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A new study reveals that many women may be surprised by the intensity of pain they experience after a chemical abortion.
Studypublished this week in the journal BMJ Sexual & Reproductive Health, surveyed women in the United Kingdom who had taken abortion pills to end a pregnancy and asked them about the pain they experienced.
About half of the respondents said that the pain they experienced was more than they expected. Most subjects (92%) rated their pain at least 4 out of 10 on the pain scale, while more than 40% of subjects rated their pain as severe (8-10).
Abortion pills, also known as a chemical or medicinal abortioninclude a two-drug regimen of mifepristone and misoprostol taken to terminate a pregnancy. These pills are the most common abortion method offered by providers in the US, accounting for more than 60% of all abortions in the country, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
FILE – A patient prepares to take the first of two combination pills, mifepristone, for medication abortion during a visit to a clinic in Kansas City, Kansas, Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022. The law requires doctors to disclose methods of stopping medication-induced abortions will not be performed until court rulings. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, file)
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Almost 1,600 women responded to the survey, and most were between the ages of 20 and 39. About half of the respondents stated that they had never given birth before.
Two-thirds of respondents said they would choose abortion pills again if needed in the future, but 13% of respondents said they would opt for a surgical abortion, with the majority of this group citing the intense pain they felt as a factor.
While some women felt the pain was no worse than period cramps, other women who responded to the survey called the pain far worse than they expected. These women said their pain levels were “downplayed” or “sugar coated” in information given to them by medical professionals before taking the pill.
“The pain was much stronger than a period, it was like I was having contractions. I gave birth three times and the pain was really not too different from that pain, spasmodic contractions,” said one respondent.
Abortion rights activists participate in the “Rally for Our Freedom” to protect the abortion rights of Floridians in Orlando, Florida. (Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty) (CHANDAN KHANNA / AFP)
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The researchers concluded that patients need to be given “accurate, realistic information about pain” in order to control pain and support “informed consent for the choice of abortion method”.
“Women want more detailed, realistic information to make treatment decisions and to be prepared for a medical abortion if they want one,” wrote study lead author Hannah McCulloh. “Medical abortion is a very safe and effective choice. This assessment has led us at BPAS to create new patient materials and provide additional staff training, which we are currently in the process of evaluating.”
Activist for life Abby Johnsonformer Planned Parenthood director who now helps women leave the abortion industry, said a new study has exposed an often-unspoken truth about chemical abortions.
“It’s high time that a study like this was published because women are not being told the truth about what happens during a medical abortion or the true extent of the pain they can feel,” Johnson said in a press release.
A pro-life advocate holds a sign to abolish the abortion pill. (40 days to live)
“I hope they realize that they were never told the truth about their medication abortion and that, unfortunately, their desperation was seen as money-making by the abortion industry. That’s how I felt when I was given the abortion pill and sent on my merry way, just to later learned the absolute horror of what a medical abortion looked like,” she added.
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The abortion pill was first approved for use in the United States in 2000 by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and can be administered within the first 10 weeks of pregnancy.
In June, Supreme Court ruled against a challenge to the FDA’s regulatory approval process for mifepristone brought by a group of pro-life physicians and medical associations.
Lower courts have concluded that the federal agency did not fully consider potential health risks for women when revising mifepristone regulations starting in 2016. Those revisions — last updated in 2023 — include lowering the recommended dose, allowing the drug to be used up to 10 weeks pregnant (from seven weeks), approving a generic version and allowing mail order (eliminating in-person doctor visits), among other measures.
The US Supreme Court building in Washington, DC (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib) (AP Photo)
The Biden administration and the maker of mifepristone asked the Court to reverse an appeals ruling that would have ended mail-order access to the drug and imposed other restrictions, even in states where abortion remains legal.
In the victory for Biden administration and abortion rights advocates, the Supreme Court upheld access to the abortion pill, ruling unanimously that opponents of the FDA lacked standing to sue the government.
Fox News’ Brianna Herlihy and Melissa Rudy contributed to this report.
