National Right To Life Responds To Latest Guttmacher Report

3.67 (3 votes)

Today, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of 50 state right-to-life affiliates, disputed claims that restrictions on abortion "disproportionately affect" poor women. The assertion was made in, "Changes in Abortion Rates Between 2000 and 2008 and Lifetime Incidence of Abortion, published online yesterday in the June 2011 issue of Obstetrics and Gynecology by researchers from the Guttmacher Institute (originally founded as a special research affiliate of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America).

"Data showing an eight percent drop in abortion rates across the board from 2000 to 2008 are encouraging," said Randall K. O'Bannon, Ph.D., National Right to Life director of education and research.

"Guttmacher suggests that higher abortion rates among poorer woman and abortion restrictions are somehow connected, yet it's a thesis that goes undefended," O'Bannon further noted. "How common sense regulations like right-to-know laws, which tell women about abortion's risks and alternatives which are better for both them and their unborn children, and similar protective measures, are supposed to hurt poor women is hard to fathom."

The overall downward trend seems to indicate that such laws, along with the assistance provided by pregnancy care centers, which provide lifesaving alternatives to abortion, are enabling more women to choose life for their unborn child. However, several states - California, New York and at least a dozen others - publicly fund abortion for poor women. "While the abortion industry saw declines among most demographic groups, it just happened to see growth among women for whom states were covering abortion costs," observed O'Bannon.

The fact is, when tax dollars pay for abortion, you get more abortion," O'Bannon observed.

The Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), according to their own 2008-2009 annual report, showed over $1 billion in revenues, including $363.3 million in "Government Grants & Contracts" (an increase from $165 million in 1998). At a time when the overall number of abortions has decreased, PPFA reports performing 332,278 abortions for the period covered in the 2009 report - accounting for more than 27% of all abortions performed annually in the United States.

O'Bannon noted: "The abortion industry likes to argue that high abortion rates are due to insufficient government funding for 'family planning,' but the record seems at odds with that assertion. As abortion industry giant Planned Parenthood has received hundreds of millions of tax dollars each year, abortions at their facilities have steadily increased at rates that very nearly match their increases in government funding."

"Ultimately, the report says less about pro-life laws and more about the aggressiveness of the abortion industry that, funded by tax dollars in many states, exploited poorer women during the recession and profited from their misery. If more women choose life for their unborn children as a result of pro-life legislative initiatives, the abortion industry knows that it will adversely impact their financial bottom line," O'Bannon concluded.

Source:
National Right to Life Committee (NRLC)

Marie Stopes International's Response To The 2010 Abortion Statistics In England And Wales

5 (1 votes)

Official figures released today by the Department of Health show that the number of women having abortions in England and Wales has risen for the first time in three years. In total 189,574 abortions were performed in 2010, representing a 0.3% increase from 2009.

Marie Stopes International, the leading provider of independent sexual and reproductive health services was disappointed not to see a further reduction in numbers as we have seen in previous years. With improvements in contraception rates last year, these figures come as a particular surprise. We were pleased, however, to see that the under-18 abortion rate has reduced from 17.6 per 1,000 women in 2009 to 16.5 per 1,000 women in 2010.

Dr Paula Franklin, Director of Clinical Development at Marie Stopes International the leading independent provider of sexual and reproductive healthcare services, comments: "Although the numbers are similar to those of 2009, we are surprised not to see a further decrease in the number of abortions across England and Wales.

"Improved access to counselling and advice, through services like Marie Stopes International's OneCall, is allowing women to access a full range of information early. In 2010, 91% of abortions were carried out at under 13 weeks gestation, requiring a simpler procedure with fewer chances for complication and can reduce the stress and anxiety experienced by a woman in making what can be a difficult decision.

"At Marie Stopes International we are committed to providing women with the information, advice and services they need to make informed contraceptive choices. Unplanned pregnancies do of course still happen, and whilst we will always support a woman's access to safe abortion services, we want to be sure enough is being done to help avoid unplanned pregnancies in the first place. Taking a look at today's figures more closely, you can see that the number of under-18 abortions in England and Wales has fallen which we believe correlates with the increased uptake of contraception. From our own experience, as uptake of long acting forms of contraception has increased, we have seen a corresponding reduction in the number of repeat abortions with under 20 year olds.

"Although the rise is small, these abortion figures send a warning for the government's family planning strategy. There are three key areas that need to be focused on: education, access and choice. Education is absolutely vital for effective family planning. Through education, people are able to make informed choices and take control of their sexual and reproductive health. Marie Stopes International believes that comprehensive and standardised sex and relationship education should be delivered in all schools. Importantly though, we can all play a part in this: parents, teachers and trusted health providers like Marie Stopes International and the NHS. If we are to really help young people make informed decisions we have to encourage an open and non-judgemental attitude to talking about sex and relationships

Overall Abortion Rate Drops 8% In Eight Years, Rises 18% Among Poor Women In USA

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Academic Journal
Main Category: Abortion
Also Included In: Sexual Health / STDs
Article Date: 24 May 2011 - 15:00 PDT

Following Abortion, Immediate Use Of An IUD Is More Likely To Prevent Unintended Pregnancies

Main Category: Abortion
Also Included In: Sexual Health / STDs;  Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 09 Jun 2011 - 3:00 PDT

The Social Stigma Surrounding Abortion

5 (1 votes)

Article opinions: 3 posts
An international team of researchers says abortion stigma is under researched, under theorized and over emphasized in one category: women who've had abortions. As a result, they're launching a new direction into research that explores .

Their invited paper, "Abortion Stigma: A Reconceptualization of Constituents, Causes, and Consequences," is published in the current journal, Women's Health Issues (Vol. 21, issue 3, supplement). The team of researchers is represented by The Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health; the University of Cincinnati Department of Sociology; the University of California, San Francisco, Department of Psychiatry; the Guttmacher Institute in New York; Goldsmiths College, University of London; and Center for the Study of Women, University of California, Los Angeles.

"There is very little research on abortion stigma, and what does exist has focused on women who have had abortions and on those experiences. We're looking at stigma in a broader context," explains research team member Danielle Bessett, assistant professor of sociology, University of Cincinnati.

The authors cite previous research on abortion stigma including that abortion violates "feminine ideals," that abortion is stigmatized because of legal restrictions, and that it is viewed as "dirty or unhealthy."

Bessett explains that each researcher on the project is exploring a specific group that could be affected by stigma, such as health care providers that perform abortions, supporters of women who have had abortions, the male partner of the woman who had an abortion, women's experience in pregnancy after previously having an abortion and women's self stigma after suffering miscarriage.

"This is new territory into research around the social issues surrounding abortion," says Bessett, who adds the research will be conducted in both national and international settings, including the United States, Zambia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Mexico, Brazil and countries in Europe.

"Understanding abortion stigma will inform strategies to reduce it, which has direct implications for improving access to care and better health for those whom stigma affects," state the authors in the paper.

Research funding for the paper was supported by the Charlotte Ellerston Social Service Postdoctoral Fellowship in Abortion and Reproductive Health. The research project is led by Alison Norris, MD, Department of Population Family and Reproductive Health, The Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Health; Danielle Bessett, University of Cincinnati Department of Sociology; Julia R. Steinberg, Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco; Megan L. Kavanaugh, Guttmacher Institute; Silvia De Zordo, Department of Anthropology,Goldsmiths College, University of London; and Davida Becker, Center for the Study of Women, University of California, Los Angeles.

Source:
Dawn Fuller
University of Cincinnati

More Docs Refusing Abortions; Religion And Location Named Factors

Article opinions: 1 posts
More and more doctors are unwilling to perform abortions, according to a recent survey, lowering the original percentage of those that were willing according to an alternate survey, 22%, down to 14% or one in seven. Although it is a legal medical practice in most locales, why is there the push back by medical practitioners? However, female specialists were about 2.5 times more likely than males to provide abortions, as were younger practitioners, ages 35 and under.

In the U.S., the demand for abortion is high, they said, given that half of pregnancies are unintended, and half of those end in abortion. More than 1 out of 3 women in the U.S. have an abortion by the time they are 45 years old. There are two kinds of abortion in the U.S.; in-clinic abortion and the abortion pill.

Religious objections may play a role, as may a reduction in training for the procedure in residency programs from the late 1970s through 1996. After that time, abortion training was required for residency.

From a strictly religious viewpoint, the study found that practitioners who identify as being Jewish were more likely to perform abortion, while Catholics and Evangelical Protestants, on the other hand, as well as physicians with high religious motivation, were less likely to offer the service.

Key variables that the researchers asked about included whether respondents had ever encountered patients seeking abortions in their practices, and whether they provided abortion services. Overall, 97% said they had encountered patients seeking abortions, but only 14.4% said they performed the service. However, those aged 56 to 65 were the next most likely group to provide abortions; those ages 35 to 45 were the least likely.

With more insight, the study states geography is a factor as well:

"Access to abortion remains limited by the willingness of physicians to provide abortion services, particularly in rural communities in the South and Midwest."

In the Northeast or West, and in highly urban postal codes, were more likely to do the procedure than those in the South and Midwest or more rural areas, the researchers found. Many doctors choose to avoid being a target of antiabortion activists.

One caveat was that the recent study didn't assess whether specialists who do not perform abortions refer their patients out to colleagues who do. The study was also limited by self report, and by the lack of anonymity involved in reporting and returning the survey.

It's a growing trend among the United States for anti-abortion "protesters" to use intimidation tactics, or now even outright threats, to try to stop doctors from providing legal abortions to women. The intent is that if doctors can be scared out of providing abortions, more women will have to carry to term simply because they have no other safe options.

Abortion in the United States has been legal in every state since the United States Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, on January 22, 1973. Prior to "Roe", there were exceptions to the abortion ban in at least 10 states; "Roe" established that a woman has a right to self-determination (often referred to as a "right to privacy") covering the decision whether or not to carry a pregnancy to term, but that this right must be balanced against a state's interest in preserving fetal life.

Written by Sy Kraft
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today

Global Abortion Rates Remain Steady

New figures from the Guttmacher Institute and the World Health Organization (WHO) show that after a long period of decline, the global abortion rates have steadied. From 1995 to 2003, rates dropped from 35 per 1000 women of childbearing age to 29 per 1000, whereas the new study shows the 2008 rate is stable at 28 per 1000.

The United Nations says the slow down coincides with a plateau in the uptake of contraceptive use in developing countries, where there has been a big contraceptive drive in the last couple of decades, partly because of HIV and partly because of over population issues.

Sadly though, the report also makes a note of the fact that nearly half of all abortions in the developing world are unsafe and almost all unsafe abortions occur in developing countries around the world. The abortion rate is lower in the developed world, excluding Eastern Europe and comes in for 2008 at 17 per 1000 women of child bearing age, dropping slightly from 20 per 1000 in 1995.

Gilda Sedgh , lead author of the study and a senior researcher at the Guttmacher Institute says :

"The declining abortion trend we had seen globally has stalled, and we are also seeing a growing proportion of abortions occurring in developing countries, where the procedure is often clandestine and unsafe. This is cause for concern ... This plateau coincides with a slowdown in contraceptive uptake. Without greater investment in quality family planning services, we can expect this trend to persist."

Alarmingly, WHO figures state that 13% of all maternal deaths worldwide are caused by unsafe abortions, a tragedy considering the procedure is relatively simply and safely performed if the doctor and nurses are trained, have the correct facilities, cleanliness and medicines available to them. Unsafe abortion accounted for 220 deaths per 100,000 procedures in 2008, 350 times the rate associated with legal induced abortions in the United States (0.6 per 100,000). Unsafe abortion is also a significant cause of ill-health: Each year approximately 8.5 million women in developing countries experience abortion complications serious enough to require medical attention, and three million of them do not receive the needed care.

Iqbal H. Shah, of the WHO and a coauthor of the study said :

"Deaths and disability related to unsafe abortion are entirely preventable, and some progress has been made in developing regions. Africa is the exception, accounting for 17% of the developing world's population of women of childbearing age but half of all unsafe abortion related deaths ... Within developing countries, risks are greatest for the poorest women. They have the least access to family planning services and are the most likely to suffer the negative consequences of an unsafe procedure. Poor women also have the least access to post abortion care, when they need treatment for complications."

The figures show conclusively that stricter abortion laws have no bearing upon number of abortions and in fact simply cause women to go through back street channels with unlicensed or unscrupulous practitioners. Whether you are for or against abortion or feel indifferent, it's impossible to argue against the numbers that demonstrate how too much regulation or prohibition simply creates an unsafe and over priced black market, much as prohibition of alcohol and drugs does. For example, the 2008 abortion rate was 29 per 1,000 women of childbearing age in Africa and 32 per 1,000 in Latin America, regions where abortion is highly restricted in almost all countries. In contrast, in Western Europe, where abortion is generally permitted on broad grounds, the rate is 12.

In contrast, the South African abortion laws are far more relaxed and the figures come in at only 15 per 1000, very close to European figures. Eastern Europe has a different scenario, with very high abortion rates coming in at 90 per 1000 in 1995 and falling to 44 per 1000 in 2003. There hasn't been much change in the rate since 2003, and it seems alarmingly high. Researchers put this down to low uptake of contraceptive methods such as the pill and IUD, while the population is generally more sexually liberated and less religious than in Africa and Latin America. Eastern Europe is also stereotyped for providing many prostitutes to West Europe, and this attitude towards sex may also increase the number of unwanted pregnancies.

Richard Horton, editor of The Lancet says :

"These latest figures are deeply disturbing. The progress made in the 1990s is now in reverse. Promoting and implementing policies to reduce the number of abortions is now an urgent priority for all countries and for global health agencies, such as WHO ... Condemning, stigmatizing, and criminalizing abortion are cruel and failed strategies. It's time for a public health approach that emphasizes reducing harm - and that means more liberal abortion laws."

Written By Rupert Shepherd
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today

Abortion Rates Stop Falling Globally

5 (1 votes)

Article opinions: 1 posts
A study from the World Health Organization (WHO) and Guttmacher Institute reveals that worldwide, the long-term substantial decline in abortion rates has stalled. According to the study entitled "Induced Abortion: Incidence and Trends Worldwide from 1995 to 2008" by Glida Sedgh et al., the overall number of terminations per 1,000 women, between the age of 15 to 44 years, has decreased from 35 per 1,000 to 29 per 1,000, between 1995 and 2003, and 28 per 1,000 in 2008. The study was published online by The Lancet.

According to the United Nations, the stall in abortion rates coincides with a decline in contraceptive uptake, which has been observed particularly in developing nations.

Furthermore, the study discovered that almost half of all terminations carried out across the world are unsafe, with the majority of unsafe terminations occurring in the developing world.

In 2003 and 2008, the termination rate in the developing world was 29 per 1,000, after dropping from 34 per 1,000 between 1995 and 2003. In the developed world, rates fell slightly from 20 per 1,000 in 1995, excluding Eastern Europe where rates were considerably lower - 17 per 1,000.

Gilda Sedgh, senior researcher at the Guttmacher Institute and lead author of the investigation, explained:

"The declining abortion trend we had seen globally has stalled, and we are also seeing a growing proportion of abortions occurring in developing countries, where the procedure is often clandestine and unsafe. This is cause for concern.

This plateau coincides with a slowdown in contraceptive uptake. Without greater investment in quality family planning services, we can expect this trend to persist."

An estimated 13% of all maternal deaths worldwide in 2008, nearly all of which occurred in developing nations, are due to complications from unsafe abortions. Worldwide in 2008, 220 women died per 100,000 procedures as a result of unsafe termination, 350 times the rate associated with legal induced abortions in the U.S. (0.6 per 100,000).

In addition, around 8.5 million women in developing nations each year suffer serious complications from abortion that require medical attention, out of which 3 million do not receive the care they need.

Iqbal H. Shah, of the WHO and a coauthor of the investigation, said:

"Deaths and disability related to unsafe abortion are entirely preventable, and some progress has been made in developing regions. Africa is the exception, accounting for 17% of the developing world's population of women of childbearing age but half of all unsafe abortion-related deaths.

Within developing countries, risks are greatest for the poorest women. They have the least access to family planning services, and are the most likely to suffer the negative consequences of an unsafe procedure. Poor women also have the least access to postabortion care, when they need treatment for complications."

Study results also showed additional evidence that restrictive abortion laws are not linked to lower rates or termination. For example, In Western Europe abortion is typically allowed on broad grounds, with a abortion rate of 12 per 1,000 women of childbearing age, while the 2008 abortion rate in Africa was 29 per 1,000, and 32 per 1,000 in Latin America, regions where abortion is highly restricted in nearly all nations.

The lowest rate of abortion in Africa (15 per 1,000 women) is in the Southern Africa subregion, where almost 90% of women live under South Africa's liberal abortion law. The researchers found rates were also low in Western Europe (12 per 1,000) and Northern Europe (17 per 1,000), where women have easy access to both abortion and contraception for free or at a considerably low price.

In Eastern Europe, abortion rates are almost 4 times more than in Western Europe, due to low levels of modern contraceptive use and low prevalence of effective birth control methods, such as the IUD and the pill. Although Eastern Europe saw a significant decline in abortion rates between 1995 and 2003, from 90 to 44 per 1,000 women, rates remained virtually unchanged between 2003 and 2008.

Richard Horton, editor of The Lancet, explained: "These latest figures are deeply disturbing. The progress made in the 1990s is now in reverse. Promoting and implementing policies to reduce the number of abortions is now an urgent priority for all countries and for global health agencies, such as WHO. Condemning, stigmatizing, and criminalizing abortion are cruel and failed strategies. It's time for a public health approach that emphasizes reducing harm - and that means more liberal abortion laws."

Written By Grace Rattue
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today

Dropping Planned Parenthood Is Not Political, Says Susan G. Komen For The Cure

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Main Category: Breast Cancer
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology;  Abortion
Article Date: 02 Feb 2012 - 9:00 PST

Has Komen Shot Itself In The Foot?

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Main Category: Sexual Health / STDs
Also Included In: Abortion;  Breast Cancer
Article Date: 05 Feb 2012 - 14:00 PST

Potential Solution To Melanoma's Resistance To Vemurafenib

Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla., and colleagues in California have found that the XL888 inhibitor can prevent resistance to the chemotherapy drug vemurafenib, commonly used for treating patients with melanoma.

Vemurafenib resistance is characterized by a diminished apoptosis (programmed cancer cell death) response. According to the researchers, the balance between apoptosis and cell survival is regulated by a family of proteins. The survival of melanoma cells is controlled, in part, by an anti-apoptotic protein (Mcl-1) that is regulated by a particular kind of inhibitor.

Their current findings, tested in six different models of vemurafenib resistance and in both test tube studies and in melanoma patients, demonstrated an induced apoptosis response and tumor regression when the XL888 inhibitor restored the effectiveness of vemurafenib.

The study appeared in a recent issue of Clinical Cancer Research, a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research.

"The impressive clinical response of melanoma patients to vemurafenib has been limited by drug resistance, a considerable challenge for which no management strategies previously existed," said study co-author Keiran S. M. Smalley, Ph.D., of Moffitt's departments of Molecular Oncology and Cutaneous Oncology. "However, we have demonstrated for the first time that the heat shock protein-90 (HSP90) inhibitor XL888 overcomes resistance through a number of mechanisms."

The diversity of resistance mechanism has been expected to complicate the design of future clinical trials to prevent or treat resistance to inhibitors such as vemurafenib.

"That expectation led us to hypothesize that inhibitor resistance might best be managed through broadly targeted strategies that inhibit multiple pathways simultaneously," explained Smalley.

The HSP90 family was known to maintain cancer cells by regulating cancer cells, making it a good target for treatment. According to the authors, the combination of vemurafenib and XL888 overcame vemurafenib resistance by targeting HSP90 through multiple signaling pathways.

There was already evidence that HSP90 inhibitors could overcome multiple drug chemotherapy resistance mechanisms in a number of cancers, including non-small lung cancer and breast cancer. Because XL888 is a novel, orally available inhibitor of HSP90, the researchers hoped that it would arrest the cancer cell cycle in melanoma cell lines.

In their study, the inhibition of HSP90 led to the degradation of the anti-apoptopiuc Mcl-1 protein. The responses to XL888 were characterized as "highly durable with no resistant colonies emerging following four weeks of continuous drug treatment." In other studies not using XL888, resistant colonies "emerged in every case," they reported.

"We have shown for the first time that all of the signaling proteins implicated in vemurafenib resistance are 'clients' of HSP90 and that inhibition of HSP90 can restore sensitivity to vemurafenib," concluded Smalley and his colleagues. "Our study provides the rationale for the dual targeting of HSP90 with XL888 and vemurafenib in treating melanoma patients in order to limit or prevent chemotherapy resistance."

Misoprostol Lowers Risk Of Complications In Abortions

5 (3 votes)

Article opinions: 3 posts
A new study, published Online First in The Lancet , reports that major complications during early surgical abortions are reduced by nearly a third in comparison with placebo, if the cervix is prepared with misoprostol.

Misoprostol is widely used for cervical preparation before surgical abortion (vacuum aspiration), given that the drug is effective, easy to use, cheap and widely available. However, there have been no studies, until now, that were sufficiently large to evaluate if misoprostol causes immediate or delayed serious complications from surgical abortion.

In a multinational, randomized study, Eduardo Bergel from WHO in Geneva, Switzerland, and his team compared complications rates of vacuum aspirations in terms of incomplete abortion, cervical tear, pelvic inflammatory disease, uterine perforation, or other serious events.

The study recruited 4,972 women who requested an abortion before the 12th week of pregnancy, from 14 centers in nine countries. 2,485 women were randomly assigned for administration with vaginal misoprostol, whilst 2,487 women received placebo 3 hours before aspiration.

The results showed that the risk of experiencing one or more complications was almost a third lower for women in the misoprostol group than that of those who received placebo, whilst minor cervical tears and uterine perforations were also observed to be less frequent in the misoprostol group. They also found an almost three times increased risk of incomplete abortion in the placebo group compared with women in the misoprostol group.

The researchers also noted that women in the misoprostol group more frequently experienced abdominal pain, vaginal bleeding, and nausea after being treated with misoprostol during the 3 hours before surgery, however, no differences were observed between both groups with regard to incidences of pelvic inflammatory disease or other serious adverse events.

In a concluding statement the researchers state:

"Misoprostol reduced the overall incidence of complications, particularly incomplete abortions and unscheduled clinic visits and hospital admissions after abortion...Providers should be aware of the side-effects of the drug and inform women about these effects."

According to a linked comment made by Allan Templeton from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland:

"The important issue...is the balance between effectiveness of the procedure and the side-effects of misoprostol, which will include abdominal cramps and vaginal bleeding in most women, although not to the extent of needing medical intervention before surgery. Surely routine pharmaceutical dilation of the cervix should be recommended as an integral part of surgical abortion in all women."

Written by Petra Rattue
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today

The Gap Between Policy And Practice In Maternal Health And Maternal Mortality

As the UN Special Rapporteur on maternal mortality in India points out there is a 'yawning gulf between ... commendable maternal mortality policies and their urgent, focused, sustained, systematic and effective implementation.' Reproductive Health Matters explores the causes and impact of this gap, but also highlights hopeful signs of progress.

Two papers from India included in the issue capture both the good and bad news that characterise the gap between rhetoric and reality in maternal health and maternal mortality. In India a range of provisions to support better maternal nutrition and access to subsidised health care are required by law, but there is a wide gap between policy and practice. Preventable deaths are caused by several factors including a shortfall in antenatal care, delays in emergency obstetric care and inappropriate referral. Detailed case studies of women who died point to lack of accountability, discrimination on the grounds of poverty and caste, and according to Subha Sri Balakrishnan, author of one of the papers, "In some cases...quality of care (that) was so poor that it may be considered negligent."

Both papers follow subsequent action taken to seek government accountability and justice. In one paper, author Jameen Kaur, reports on the way in which a women's family sought redress in the courts, supported by human rights lawyers. The second paper details an investigation lead by Subha Sri Balakrishnan into maternal deaths in response to a public protest about local maternal deaths in Madhya Pradesh. The researchers presented their findings to district and state level health officials which led to some improvements in care.

Examples of using law to promote accountability and good practice are described in a paper from Latin America reporting on landmark decisions by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) calling for appropriate maternal health care (Brazil) and decriminalisation of abortion to safeguard women's health (Peru). These are promising examples of the application of human rights to demand government responsibility for maternal deaths and to assert the rights of women not to die in pregnancy, childbirth and unsafe abortion.

Furthermore a new emphasis on evidence-based practice is described in several papers, providing grounds for optimism. It suggests there is a real desire to improve outcomes and the hope that new initiatives may have a greater chance of success in saving women's lives. Without the political commitment to addressing equity, however, important initiatives will continue to fail the poorest and most marginalised women. As one author notes, "The death of a woman due to pregnancy complications is not just a biological fact it is also a political choice."

Multiple Abortions May Increase Risk Of Prematurity And Low Birth Weight In Future Pregnancies

Main Category: Pregnancy / Obstetrics
Also Included In: Abortion;  Pediatrics / Children's Health
Article Date: 31 Aug 2012 - 0:00 PDT

Early Medical Abortion Is "Safe And Effective"

1 (1 votes)

Early medical abortion (EMA) using mifepristone is an effective option with a favourable safetyprofile, according to the authors of the first large-scale Australian study of the drug publishedonline by the Medical Journal of Australia.

The study analysed the outcomes of over 13 000 women who had an EMA (up to 63 daysgestation) between 2009 and 2011 using mifepristone, which is also known as RU486.The data were collected from women who had EMAs at Marie Stopes International Australia(MSIA) clinics.MSIA doctors are among around 200 doctors around Australia who are authorised to prescribemifepristone for EMA.

Dr Philip Goldstone, medical director of MSIA, and coauthors found that clinic administration ofmifepristone and later self-administration of buccal misoprostol to complete the abortion process athome had a low failure rate (3.5%), and low rates of haemorrhage (0.1%) and known or suspectedinfection (0.2%). One woman, who did not seek medical advice despite signs of infection for anumber of days, died from sepsis.

The authors found that the process was also well tolerated, with most women reporting theexperience to be as they had expected or better than expected."While the potential risk of serious infection should be kept in mind and monitored, these resultsindicate that the mifepristone - buccal misoprostol regimen is an effective option for Australianwomen seeking an abortion up to 63 days of gestation."

In an editorial in the same issue, Cairns gynaecologists Professor Caroline de Costa and DrMichael Carrette wrote that the findings backed up extensive overseas studies that had shownmifepristone to be both safe and effective for EMA.

However, they were concerned about some of the reported outcomes, which they said hadimplications for the national provision of mifepristone. It was vital that arrangements for emergencycare in the rare event of complications were well documented. "Access to a telephone helplinealone is insufficient, especially for women in rural areas", they wrote.

Also, not all women were suitable candidates for the procedure because the abortion is usuallycompleted at the woman's home. "Some women in poor socioeconomic circumstances and thosewho cannot find a suitable support person may be better served by surgical abortion", the authorswrote.

Some women, such as those travelling long distances, might need to have the medical abortion ina day surgery, they noted.

"We look forward to EMA being available to all Australian women who request it, and wish to seeEMA recognised as being as safe as a surgical alternative."