Can the abortion pill be reversed after you have taken it?

Can the abortion pill be reversed after you have taken it?

Here’s the deal: The “abortion pill” is the popular name for a safe and effective way to end an early pregnancy using a combination of two medicines: mifepristone and misoprostol. The first medicine (mifepristone) is given at a health center or your health care provider’s office. After taking mifepristone, you take a second medication (misoprostol) at home 6-48 hours later. This causes cramping and bleeding and empties your uterus.

Claims about treatments that reverse the effects of medication abortion are out there, and a handful of states require doctors and nurses to tell their patients about them before they can provide abortion care. But these claims haven’t been proven in reliable medical studies — nor have they been tested for safety, effectiveness, or the likelihood of side effects — so experts like the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists reject these untested supposed treatments.

Studies on the abortion pill do show that if you take the first medicine but not the second, the abortion pill is less likely to work. So if you’ve begun the process of having an abortion using the abortion pill but are having second thoughts, contact the doctor or nurse you saw for the abortion right away to talk about your best next steps and what to expect.

-Emily at Planned Parenthood