Medical Abortion Works Well Through 70 Days' Gestation

One third of U.S. women will seek abortion services at some point in their lives, yet 87% of U.S. counties lack abortion providers. Mifepristone (200 mg) combined with misoprostol (800 µg) has been proved safe for women and effective for terminating pregnancies as late as 63 days after the last menstrual period (LMP).

Now, a comparative open-label trial involving 629 women seen at six U.S. abortion clinics has shown that success rates for outpatient medical abortion with this regimen are similarly high in women 64 to 70 days after LMP (92.8%) and 57 to 63 days after LMP (93.5%); in both groups, 3% required vacuum aspiration to complete the abortion. Overall, participants reported a median of 2 days of heavy bleeding after medical abortion, b…