The study was commenced at a hospital abortion service in Edinburgh that allowed women at up to 56 days’ gestation to be discharged home soon after misoprostol administration. An anonymous questionnaire of women’s experiences was conducted 1—2 weeks after the procedure for three months.

During the three months of the survey, a total of 145 women chose to go home to abort. A total of hundred women completed questionnaires out of 145 distributed. The most typical reasons for choosing to go home were: to get home sooner and be in the privacy of one’s own home. Most of the women stated that bleeding was either “as expected” or “not as bad as expected”, and 58% of the women noted that the pain was “as expected” or “not as bad as expected”. The majority of the women said that they would recommend this method to a friend.

The study concluded that discharge home for the final stage of medical abortion was highly acceptable to women. Since availability is not limited by hospital bed space, more women can be treated by medical methods.

Reference: https://srh.bmj.com/content/36/4/213

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