Abortion: Medical or Surgical, the Risks are No Different

The latest study on the effect of the abortion pill on women shows the results to be positive, according to new research material published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The report said women who had a medicine-induced abortion had the same chances of conceiving again as women who opted for surgical procedure for an abortion.

The report said conditions such as an ectopic pregnancy, premature delivery, miscarriage, or frail babies were possibilities in the case of medical as well as surgical abortions.

There has not been much work done previously on the long-term impact of medical abortions on future pregnancies. There has been work done on the long-term effects of surgical abortions, and the short-term effects of medical ones.

The current study was done in Denmark, where there is a national registry containing data on abortions performed and the state of subsequent pregnancies. The study involved 11,814 pregnancies, all aborted in the first trimester. Of these 2,710 cases were medical abortions and the remaining 9,104 were surgical.

During the study, the research team investigated only the first post-abortion pregnancy. It did not investigate if there were effects of the abortion on later pregnancies. The team found there was not much difference statistically between medical and surgical abortion cases when it came to complications and the like.

The following was some data about the rates of some of the complications culled from the study:

• Miscarriages: 12.2 percent for medical abortions and 12.7 for surgical abortions
• Ectopic pregnancy: 2.4 percent for medical abortions and 2.3 for surgical.
• Premature delivery: 5.4 percent for medical abortions and 6.7 for surgical.
• Low baby weight at birth: 4 percent for medical abortions and 5.1 for surgical.

Medical abortions are becoming more popular nowadays, as they cut out the necessity of a hospital stay, something usually associated with surgical abortions. Medical abortions constitute about 8 to 10 percent of the total abortions annually in the U.S.