Abortion pills that patients got via telehealth and the mail are safe, study finds, 99.7%
In March, the Supreme Court will hear a case about mifepristone, one of two drugs used in medication abortions. A key question in that case is: Was the Food and Drug Administration correct when it deemed the drug safe to prescribe to patients in a virtual appointment?
A study published Thursday in Nature Medicine looks at abortion pills prescribed via telehealth and provides more support for the FDA's assessment that medication abortion is safe and effective.
Researchers examined the electronic medical records for more than 6,000 patients from three providers of abortion via telehealth. They also conducted an opt-in survey of 1,600 patients.
Some abortion patients talked to a provider over video, others used a secure chat platform, similar to texting. If patients were less than 10 weeks pregnant and otherwise found to be eligible, the providers prescribed two medications: mifepristone, which blocks a pregnancy hormone called progesterone, and misoprostol, which causes uterine contractions. Patients got both medicines via mail-order pharmacy.
"Then 3 to 7 days later, there was a clinical follow up," explains the study's lead author, Ushma Upadhyay of the University of California – San Francisco. "The provider checked in with the patient. 'Did you receive the medications? Did you take the medications?' They asked about symptoms. And then there was a clinical follow-up four weeks after the original intake."
The researchers found that the medication was effective – it ended the pregnancy without any additional follow-up care for 97.7% of patients. It was also found to be safe – 99.7% of abortions were not followed by any serious adverse events. The safety and efficacy was similar whether the patients talked to a provider over video or through secure chat.
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2024/02/15/1231652715/abortion-pill-telehealth-supreme-court-safe-study-mifepristone