Nowadays an increasing number of women of childbearing age use oral abortion pills for termination of pregnancy. And it is not surprising. The thing is that medical abortion causes no infertility neither ectopic pregnancy, unlike surgical abortion, which violates the reproductive function in 50% women.
In the lack of contraindications for use of abortion pills, women should be aware of the peculiarities of abortifacient effect and anticipated side effects. Because during several days after the use of abortion pills, women might have vaginal bleeding and uterine spasms. In fact, these are natural reaction of the body to abortion pills. Besides this, before using pills for early abortion, women can be prescribed with medical examination, such as pelvic ultrasound.
There are dozens of different illegal abortion pills, which cause abortifacient effect, but never prescribed for pregnancy interruption. Such abortion pills may contain both approved pharmaceutical substances and herbal remedies.
Can herbal pills induce abortion?
The results of long-term studies prove that nutmeg and papaya have abortifacient potential.
* Nutmeg contains the following active pharmaceutical ingredients: safrole, myristicin and elemicin that in certain amounts can stimulate abortion. Normal daily dose of these substances for the body is just 0.05mg, yet in order to cause interruption of pregnancy, their dose must be increased by 200 times (up to 10mg).
* There are numerous publications, claiming that regular use of papaya during pregnancy may cause abortion. Indeed, unripe papaya fruit contain latex, which has abortifacient potential. However no latex is found in the ripe papaya. Therefore eating papaya gives no risk to the mother and fetus.
Furthermore, theoretically scientists can create such abortion pills that contain just natural ingredients. Still, not a single herbal medicine was approved to induce abortion. That’s why women must know about the fact that there is the only abortion drug, approved by national healthcare organizations in the USA, Australia, switzerland, France, NZ and many other countries of the world. This drug is called Mifepristone.
Mifepristone abortion pills can be prescribed separately or in combination with abortion pills Misoprostol. Speaking of Misoprostol drug, it causes significant abortifacient effect only if taken in combination with Mifepristone pills.
* In order to interrupt pregnancy by means of oral abortion pills, single dose of Mifepristone 600mg is enough.
* If 36-48 hours after the use of Mifepristone drug, no abortifacient effect was achieved, one should take abortion drug Misoprostol, in the dose range between 200mcg and 800mcg.
It doesn’t matter whether patient takes abortion pills Mifepristone separately or together with Misoprostol pills, the interruption of pregnancy should take place on the second-third day after the procedure of medical abortion. If three days later no abortion has occurred, a woman should discuss with a doctor the possibility of using some alternative non-surgical abortion.
On the international pharmaceutical market abortion pills Mifepristone are better known under the trade name Mifeprex, and Misoprostol pills are known under the trade name Cytotec. Noteworthy that oral pills containing the active substance Mifepristone (with abortifacient effect) are prescribed more than just for early abortion.
Oral drug, containing Mifepristone, can be prescribed to control the glycemia in adult men and women with endogenous Cushing’s syndrome. In the USA, such oral pills are available under the trade name Korlym. If Korlym pills are prescribed for a woman, she should be immediately aware of their abortifacient effect.