21-25 - Lohr

Background and methodology This survey was undertaken to obtain the opinions of women in the UK about their home management of early medical abortion (EMA) with mifepristone and misoprostol. All eligible women undergoing EMA at any BPAS clinic during a 2-week period were invited to participate. Women were contacted by telephone 1 week after the EMA and a fiveitem structured questionnaire was administered. One open-ended question gave women the opportunity to freely comment. Demographics and responses were tabulated using descriptive statistics. Mulitivariable logistic regression was used to assess the influence of demographic characteristics on responses. Results Of 249 enrolled participants, 162 were successfully surveyed (a 65% response rate). Most respondents (86%) would rather go home to complete an EMA than remain in a clinical setting. The majority (96%) found home management very or somewhat acceptable 21 ©FSRH J Fam Plann Reprod Health Care 2010: 36(1) Introduction The UK’s Abortion Act (1967) stipulates that any treatment for a termination of pregnancy must be carried out in a hospital or a place approved for this purpose by the Secretary of State.1 Although written at a time before early medical abortion (EMA) with mifepristone and misoprostol was available, current interpretation by the Department of Health is that both medications must be given in an authorised medical facility. This requires that women make two visits to a treatment unit for medication administration and a third visit to assess the outcome of treatment. In many hospital-based services in the UK, women undergo ward admission after misoprostol administration.2 However, most independent abortion providers and an increasing number of National Health Service (NHS) services discharge women after misoprostol administration to complete the process at home. Information is limited on the opinions of women in the UK regarding these practices or of home use of misoprostol, which is routine in many countries and has been shown to be safe and highly acceptable.3–7 Methods Women fulfilling the requirements of the Abortion Act (1967), planning a medical abortion at ≤63 days gestation with access to a telephone and ability to provide written valid consent were invited to participate. Adolescents under the age of 16 years were eligible if they were determined to be competent to give consent. Women were Women’s opinions on the home management of early medical abortion in the UK Patricia A Lohr, Josephine Wade, Laura Riley, Abigail Fitzgibbon, Ann Furedi ARTICLE BPAS (British Pregnancy Advisory Service), Stratford upon