A step-by-step look at how these drugs can end a pregnancy
Editor’s Note (03/15/23): A Texas judge is set to hear arguments today in a case that restricted access to the abortion drug mifepristone, potentially threatening the authority of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. This opinion piece published last year explained how mifepristone works in combination with the drug misoprostol.
In 2016, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a two-drug combination of Mifeplex (also known as RU-486 or Mifepristone) and Cytotech (commonly known as misoprostol) to induce abortion without surgery. approved. In 2019, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that approximately 42% of all abortions in the U.S. were drug-based.
To start this process, take mifepristone within 10 weeks of your last period. Take misoprostol after a day or two. Both drugs work individually but are more effective when used together. Mifepristone blocks the action of progesterone on the uterus, making it incapable of supporting pregnancy. Misoprostol, among other things, initiates uterine contractions.
Research shows that medical abortion is safe and effective. Her 2015 study from the University of California, Los Angeles found that 99.6% of her more than 30,000 women who sought medical abortion were able to terminate their pregnancies. A 2013 review of clinical trials combining mifepristone and misoprostol found that of her more than 45,000 women in the study, only 1 had a complication requiring hospitalization. Only she was 0.3%. If the pregnancy exceeds 8 weeks or if the instructions are not followed, sometimes the treatment fails.The drug mortality rate is less than 0.001% for her.
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