Surgical abortions are in-clinic procedures using suction or other medical tools to get rid of a pregnancy from the uterus. consistent with the Guttmacher Institute, nearly one in four U.S. women (about 24 percent) will have an abortion by age 45, and therefore the majority of these abortions are surgical. Surgical abortions can take anywhere from 5 to twenty minutes and that they are a secure, effective, and customary procedure. The overwhelming majority of surgical abortions occur within the first trimester; this is often the foremost common abortion option available after 10 weeks of pregnancy.
Medication abortions (also mentioned as “medical abortions”—but we’ll use “medication abortion” to be totally clear) generally include taking two pills—mifepristone and misoprostol—to terminate a pregnancy. With a medicine abortion, you’re taking the primary pill (mifepristone) either at a physician’s office or reception (depending on the laws in your state) then you’re taking the second pill (misoprostol) 6 to 48 hours later. (The FDA-approved regimen states that you simply should take misoprostol 24 to 48 hours later, but many abortion providers even have patients administer the second pill as early as six hours later, as evidence has shown this is often effective when administering misoprostol vaginally.) Together, these medications are approved by the FDA for abortion purposes up to 10 weeks (70 days) gestation, and therefore the regimen is understood to be about 95 percent effective.
Cramping and bleeding typically start within a couple of hours of taking the second medication. Nausea, vomiting, cramping, heavy vaginal bleeding, and diarrhea are all common side effects of medical abortion. As many as 5 percent of individuals might not completely pass the pregnancy, which is why follow-up is vital. Most clinics will have you ever return for an additional ultrasound appointment to form sure the abortion is over, but as of March 2016, the FDA guidelines changed and do not explicitly state that an in-clinic follow-up is usually necessary, so a follow-up can also happen over the phone.
As you’ll imagine, various obstacles can make it difficult to access a medicine abortion. In fact, the primary pill, mifepristone, can’t be distributed to or dispensed at pharmacies. there’s something called a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS) program in effect with mifepristone, which is employed by the FDA to reduce the danger of adverse events happening in reference to certain medications because the FDA explains. But we abortion providers near-universally agree that, with mifepristone, this is often unnecessary and interferes with abortion access, because the medication is extremely safe.
As the Guttmacher Institute states: “Anyone seeking a medicine abortion must locate a registered provider who features a supply of mifepristone—a task made harder because the stringent registration and stocking requirements [that] limit the number of providers willing and ready to offer mifepristone. That much regulation can delay—and ultimately prevent—an individual from accessing a medicine abortion altogether, especially in underserved communities like those in rural areas.”
