Abortion Pills Are Safe Without In Person Exams

Abortion Using Pills

Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) is a procedure involving the use of either medication or surgeries to ward of unwanted pregnancy. The most common abortifacient regimen in a medical abortion protocol consists of a combination two drugs: Mifepristone & Misoprostol kit. Their consumption route is either oral or via the vagina. Usage of abortion pills is the most preferred and safer pathway to put an end to pregnancy because neither surgery nor anaesthesia is involved in this process. If taken within seven to eight weeks of gestation abortion by means of these drugs shows 98% efficacy. As a consequence, abortion using medications has become the most preferred method for pregnancy termination nowadays.

Common restrictions against Medical Abortion

Standard Protocol for Medical Abortion

Earlier the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), made it mandatory for women to take these drugs if prescribed at in-person visits only, thus limiting their access. FDA also restricts the usage of medication to the first trimester days of pregnancy only. Before undergoing the process of medication abortion the standard protocol follows two crucial medical examinations:

• Blood and Urine Test – To determine the blood group of the patient; to check whether the patient has an Rh (-ve) type of blood; to check if the patient has any severe medical condition.
• An Ultrasound Exam - To determine the viability of the pregnancy; for accurate pregnancy dating; to examine whether the patient is suffering from ectopic pregnancy (pregnancy outside of the uterus) or molar pregnancy (a tumour that developed in the uterus).

Restrictions on Mifepristone

• Oral Mifepristone (Mifeprex RU-486) inhibits progesterone, a hormone majorly needed for maintenance of pregnancy, resulting in the breakdown of the uterine lining thus stopping the growth of the embryo.
• As specified by the Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) program of FDA, mifepristone, the first abortion pill of the two-drug regimen, must be clinically prescribed either by a medical institute or hospital under the supervision of a health professional registered with the pharmaceutical or the drug manufacturing company.
• Moreover, a patient was bound to sign an agreement form verifying that she has received proper consultation regarding the risks associated with the abortion pills. 

Temporary Withdrawal of  FDA Restrictions

When the world was exposed to the life-threatening COVID-19, a major section of the society demanded the removal of certain restrictions against abortion pills, for the purpose of making abortion more accessible during the pandemic. Accordingly the FDA lifted these restrictions temporarily thus allowing women to have safe termination of pregnancy without any surgery or anaesthesia in their homes itself. Withdrawal of these restrictions together with the no in-person exams provided an easy access to the abortion pill via telemedicine services. This type of telephonic consultations and video conferencing not only helped many women to receive medications by mail thus providing medical care right at their doorstep during the pandemic but also enabled researchers to construct lot of case-studies which supported the fact that medical abortions are absolutely safe and effective without in-person visits.

Recent Case Studies Showing the Effectiveness of Medical Abortions without in-person visits

Researchers of JAMA Internal Medicine examined about 3,779 women around 34 states of United States who underwent abortion during the pandemic using just medications. The data collected by them revealed:

• Neither of these women did ultrasonography before taking the medications
• About one-third of these women got their medications by mail other than visiting the pharmacy
• Efficiency rate of complete termination of early pregnancy was 95% which did not made any difference whether the women visited the pharmacy in-person or received the pills by mails.
• Only 0.5% of them required further surgery, blood- transfusion or a hospital visit
• Less than 0.4% of the women surveyed had serious medical complications thus requiring surgical procedures to terminate their pregnancies.

These studies have supported the fact that all those early restrictions are non-essential for safe and secure medical abortion. Nevertheless, the medical tests can be done optionally for better assurance of complete termination of pregnancy without any risk of infection in the future. Researchers also concluded that it is very important for women to know about the consequences of this procedure from their healthcare providers.