Self-Managed Abortion: What You Need to Know

SCPRC |

Disclaimer: The information on this website is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. If you are experiencing an emergency, please call 911 or visit the nearest Emergency Room.

Self-Managed Abortion:

Self-managed abortion, or at-home abortion, refers to abortions that are manged without clinical supervision. Without appropriate clinical care, these abortions can be dangerous to the health of the mother and baby.

Types of Self-Managed Abortions:

One common method of self-managed abortion is through medications, such as the abortion pill, taken to end a pregnancy.¹ The abortion pill (sometimes called Mifeprex™ or RU-486) is made up of 2 different pills called mifepristone and misporostol.² Besides medical abortions, alternative abortion methods could also be used to self-induce an abortion. Alternative abortion methods involve injesting herbs or toxic chemicals, inserting materials vaginally, or intentionally inducing abdominal trauma to end a pregnancy.³

What are the risks of a medical abortion (the abortion pill)?

Serious complications can occur, including bleeding, infection, undiagnosed ectopic pregnancy (when the embryo attaches outside the uterus), failed abortion, and risk of fetal malformations. These complications could require hospitalization to treat. Although rare, these complications could result in organ damage or death without proper care.²

What are the risks of alternative abortion methods (ingesting herbs or toxic chemicals, inserting materials vaginally, or intentionally inducing abdominal trauma)?

According to Abortion Explained, “Many of these abortion methods are extremely dangerous and include severe risk to the health and life of the pregnant woman. Many of the herbal and chemical preparations are toxic in nature and directly poison the woman. Foreign bodies inserted into the uterus can lead to cervical or uterine trauma and severe infection, and, by definition external force causes direct and often severe trauma to the pregnant woman’s body.”³

What about purchasing pills online or using “home remedies” to induce an abortion?

According to Before You Decide, “The abortion pill has special safety restrictions on how it is distributed in public. Using drugs bought online can be risky. Online purchasers of the abortion pill bypass important safeguards designed to protect their health. Because drugs purchased online are not subject to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) manufacturing controls or FDA inspection of manufacturing facilities, there is no way to be sure exactly what they contain.

Some websites claim to give instructions on how to induce your own abortion. Attempting to follow these instructions can be very dangerous for a woman and may or may not end her pregnancy.”²

For more information about self-managed abortions, visit: athomeabortionfacts.com

Make an informed decision:

Self-managed abortions can be dangerous to do at home and alone. Pregnancy Resource Clinic exists to educate, encourage, and empower men and women to make informed life choices. To learn more about your pregnancy, we invite you to come to our clinic.

During your visit you’ll have the opportunity to take a pregnancy test and share about your situation with a client advocate. Our caring and compassionate client advocates can talk with you about what parenting, adoption, or abortion might look like for you. While we do not refer for or provide abortions, we do offer information about abortion procedures. We also offer ultrasounds for the purposes of determining the presence of a viable (growing) intrauterine pregnancy, determining gestational age, and detecting cardiac activity. This important information can be essential when making a pregnancy decision.

We give each client the genuine care and attention they need to not only ensure that they are educated and encouraged, but also empowered to make an informed choice. All of our services are free of charge and confidential. To make an appointment, call our helpline at 814.234.7340.

Reference List

Harris LH, Grossman D. Complications of Unsafe and Self-Managed Abortion. N Engl J Med. 2020 Mar 12;382:1029-1040. doi: 10.1056/NEJMra1908412
Care Net. What Should I Know- Medical Abortions. Before You Decide. 2016; (Ed. 2): 16-17, 20.
Life International. Alternative Abortion Methods. Abortion Explained. China: 2012. 41.