Medical abortion

Please read: Important 2013 cancer research update from Dr. Michael Camilleri

Free

E-newsletter

Subscribe to Housecall

Our weekly general interest
e-newsletter keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics.

Sign up now

Why it's done

By Mayo Clinic staff

A woman's reasons for pursuing medical abortion are highly personal. You may have mixed feelings about being pregnant. You may have major financial problems. Or you may not be capable of parenting due to mental health problems or other issues. For most of these circumstances there are alternatives, such as adoption. Sometimes a woman may have a serious medical problem that poses a life-threatening risk to her during pregnancy.

Some women prefer medical abortion over other types of abortion because some methods of medical abortion may be done at home, providing privacy and some degree of control.

Risks Definition
References
  1. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) Committee on Practice Bulletins — Obstetrics. ACOG Practice Bulletin No. 67: Medical management of abortion. Obstetrics and Gynecology. 2005;106:871. Reaffirmed 2011.
  2. Pregnancy choices: Raising the baby, adoption, and abortion. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. http://www.acog.org/Search?Keyword=abortion. Accessed Feb. 27, 2012.
  3. Induced abortion. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. http://www.acog.org/Search?Keyword=abortion. Accessed Feb. 27, 2012.
  4. Clark W, et al. Misoprostol as a single agent for medical termination of pregnancy. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index. Accessed Feb. 27, 2012.
  5. Spitz IM. Mifepristone for the medical termination of pregnancy. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index. Accessed Feb. 27, 2012.
  6. Methotrexate. Micromedex Healthcare Series. http://www.micromedex.com. Accessed April 24, 2012.
  7. Shulman LP, et al. Overview of pregnancy termination. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Feb. 27, 2012.
  8. Misoprostol. Micromedex 2.0. Thomson Reuters. http://www.thomsonhc.com/micromedex2/librarian. Accessed March 23, 2012.
  9. Templeton A, et al. A request for abortion. The New England Journal of Medicine. 2011:365:2198.
  10. Gallenberg MM (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic Rochester, Minn. March 26, 2012.
  11. Harms RW (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic Rochester, Minn. April 12, 2012.
MY00819 May 31, 2012

© 1998-2013 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research (MFMER). All rights reserved. A single copy of these materials may be reprinted for noncommercial personal use only. "Mayo," "Mayo Clinic," "MayoClinic.com," "EmbodyHealth," "Enhance your life," and the triple-shield Mayo Clinic logo are trademarks of Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research.

  • Reprints
  • Print

  • Share on:

  • Email

Advertisement


Text Size: smaller largerlarger