Objective
This study measures the extent to which women who access clinical abortion services
in the United States report having ever used misoprostol or other substances to self-induce.
Study Design
A random sample of 107 US abortion providers was asked to distribute questionnaires
to abortion patients.
Results
Information was gathered from 9493 patients at 95 facilities, and weights were constructed
to make the data nationally representative of all US abortion patients. Only 1.2%
of women obtaining abortions report having ever used misoprostol on their own to “bring
back” their period or end a pregnancy. A similarly small proportion of women, 1.4%,
reported using other substances, such as vitamin C or herbs, to attempt to end a pregnancy.
Conclusion
Media reports of self-induced abortions using misoprostol may be exaggerated, but
further research is needed to estimate the incidence of self-induced abortion among
women who do not access clinical abortion services.
Key words
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References
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: September 23, 2010
Accepted:
August 16,
2010
Received in revised form:
July 21,
2010
Received:
May 10,
2010
Footnotes
This article was developed with funding from an anonymous donor.
The study coordination site was the Guttmacher Institute's office in New York City. Data were collected from women at sites in 45 states and the District of Columbia. The only states in which information was not collected were Alaska, Kansas, Montana, New Mexico, and Vermont.
Cite this article as: Jones RK. How commonly do US abortion patients report attempts to self-induce? Am J Obstet Gynecol 2011;204:23.e1-4.
Identification
Copyright
© 2011 Mosby, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
