Another Pill That Could Change Women’s Lives

Op-Ed Columnist - Another Pill That Could Change Women’s Lives - NYTimes.com: Researchers are finding that if women take misoprostol alone, [abortion] effectiveness drops to 80 to 85 percent. Medical abortion causes a miscarriage that is indistinguishable from a natural one. One serious downside is that misoprostol is suspected of causing birth defects, perhaps 1 percent of the time, but only if it fails and the pregnancy continues to term.

In the United States, only about one abortion in eight is done with pills. Partly that’s because by law, mifepristone must be taken in a clinic. But worldwide, the number of medical abortions is surging, accounting for nearly 70 percent of all abortions in Scotland, according to Marie Stopes International.

It’s not clear how late in pregnancy medical abortion is feasible. In the United States, the pills can be taken up to nine weeks’ gestation. In Britain, inpatient use of the pills is permitted up to 24 weeks.