Written by Robin Wallace MD MAS, Rosa Topp MSN, RN Medication abortion is now more common than procedural abortion in the United States , and a critical access point for many abortion seekers via both in-person and telehealth care since Dobbs. Common practice is to offer medication abortion through 11.0 weeks estimated gestational duration (EGD),…
Written by Rachel Chisausky, DO Missed-period pills are a new take on the age-old practice of “bringing down” a late period. Menstrual regulation (MR), or the use of a variety of methods to “establish nonpregnancy after a missed period,” was traditionally the purview of midwives, and was generally accepted until “quickening.”* Later, the self-help movement…
Written by Sally Rafie, PharmD, BCPS, APh, FCCP, FCPhA Primary care clinicians can prescribe mifepristone and misoprostol to be dispensed by a pharmacy as a means to increase access to medication abortion. Patients can fill the prescriptions at a certified brick-and-mortar or mail-order pharmacy of their choice. In January 2023, pharmacies were granted the ability…
Written by Kenya Lyons, MD The administration of mifepristone followed by misoprostol is a highly effective regimen for the management of first-trimester miscarriage and medication abortion.1 However, even prior to the onset of legal challenges to mifepristone, including FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, the search for alternative therapies existed. This has been driven by…
Written by Brandy Bautista This article was published in April 2024, before the Supreme Court released its ruling in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration on June 13th. In its ruling, the Supreme Court unanimously rejected the challenge to mifepristone access. While we celebrate this decision, we know this will not…
Written by Rebecca Wang, JD, Senior Legal Support Counsel and Lauren Paulk, JD, Senior Research Counsel Mandatory reporting is not an evidence-based practice. Neither is punishing providers for a failure to report. Still, healthcare provider reports to Child Protective Services of infants have increased substantially over the last decade.¹ This is despite only two states…
Written by Sadia A study by the Guttmacher Institute shows that over half of all abortions are done via medication abortion (MAB), using misoprostol only or mifepristone with misoprostol.¹ Patients who have a MAB often wonder about the need for a follow-up appointment. Follow-up appointments are used to determine if the MAB was successful. Health…
Written by Julia Wang, MD and Jillian MacLeod, Esq. As we experience ongoing attacks on abortion access and provision, it is important to highlight the numerous barriers to equitable care that disabled patients face. These barriers include inaccessible online information about abortion services (for example, websites that lack straightforward language or are incompatible with screen…
Written by Mansi Shah, MD What special considerations might there be for fat patients seeking abortion care? In this article, the word fat here is used in the tradition of fat scholars and activists who do so with the aim of reclaiming the word as a neutral descriptor of bodies.1 Fat folks encounter significant stigma…
Written by Jillian MacLeod This Insights provides information about supported decision-making (SDM), which can be used as a tool in obtaining informed consent from people with disabilities that affect their decision-making capacity, like intellectual/developmental disabilities (I/DD) or cognitive disabilities. A patient’s decision to access abortion or early pregnancy loss care is a significant one. As…
