Misinformation of Pregnant Women

When a woman wants to have a medical abortion, she is told that once she has started the treatment, the child must be aborted, since the tablets has a risk of causing malformations in the baby (1). But after taking the first pill, there are some women who regret and want to keep the baby anyway. But she has a priori been told, that now there is no turning back. She has become a victim of systematic misinformation.



A medical abortion consists of taking two separate tablets. First the mother takes a tablet containing mifepristone. This drug is designed to interrupt the placenta's oxygen supply, causing the child to die. No medical trials have found a link between the drug, and an increased risk of fetal malformations. Studies show, however, that even after taking Mifegyne, 26% of the babies survive, and the pregnancy continues (2, 3).



Secondly, a tablet containing misoprostol is ingested. This induces contractions in the womb so that the child is expelled, like during birth. It is proven that this drug may cause fetal malformations. The increased risk is somewhere between 0.01 and 0.1%. On beforehand, all pregnancies have a 2% risk of getting a child with a serious malformation. The risk of malformations after administration of misoprostol is therefore only slightly increased, from 2 to 2.1% at the most. Unfortunately, 95% of women who take both tablets abort, and 99% of the fetuses die. The last percent, however, continues the pregnancy as normal (4, 5, 6).



Thus there is no basis for recommending an abortion after taking the above-mentioned tablets, as the increased risk of malformations is nonexistent after mifepristone, and very low after misoprostol. One producer of mifepriston says that "The available data are insufficient to justify a systematic termination of pregnancy" (3).



It is common knowledge and practice, that taking a single tablet with almost any ingredient, does not cause an increased risk of birth defects, and therefore is no excuse to perform abortions. Every day women all over the world are recommended to continue their pregnancy even though they have taken tablets with potential or even proven teratogenic effect.



How can it be the gynecologists are still forcing the completion of an initiated medical abortion?
There are several reasons:

  

  1. They still falsely believe ingestion of the tablets significantly increases the risk of fetal malformations
  2. It is important the outcome always is an abortion, so the efficacy of the method is not discredited
  3. Instead of listening to the women, the guidelines are followed slavishly and authoritatively

.

To say to the women they must finish a medical abortion is a clear violation of the patient’s right to give an informed consent. Women are consciously and systematically withheld accurate information about the medicine they must take in connection with a medical abortion. Those who regret, and want to keep their child anyway, are in this way forced to have an abortion.



Also read the article "Informed Consent" in the submenu “Juridical”.


References:

1) Medical abortus provocatus - 1 trimester Hindsgavl gynecological guidelines, Danish Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology

2) Mifepristone, Hindsgavl gynecological guidelines, Danish Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology

3) t. Mifegyne 200 mg, SPC and Package leaflet

4) Misoprostol, Hindsgavl gynecological guidelines, Danish Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology

5) t. Cytotec 0.2 mg, SPC and Package leaflet
6) Misoprostol and teratogenicity - Reviewing the evidence, N Philip et al., The Population Council, Inc., 2003