Misoprostol for Abortion

Misoprostol used alone may terminate a pregnancy. But it is more often used with other medicines, such as mifepristone or methotrexate, in first-Reference trimester Opens New Window abortions.

Misoprostol alone, moistened and used vaginally, is effective in over 90 out of 100 cases in terminating first-trimester pregnancies of less than 8 weeks.^{Reference 1}

Misoprostol can be given orally, buccally (dissolved between the gums and cheek), or vaginally. Misoprostol is slightly more effective when taken vaginally than when taken by mouth.^{Reference 1} But many doctors are only giving misoprostol by mouth because of reports of a rare, fatal infection that affected a few women after using vaginal misoprostol. Some studies have shown that taking misoprostol buccally works as well as when it is given vaginally or orally.^{Reference 2, Reference 3}

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