Scotland – Telemedicine in abortion care: safe, effective, preferred

Greta Hughson
12 July 2021

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Health Service (NHS) in Scotland began providing telemedicine services for medical abortion. In this interview, we spoke to Dr John Reynolds-Wright of the Medical Research Council Centre for Reproductive Health at the University of Edinburgh, who worked with a team to assess outcomes and acceptability for people using these services in Edinburgh. The study worked with 663 women choosing medical abortion at home between April and July 2020.

The study started in April 2020 – how did it come about so soon after COVID restrictions began?
I usually work as a doctor in sexual and reproductive health but I’m currently doing a PhD and working as a research fellow at the Chalmers Sexual Health Centre in Edinburgh. Before COVID, we were working on a large randomised controlled trial (RCT) called the UTAH study, which stood for ‘Using Telemedicine to improve early medical Abortion at Home’. We were randomising women to have a telephone assessment prior to their abortion versus a standard face-to-face assessment.

Continued: https://www.aidsmap.com/news/jul-2021/telemedicine-abortion-care-safe-effective-preferred

New evidence-based learning on abortions in India

This will not only significantly increase the options for women seeking abortion services but also leverage the potential of medical abortion technology.

By IANS
Published: 10th Jun 2021

New Delhi: Abortion in India continues to face high levels of stigma — this stigma pushes women who seek it away from legal services; curtails free dissemination of information on abortion; and affects the delivery of essential services in the public health system.

Consequently, millions of women prefer not to go to public health facilities for abortion services. It is estimated that 78 per cent of the 15.6 million abortions that take place each year in India occur in non-facility settings, mainly through medical abortion pills.

Continued: https://telanganatoday.com/new-evidence-based-learning-on-abortions-in-india

USA – Cost of care, distance to clinics drives demand for self-managed abortion: Study

The study looked at 57,500 who requested self-managed medication abortions.

By Alexandra Svokos
21 May 2021

The cost of care at clinics is a major factor driving patients to seek self-managed abortion through telemedicine, a new study published Friday found.

Aid Access, a nonprofit advocacy group founded by a Dutch doctor, helps individuals access abortion by arranging to mail mifepristone and misoprostol, the pills that make up a medication abortion, directly to people -- thus, they can have a self-managed abortion, meaning they take care of it outside a traditional medical setting. The study, published in the peer-reviewed JAMA Network Open, used data from the organization.

Continued: https://abcnews.go.com/Health/cost-care-distance-clinics-drives-demand-managed-abortion/story?id=77826875

Abortion opposition related to beliefs about fetal pain perception

Media release from the University of Otago
Thursday 13 May 2021

A person’s stance on abortion is linked to their, often inaccurate, belief about when a fetus can feel pain, a University of Otago study has found.

Lead author Emma Harcourt, PhD candidate in Otago’s Centre for Science Communication, says misinformation about abortion and pregnancy is common and potentially harmful.

Continued: https://www.nzdoctor.co.nz/article/abortion-opposition-related-beliefs-about-fetal-pain-perception

13.05.2021

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Study highlights significant concerns about a growing issue of sex-selective abortion in Nepal

Study highlights significant concerns about a
growing issue of sex-selective abortion in Nepal

Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.
Mar 19 2021

Detailed, new analysis published this week in the British Medical Journal (BMJ)
Open highlights significant concerns about a growing issue of sex selective
abortion of girls in Nepal.

Drawing on census data from 2011 and follow-on survey data from 2016, the
social scientists estimate that roughly one in 50 girl births were 'missing'
from records (i.e. had been aborted) between 2006-11 (22,540 girl births in
total). In the year before the census (June 2010 - June 2011) this had risen to
one in 38.

Continued: https://www.news-medical.net/news/20210319/Study-highlights-significant-concerns-about-a-growing-issue-of-sex-selective-abortion-in-Nepal.aspx

19.03.2021

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UK – The majority of people want to make at-home abortions legal

It's an issue currently being debated by the government

by JENNIFER SAVIN
FEB 19, 2021

A ground-breaking new study of over 50,000 medical abortions has found that the at-home option (introduced temporarily during the pandemic, for those up to 10 weeks pregnant) was not only safe and effective, but allowed more people to easily access the healthcare they required. The results of the study have been released during an especially poignant time, as the government is currently examining whether or not to make at-home abortions a permanent option in England.

The study looked at abortions carried out in England, Scotland and Wales, both before and after the pandemic, and researchers, from the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), MSI Reproductive Choices UK and the University of Texas at Austin, say their aim was to compare the data and see how the telemedicine service compares to the services previously available.

Continued: https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/reports/a35558873/at-home-abortions-legal-study/

Jamaica – Millions for illegal abortions

Millions for illegal abortions - Taxpayers fork out US$1.4 million annually for thousands of abortion complications; poorest families suffer most, CAPRI study finds

Sunday | January 31, 2021
Corey Robinson - Senior Staff Reporter, Jamaica Gleaner

Some 22,000 pregnancies are aborted annually in Jamaica, and this is only a
rough estimate from research done by the Caribbean Policy Research Institute
(CAPRI), which believes that the figures for the clandestine, criminal acts
could be more.

The data further revealed that Jamaican taxpayers fork out approximately US$1.4
million each year to fund the country’s healthcare system’s struggle with
complications caused from unsafe abortions islandwide.

Continued: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/lead-stories/20210131/millions-illegal-abortions-taxpayers-fork-out-us14-million-annually

USA – Campus researchers find disinformation on medication abortion webpages

BY ERIC ROGERS | SENIOR STAFF
Jan 25, 2021

UC Berkeley School of Public Health researchers found that four out of the five most presented webpages in response to “abortion pill” queries on Google were less than 50% accurate, in a study published Thursday.

Of the top five most presented webpages, three were anti-abortion, according to lead researcher and first-year doctoral student Betsy Pleasants. She added that these anti-abortion webpages — American Pregnancy Association, Abortion Pill Rescue and Abortion Procedures — had “very limited” factual and clinical information and are covertly affiliated with religious organizations.

Continued: https://www.dailycal.org/2021/01/24/campus-researchers-find-disinformation-on-medication-abortion-webpages/

7% of US women attempt self-managed abortions, study suggests

Alexandra Thompson
Fri, 18 December 2020

Around 7% of women in the US attempt a “self-managed abortion” at some point in their life, research suggests.

“Increasing evidence” has highlighted the extent of expecting mothers who try to terminate their pregnancy “outside the formal healthcare system”.

Continued: https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/7-us-women-attempt-self-abortion-160005797.html

18.12.2020

self-managed abortion

Study Shows That India’s Teen Pregnancy Has Been Dropping Steadily For The Past 20 Years

By Mahima Negi
December 9, 2020

A population-based study was published in The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health aimed to document ‘trends and inequalities in the prevalence of adolescent motherhood across low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs).‘

The results of this study will help in supporting the adolescent sexual and reproductive health target in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Continued: https://edtimes.in/study-shows-that-indias-teen-pregnancy-has-been-dropping-steadily-for-the-past-20-years/

09.12.2020