Abortion
The Abortion Pill: Mifepristone and Misoprostol for Early Abortion
The Abortion Pill:
Medical Abortion with Mifepristone and Misoprostol
Use
At your first appointment at the clinic, an ultrasound is performed to confirm you are less than 8 weeks pregnant. You then speak with an experienced counselor who explains how mifepristone and misoprostol work and makes sure you get answers to all of your questions. Your health history is carefully reviewed and if you meet the criteria, the doctor will give you the mifepristone to take orally. You are also given one bottle containing four tablets of misoprostol to be used 24 to 72 hours after taking mifepristone. If this first dosage fails to induce a miscarriage, please call the clinic to receive instructions on using your back-up misoprostol tablets.
What To Expect
Upon taking mifepristone at the clinic you may begin to bleed. As each woman's body is different, bleeding varies from woman to woman. Some may experience light bleeding much like spotting towards the end of a menstrual period. Others have heavier bleeding like their regular menstrual period, or like a heavy period. Some women do not experience any bleeding until taking the misoprostol.
Upon taking the second medication misoprostol tablet, cramping, bleeding, and clotting may begin as soon as 20 minutes. Within the next 6 to 8 hours, most women will miscarry. Cramping may come in waves with increasing and decreasing intensity. You can expect bleeding heavier than a menstrual period with large clots. During this time, you will pass the embryo although you may not see it since it is very small. The amount of bleeding when using the Medical Abortion is greater than with aspiration abortion.
Aftercare
A follow-up exam is scheduled for two weeks later to make sure the process is complete. If you have not yet miscarried, we will perform a aspiration abortion. A very small percentage (5%) of women do not pass the pregnancy tissue and need a suction procedure to complete the process.
Side Effects
Most of the side effects when using this early abortion option are caused by the second medication, misoprostol. Side-effects may include heavy bleeding, headache, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and heavy cramping.