Early Medical Abortion With Mifepristone (RU 486) And Misoprostol Is Highly Acceptable To Amer...( NEW YORK (July 15 1998)--Over 2000 ...),Health

NEW YORK (July 15, 1998)--Over 2,000 American women, pregnant for 63 days or less, who underwent medical abortion with mifepristone (formerly called RU 486) and misoprostol, found the method highly acceptable. Nearly all (96 percent) would recommend it to others; 91 percent would choose it again; and 88 percent found it very or moderately satisfactory. Even among women for whom the method failed, 70 percent would try it again; 85 percent would recommend it to others; and 52 percent found it very or moderately satisfactory.

These results of acceptability of mifepristone-misoprostol for early medical abortion are reported in the July/August issue of Archives of Family Medicine. Safety and efficacy data from the same large, multicenter clinical trial conducted by the Population Council were published in the April 30, 1998 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. That article concluded the method was safe and highly effective, particularly within the first 49 days of a pregnancy.

"Our trial results accord with previous research findings that early medical abortion is desirable to the women who choose it," said Beverly Winikoff, M.D., lead author of the study. "Despite socioeconomic or cultural differences, views of the participants in this trial resonate with those of women living in various regions of the world. Indeed, much as in previous medical abortion acceptability studies conducted in other parts of the world, when asked why they had chosen medical abortion, women in this study assigned great importance to avoiding invasive surgical procedures and to an experiential quality of the method that women consider natural."

Trial Protocol

The 2,121 women followed the oral regimen of mifepristone-misoprostol that is standard in France. Women with pregnancy durations of 63 days or less swallowed 600 mg of mifepristone at their first clinic visit. Two days later, they took 400 mcg. of misoprostol orally and were observed for 4 hours. At
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Contact: Christina Horzepa
chorzepa@popcouncil.org
212-339-0520
Population Council
15-Jul-1998