the time, we don't give medical advice. We reassure," explains Linda Prine. "The medical aspect (of the procedure) is very safe, but the fear and anxiety part is very complicated."

For fear of being denounced, many women do not tell anyone and feel very alone, she says. "You can hear in people's voices that they are grateful to be able to talk to someone who can answer their questions."

The telephone line is open 18 hours a day. Most of the volunteers are general practitioners, and patients remain anonymous.

That morning, one of them mentioned calling from Texas, where abortion is now illegal, even in cases of rape.

"I'm sorry you live in such a horrible state," the doctor said compassionately.

"Revolting"

Since the Supreme Court's decision, the main difference noted by Linda Prine is the state of pregnancies at the time abortion pills are taken -- which can take several weeks to arrive from abroad.

"During the first three years of the hotline, we had one or two calls from someone using the pills at 18 weeks," she says. "Now we sometimes have a call like that once or twice a day."

Linda Prine, doctor and founder of a phone line to answer questions from women seeking abortions, May 30, 2023 in New York © ANGELA WEISS / AFP

In the United States, abortion pills are authorized by the Drug Agency for up to 10 weeks after the end of the last menstrual period. After this period, women can have a surgical abortion where permitted.

When the pills are still taken in the second trimester of pregnancy, "the person is totally panicked, because they have just expelled a recognizable fetus, and the umbilical cord is still there, and they do not know what to do and are crying," says Linda Prine.

Most of the time, there is no need to consult, but it remains "revolting that someone has to go through this alone, without medical accompaniment" -- sometimes teenage girls, she is offended.

Anti-abortion activists "made this experience much worse," said the doctor, who herself had an abortion in college, when it was not yet legal everywhere in the United States.

The context can also cause feelings of guilt. "This morning a woman told me +I'm 39, I've never done anything illegal in my life, but I can't have another child," Prine said. "It made his experience much more difficult."

She says she is "furious" at restrictions on abortion rights in the United States. But she turns her rage into action: "That's what motivates me to fight back."

© 2023 AFP