There is another option available to our patients, which is the medication known as the abortion pill, and scientifically called the RU-486.  The name of this medication is mifepristone.  This is a very effective non-surgical method of ending an early pregnancy verified to be 7 weeks or less by ultrasound. 

The abortion pill (RU-486) IS NOT the morning after pill in any way, and should not be confused with the morning after pill.  It is a completely different medicine used in a very different way with different results.  The abortion pill has now been available in the United States for about a decade, but it was commonly used in Europe prior to becoming available in the United States.  As an alternative to the surgical process for early pregnancy terminations, it is an excellent alternative for ending pregnancies under 7 weeks if a patient wishes to avoid the surgical abortion procedure. By administering this medicine, we can safely induce an early pregnancy to pass in a more natural way, with the experience and risks being comparable to an early miscarriage. However, as opposed to to process of having a spontaneous miscarriage, we, as physicians, determine very important safety concerns and medical information before approving and starting this process.  We also counsel you and extensively inform you on how the process will go and what to expect to help avoid the many fear and unknowns that are common with spontaneous miscarriages.  With the peace of mind that we are here if you need us, and our professional explanation provided personally by experienced medical doctors, this process may be right for you and your personal situation. 

The medical abortion pill process includes 2 different steps and 2 different medicines, one to stop the pregnancy (which is an event usually not physically noticed by the patient), and the other to cause the ended pregnancy to pass 2 days later (which involves cramping similar to an early spontaneous miscarriage). There are 2 very important office visits with the physician which must be kept to assure your continued well-being and successful completion of the process. It is important to understand that because every patient and pregnancy is different, only a qualified medical physician experienced in the use of the RU-486 abortion pill method can determine and verify that this "pill method" is appropriate for your situation.  A physician must counsel you on the process  and an ultrasound must be done to verify the length of the pregnancy because this method can be more dangerous if given to patients whose pregnancies are more than 7 weeks along. 

The RU-486 pill is federally regulated and you can only obtain this medicine from facilities that have the ability to provide a surgical abortion in the event that it is unsuccessful.  It is best to go to a facility that has a full time physician staff every day and not just nurses or nurse practitioners.  Nurses are not able to surgical manage any complications related to miscarriages.  If you choose to obtain the abortion pill from a part-time clinic who does not have a physician every day on site, if you have an emergency you may be more likely to have to go the ER for any issues that can occur.

The abortion pill is safely provided when a pregnancy is less than 7 weeks, and providing it past this time can result in a significant chance it will not work completely which would require the need for surgical intervention.  As the goal is to avoid the surgery, doctors realize that providing the pill above 7 weeks can significantly increase your risks of excessive bleeding or an incomplete process requiring a subsequent surgical abortion or D and E procedure.  For more information, you can visit the official RU-486 website at  http://www.earlyoptionpill.com.  Our current physician administration and protocol of the RU-486 pill in our office has a completion success rate which is currently approximately 99%, due to our strict adherence to making sure patients are proper candidates and our method of administration. In addition, in the extremely unlikely event that this pill method should fail to stop the pregnancy, we will perform the surgical procedure at no additional charge.

Finally, we feel that it is important to fully inform you that while the taking of the medications to induce a miscarriage by the process that is known as the "abortion pill" is available for all qualified women who are early in their pregnancy, that does not mean it is the easiest or most efficient way of terminating a pregnancy.  This is a very common misconception that so many patients have expressed thanks that we cleared that up for them.  Some patients also believe that you can stop a pregnancy earlier if you choose the pill, because some standard abortion clinics with a more limited physician staff make you wait until a certain later time in your pregnancy before they will even provide you with a surgical option.  Unfortunately, when people hear the words "abortion pill", they may often believe that this sounds easier than the brief surgical D and E process.  Of course they think it to be less invasive as well.  And since some women are relatively scared of the surgical abortion because of the continual publication and availability of blatantly false statistics or inaccurate descriptions of the surgical procedure made by unscrupulous and uncaring anti-abortion activists, people who are scared may think this will just be easier. 

First of all, we want you to know that our unique and highly experienced medical staff can actually safely and reliably provide the surgical abortion at the same very early time that you can get a medical abortion pill termination, so this should not be a deciding factor.  Second, in reality, the pill process is much more time consuming because this pill method is really two steps with two pill sets that results in you having a miscarriage two days after your initial visit that lasts usually for a complete day.  It is very crampy and can be very uncomfortable but we do provide narcotics for the likely discomfort.  In contrast, the surgical abortion at this early stage is remarkably efficient, which includes a 3-5 minute procedure under very comfortable sedation with a short recovery time of about 45 minutes.  With the surgical procedure, you go home in about an hour and half and you can usually fully relax because you are done.  We provide the same effective post-operative pain medications that are used for the discomfort of the pill method in case you have cramps after the procedure in event that you are temporarily achy or crampy.  Finally, due to the expensive nature of this unique pill medication, the surgical process is actually slightly less expensive that the abortion pill process.  

With all of these facts, just be aware that we have been providing the medical abortion pill since it was available to qualified physicians in the United States and were one of the first in nation to have this medication.  Prior to this, we also provided medical terminations with other medications and our experience with all of these processes and techniques is extensive.  It is readily available in our office if you wish and we will be happy to discuss this with you, answer your questions, and provide it to you if you are a proper medical candidate for this method.