Women's experiences of the final stage of early medical abortion at home: results of a pilot survey

Abstract

Background and methodology Research has shown that many women choosing an early medical abortion would prefer to be at home rather than in hospital to expel the pregnancy. A service was commenced at a hospital abortion service in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK that allowed women at up to 56 days9 gestation to be discharged home soon after misoprostol administration. During a 3-month period, an anonymous questionnaire of women9s experiences was conducted 1—2 weeks after the procedure. Results During the 3 months of the survey a total of 145 women chose to go home to abort. A total of 100 women completed questionnaires out of 145 (69%) distributed. The commonest reasons given for choosing to go home were: to get home sooner (53%) and to be in the privacy of one9s own home (47%). Most (81%) of the women stated that bleeding was either “as expected” (55%) or “not as bad as expected” (26%), and 58% of the women stated that the pain was “as expected” (40%) or “not as bad as expected” (18%). The majority (84%) of the women said that they would recommend this method to a friend. Discussion and conclusions Discharge home for the final stage of a medical abortion was highly acceptable to women. Since availability is not limited by hospital bed space, more women can be treated by medical methods.