Medical abortion is “safe and effective” and “with adequate support” women can self-manage some or all of the stages. This is written by the World Health Organization which published the new guidelines on the termination of pregnancy carried out through the use of specific drugs. Pharmacological abortion is associated with a reduction in costs and the need for surgical interventions compared to instrumental abortion. Self-management of medical abortion is an option that WHO “recommends as a safe and effective method of terminating a pregnancy. The drugs used, mifepristone and misoprostol, are included in the WHO list of essential medicines. With support adequately, women can self-manage some or all of the stages, for example in the comfort of their own home”.
“Healthcare workers have a critical role in providing abortion care that respects the choices of women and girls,” said Pascale Allotey, director of research and reproductive health at WHO. For this, she adds, the guide aims to “help health professionals to provide safe, timely and effective services”. “Medicinal or medical abortion has played a vital role in expanding access to safe abortion globally, particularly for women,” says Bela Gana, head of the Global Abortion Unit at WHO. in the most vulnerable situations who may not have access to health facilities or who need to maintain privacy by avoiding hospitalizations, so it is important that professionals can facilitate this”. In 2019 in Italy according to the Ministry of Health, abortion with mifepristone and prostaglandins was used in 24.9% of cases, compared to 20.8% in 2018. “The other European countries, where pharmacological abortion was legalized many years earlier than in Italy, they record further growth rates that in France and England exceed 70% and in Northern European countries 90%”, specifies the Istituto Superiore di Sanità on the Epicentro portal.
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