That’s significant, as Upadhyay explained, “it’s that time and training and having a person available to conduct the ultrasound is another barrier for providers. The implications of Upadhyay’s study are far reaching as it establishes grounds for not needing specialized equipment to offer medication abortion to patients, with ultrasound machines not only costing thousands of dollars but also requiring specialized training. Factors like if a patient has previously had an ectopic pregnancy, had pelvic inflammatory disease or currently has an IUD (intrauterine device) in place would make them ineligible for receiving medication abortion through a history-based screening. The second factor providers need to consider is assessing a patient’s risk of ectopic pregnancy. People keep calendars, there are so many apps today, so people are very reliable in terms of knowing their bodies and knowing how far along their pregnancy is,” said Ushma Upadhyay, associate professor at UC San Francisco and lead author of the study, to Changing America.Īmerica is changing faster than ever! Add Changing America to your Facebook or Twitter feed to stay on top of the news. “What we learned through this study is that many people very accurately know the date of their last menstrual period. First is when a women’s last menstrual cycle was, confirming she is less than 11 weeks pregnant.
When health care providers use a history-based method when screening for abortion care, they need to take into consideration two factors. Ectopic pregnancies are considered life-threatening and require emergency treatment. Traditionally, health care providers use an ultrasound to confirm a pregnancy and to confirm it is not ectopic, a condition where the pregnancy occurs outside the uterus. Researchers explained that a history-based screening approach can create more equitable access to abortion, with the potential to increase the type of clinicians and locations that offer abortion care. Once approved, medication abortion quickly become popular, with the Guttmacher Institute, an abortion rights advocacy and research group, finding it accounted for 54 percent of U.S. by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2000. The drugs in combination are used to end a pregnancy and were approved for use in the U.S. Medication abortion consists of two pills, known as mifepristone and misoprostol. Only 12 abortions experienced an adverse event, and four were treated for ectopic pregnancies. The results of the study showed overwhelmingly positive results, with a 95 percent effective rate for abortion medications dispensed in person and a 93 percent effective rate for those mailed. Medications for abortions were provided without an ultrasound or pelvic exam, instead using a history-based screening, no-test approach to medication abortion care.
Researchers from the University of California, San Francisco studied about 3,700 patients with eligible abortions. Providers can safely lean on a patient’s medical history, eliminating the need for expensive equipment.