Medical Abortion Won't Affect Future Pregnancies

Risk of miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy didn't increase when compared to surgical abortion, study finds

By Serena Gordon
HealthDay Reporter

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WEDNESDAY, Aug. 15 (HealthDay News) -- A medical abortion is unlikely to affect a woman's future reproductive health, a new study reports.

The research, which appears in the Aug. 16 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, found that abortions induced by medication don't increase the risk of ectopic pregnancy, miscarriage, preterm birth or low birth weight babies in future pregnancies any more than surgical abortions do.

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There are three different methods of medical abortion: a drug called misoprostol used alone; methotrexate followed by misoprostol; and mifepristone followed by misoprostol. The combination of mifepristone and misoprostol is the one most commonly used, according to the study. Mifepristone received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in medical abortion in 2000. By 2004, about 360,000 American women had undergone medical abortions, and the use of medical abortion is likely to increase, the study authors wrote.

While there have been many previous studies on the long-term safety of surgical abortion, most of the studies done on medical abortion have assessed only the short-term safety and side effects related to medical abortion. Little research has been done on subsequent pregnancies after medical abortion, according to the report.

For the current study, the researchers turned to Denmark, which maintains a national registry with information on abortion and subsequent pregnancies. The researchers identified nearly 12,000 women who'd had a first-trimester abortion for non-medical reasons, who then went on to have a future pregnancy. From that group, 2,710 had undergone medical abortion and 9,104 had undergone surgical abortion.

The rates of ectopic pregnancy in subsequent pregnancies were 2.4 percent for medical abortion and 2.3 percent for surgical abortion. The rate of miscarriage was 12.2 percent for the medical abortion group and 12.7 percent for the surgical group. Rates of preterm labor and low birth weight babies were also lower for the medical abortion group compared to the surgical abortion group.

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