Medical abortion
| Background | |
| Abortion type | Medical |
| First use | United States 1979 (carboprost), West Germany 1981 (sulprostone), Japan 1984 (gemeprost), France 1988 (mifepristone), United States 1988 (misoprostol) |
| Gestation | 3–24+ weeks |
| Usage | |
| France | 57% (2015) |
| Sweden | 91% (2015) |
| UK: Eng. & Wales | 55% (2015) |
| UK: Scotland | 81% (2015) |
| United States | 30% (2014) |
A medical abortion is a type of non-surgical abortion in which abortifacient pharmaceutical drugs are used to induce abortion. An oral preparation for medical abortion is commonly referred to as an abortion pill.
Medical abortion became an alternative method of abortion with the availability of prostaglandin analogs in the 1970s and the antiprogestogen mifepristone (also known as RU-486) in the 1980s.
According to the 2006 WHO Frequently asked clinical questions about medical abortion, regarding factors that should be taken into account when counseling a woman about her choice between medical and surgical abortion:
There is little, if any, difference between medical and surgical abortion in terms of safety and efficacy. Thus, both methods are similar from a medical point of view and there are only very few situations where a recommendation for one or the other method for medical reasons can be given.
Medical abortion may be preferred:
Surgical abortion may be preferred:
According to Women on Web, a telemedicine support service for women around the world who are seeking medical abortions:
If performed in the first 9 weeks, a medical abortion carries a very small risk of complications. This risk is the same as when a woman has a miscarriage. A doctor can easily treat these problems. Out of every 100 women who do medical abortion, 2 or 3 women will have to go to a doctor, first aid center or hospital to receive further medical care.
A table in the 2010 Handbook of Obstetric and Gynecologic Emergencies, 4th edition lists these possible complications of medical and surgical abortion:
Although medical abortion is associated with more bleeding than surgical abortion, overall bleeding for the two methods is minimal and not clinically different. In a large-scale prospective trial published in 1992 of more than 16,000 women undergoing medical abortion using mifepristone with varying doses of gemeprost or sulprostone, only 0.1% had hemorrhage requiring a blood transfusion. It is often advised to contact a health care provider if there is bleeding to such degree that more than two pads are soaked per hour for two consecutive hours.
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