Objective: To evaluate and compare medical abortion versus surgical abortion in respect of their influence on the safety of the mother and baby in the subsequent pregnancy and parturition.
Methods: Based on the principle of informed consent of subjects, 150 healthy pregnant women with a past history of having experienced medical abortion once were included in the study group (also called medical abortion group), and in the same period, 150 healthy pregnant women with a past history of having experienced surgical abortion once were enrolled into the comparison group (also called surgical abortion group). From then on, all the pregnant women in the two groups were followed up till a week after labor. The baseline data of the two groups were comparable (P>0.05). The rates of complications observed in these women during pregnancy and labor were evaluated.
Results: The incidence rates of miscarriage, placental abnormality, premature delivery and postpartum hemorrhage in the study group were significantly lower than those in the comparison group (P<0.05). No significant differences on other variables were observed between the two groups.
Conclusion: Medical abortion is probably safer than surgical abortion in respect of their influence on subsequent pregnancy. So, provided there is less contraindication, medical abortion may be the choice for terminating unwanted pregnancy, especially for those women without a child.