Abortion

Excerpt

Abortion is one of the common procedures performed among women. In the US, in 2014, one in 5 pregnancies ended in abortion, and one in 4 women is estimated to have an abortion in their lifetime. Globally, one in 4 pregnancies ends in abortion. It is important that all providers understand the prevalence of abortion, the options available, the safety, the restrictions, and the access issues associated with abortion to be able to provide safe and optimal quality of care to the patients.

A committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine reviewed the data available and confirmed in their report in 2018 that all forms of abortion, including medication and aspiration abortion, are safe and effective and that the only factors decreasing safety are those decreasing access . First trimester abortions pose no long-term risk of infertility, ectopic pregnancy, spontaneous abortion, or breast cancer. Abortion does not pose a hazard to a patient’s mental health.

Abortion can be completed with medication or by a procedure which is often called surgical abortion or aspiration abortion. The reasons for terminating a pregnancy may be maternal factors or fetal indications. Preabortion workup often includes obtaining a complete blood count, coagulation profile, type and crossmatch, sexually transmitted infection screen, human chorionic gonadotropin levels, and a pelvic ultrasound to confirm that the pregnancy is intrauterine. Medication abortion can be completed at home. The aspiration abortion is usually performed in a clinic or hospital under local anesthesia, with or without conscious sedation.