Abortion pills: How do they work?

Abortion is not necessarily a procedure that is done under anesthesia. It can also be done medically, with the use of abortion pills. But how does this treatment work, what are the risks, and who bears the costs?

Abortion pills: when should you take them?

Abortion pills should not be taken after the 63rd day of pregnancy. Contraceptives can only be given to a pregnant woman who has been interview at an approve counseling center. This can only be done after 3 days of counseling to allow you enough time to think and change your mind. An ultrasound scan can be done to check the progress of your pregnancy before treatment.

In rare cases when medication-base contraception is unsuccessful, surgical treatment may be used, but this requires the patient’s consent.

Terminating a pregnancy using contraceptives: further steps

Under the guidance of a doctor, a pregnant woman can take three abortion pills and stay at home for a few days. She should report to her doctor after 36 to 48 hours. She is then given a drug call prostaglandin, which softens and contracts the cervix.

In this way, the dead embryo can be more easily expel from the body. This process is monitor by ultrasound. The patient will feel abdominal pain and bleeding will occur, which often ends after three hours. Otherwise, the embryo has to be scrape or aspirate. However, this is only in 2% to 5% of cases.

The active ingredient, Mifepristone, is use to terminate the pregnancy.

Abortion pills contain an active ingredient call Mifepristone, which is an artificially create hormone. Progesterone, the luteinizing hormone, is the progestin that maintains pregnancy. Mifepristone in birth control pills replaces progesterone to terminate the pregnancy. For this reason, it is also call an anti predestine. The embryo does not survive this process and is release from the uterus. This process usually takes 36 to 48 hours.

Side Effects and Contraindications of Birth Control Pills Side effects of birth control pills may include the following

Here:

Pain in the abdomen
Bleeding
Nausea
Diarrhea
Vomiting
Headache
Skin rash

Infection, uterine damage, and cardiovascular problems are unlikely to occur. Termination of pregnancy using contraceptives is not suitable for all women. The active ingredients, mifepristone and prostaglandins, should not be taken by patients who Women who are underweight (body mass index below 18.5) Women with porphyria, a metabolic disease Patients with asthma Patients with chronic liver disease or chronic kidney disease
Patients with ectopic pregnancy (ectopic uterus, etc.) Patients with elevate intraocular pressure Women at high risk of bleeding Intolerance to any of the list active ingredients.

Contraceptives: Are they cover by health insurance?

The cost of abortion pills, both before and after treatment by a doctor, is between 300 and 450 euros. Abortions are usually not cover by legal health insurance. The exception to this is when there is a medical or criminal reason for wanting an abortion. Low-income women can apply for insurance and in certain cases it will be accept.

The abortion pill and the morning-after pill.

Differences between the two The morning after pill is not an abortion pill. As an emergency contraceptive, it prevents pregnancy in case of contraceptive failure. It contains hormones that delay or inhibit ovulation so that sperm cannot reach the egg and fertilize it. The morning after pill is not effective for women who are already pregnant. Birth control pills have the ability to terminate an already existing pregnancy. For this reason, only the morning after pill can be bought at pharmacies, while abortion pills can only be bought with a prescription.

“The abortion pill is a revolution.”

Every year, thousands of women lose their lives trying to terminate their pregnancies on their own. Often, they use chemicals, knitting needles or violence against themselves. Rebecca Gompers wants to help these women – at ship.tagesschau.de. Ms. Gompers, you recommend abortion for women with unwanted pregnancies. How do you do that? Ms. Rebecca Comparts. In many countries, abortion is a criminal offense, even if the pregnancy is the result of rape or if the pregnant woman is still a child. These women often act on their own, desperate that no one will help them. They try to kill their unborn babies with knitting needles or toxic chemicals such as bleach. Others run down the stairs or bang their bellies as hard as they can. As a result, many women die every year.

Gompers. I don’t think it’s just because of our movement. But when the Portuguese government sent two warships to stop our ships from going to Portugal, there was a lot of media attention. That upset people, and our actions in 2004 may have accelerated the willingness of Portuguese society to change. We took the case to the European Court of Human Rights and were successful. In any case, two years later, abortion was legalize in Portugal.

Many people did not know that the medicine was available in pharmacies.

How many abortions did you perform on board?

Gompers We didn’t do it in Portugal, because it was stop there. But since then, we have had hundreds of calls. We were able to help 15 women in Poland and about 5 women in Spain. This number is quite small considering the number of women affect. But this ship brought it to our attention. We told them about the possibility of medical abortions. We set up a local hotline and provide training. If possible, we run campaigns on board where we can initiate a social debate, for example on a topic that is already being discuss in parliament. Our campaign in Morocco in 2012 aim to inform women that they could buy abortion pills in pharmacies. They don’t know this. That’s what we’re trying to tell them.

Tagesschau.de: Are medicines sell in countries where abortion is ban?

Amnesty International Infographic

Mr. Gompers: This is because misoprostol, the active ingredient that makes abortion possible, is also use to treat rheumatism and arthritis. In the pharmacy, the woman could have said she bought the medicine for her grandmother because she forget to take it. If this medicine was not available, she should have gone to another pharmacy or sent someone to find it. The grandmother’s story is more likely to be believed. Medication abortion is best done with a combination of the two active ingredients, misoprostol and mifepristone. However, only misoprostol is effective. These two active ingredients are include in the World Health Organization’s (WHO) list of essential medicines, and women get their medication at mailtagesschau.de. In 2005, Women on the Web, a sister organization of Women on Waves,  found. What is it about?

Gompers: We use this organization to give advice to women on the Internet. We find out if there are local people who can help them and how they can get misoprostol, the active ingredient in abortion. We also find out if there are pharmacies that sell the drug. Gompers: We give tips on which countries to get help in. For people from Latin America, we recommend that they go to Mexico City often. We also advise Germans to go to the Netherlands or the UK, where abortions can be perform within 24 weeks*. This is because abortion is not legal in Germany and is only punishable until the 14th week*. If you have no other choice, you can also send the medicine to women.tagesschau.de.

Will the medicine be mail?

Gompers: We do not send the medication ourselves, but we work with a partner from an Indian pharmaceutical company to send the medication by mail. He will done it until the end of the 9th week, but post office delays are take into account.
Tagesschau.de: So a woman can easily have an abortion at home without having to go to a doctor. The doctor reviews the medical history online. The doctor reviews the medical history online and if there is nothing to deny the abortion, he approves it. The woman then performs the abortion alone in her home. Current research suggests that this is possible for up to 12 weeks. Usually, this does not require medical supervision. Medication abortions, like miscarriages, are always perform without medical supervision. However, at a later date, abortions must be perform in a clinic.

The doctor cannot be sure that help has been offer giventagesschau.de. what if a woman lives in a country where abortion is a criminal offense and therefore there are no clinics that can help her get an abortion after the 12th week*?”

Gompers’s. then we would no longer be able to send her other medications through our pharmaceutical partners. If she can get the medication in the country, we suggest that she sit in the clinic waiting room after taking the medication and say that she had a miscarriage. Medically, it made no difference. Doctors can’t tell if the fetus is aggravate naturally or if it is help to aggravate. However, a woman should hold the abortion pill under her tongue and not insert it into the vagina, otherwise residue of the active ingredient could be detect.

tagesschau.de: And how do you help women for whom it is too late for an abortion?

Gompers: If the pregnancy is more than the 24th week *, we will inform you about adoptions.