On Saturday, September 28, 2000, the FDA approved medication abortion for use in the U.S. As promised, the pill has been safe, legal, non-invasive, effective, and -- if instructions are followed -- without risk to future fertility. The pill also ensures that women can make their own private medical decisions and have the option of a more private method of ending a pregnancy.
Growing steadily in demand since FDA approval, medication abortion is used by one in four women who have an early abortion. It can be used up to 63 days -- 9 weeks -- after the first day of a woman's last period. It is taken in three steps: first, a health care provider gives the patient a dose of medication -- mifepristone -- in pill form. Three days after the first pill, the patient takes a second -- misoprostol. More than half of the women who use mifepristone usually abort within four or five hours after taking misoprostol. The entire process is usually completed within a few days.
Planned Parenthood, the nation's leading women’s health care provider, began offering medication abortion shortly after the FDA approved its use. Today, more than one-third of women who choose to end a pregnancy at Planned Parenthood use medication abortion. Using Planned Parenthood medical professionals, who offer accurate and unbiased information about options, a patient decides when and where the procedure will happen and who should be with her. The patient has access to medical professionals 24/7 if she has any questions or concerns. Prior to receiving any medication, the patient completes a medical history, is given a blood test and an ultrasound to date the pregnancy. She is told how the process works, the range of normal symptoms to expect, and the warning signs to look out for.
As successful as medication abortion has been these past 13 years, there is still a long way to go to achieve true equity in U.S. abortion care. Among the chief barriers is a geographical divide. 35% of U.S. women live in mostly rural counties where there is no abortion provider nor easy access to reproductive health care facilities.
The big challenge for Planned Parenthood -- and other health care providers -- is to find creative ways to reach women in rural areas so they too can access early medication abortion services.
Learn more about the abortion pill and whether it's right for you.
