self-managed medication abortion
is safe, effective, and empowering.
To understand the effectiveness and safety of self-managed medication abortion with accompaniment support, Ibis Reproductive Health, in collaboration with Colectiva Feminista La Revuelta in Argentina, Generation Initiative for Women and Youth Nigeria, and collaborators in Southeast Asia, conducted a prospective observational cohort study: the Studying Accompaniment Feasibility and Effectiveness (SAFE) study.
96.9%
of ALL participants (across all regimens) had a complete abortion without surgical intervention.
93.8%
of combined regimen (mifepristone + misoprostol) users had a complete abortion without surgical intervention.
98.8%
of misoprostol alone users had a complete abortion without surgical intervention.
In 2019 and 2020, we recruited over 1,000 callers to accompaniment groups who were contacting the group seeking information for their own self-managed medication abortion and followed them for approximately one month.
Findings demonstrate that self-managed medication abortion with accompaniment group support is highly effective.
Further, an analysis of data from Argentina and Nigeria found that for pregnancies <9 weeks gestation, self-managed medication abortion is non-inferior to the effectiveness of medication abortion administered in a clinical setting. Going forward, governments, professional bodies, and clinicians should focus on expanding access to medication abortion across a range of service delivery models—including self-use.
Self-managed medication abortion is no less effective than medication abortion in clinical settings.
