New study: Women felt unprepared for abortion pill complications

A new study from the Charlotte Lozier Institute has found that women are not prepared for, or properly informed about, complications from mifepristone (the abortion pill).

Key Takeaways:

• The study found that women wanted more information on complications than they were given during the informed consent process.

• Most women cited bleeding, pain, and impact on mental and emotional health as complications for which they were unprepared.

• There have been multiple recent studies finding that the abortion pill is more dangerous or painful than women are led to believe.

The Details:

The study from the Charlotte Lozier Institute found that women are not being properly informed about the complications they may experience after taking the abortion pill. Women aged 23 to 55 who had undergone chemical abortions were surveyed about their perceptions of the informed consent process.

Respondents said they wanted more information about various aspects of their experience:

• Over 50% about bleeding

• 48% about pain

• 33% about mental and emotional health

• 29% about incomplete abortion with retained tissue

• 21% about a failed abortion with their preborn child born alive

Respondents also said they felt confused about whether their pain and bleeding could be considered normal or if they were severe enough to constitute an emergency.

“These findings raise real questions about whether women are being given all the information they want and need to be fully informed,” CLI Senior Research Associate Tessa Cox told the Daily Caller. “Our results underscore a serious reality: Informed consent for abortion drugs needs to be far more than just a box to check. Given the broader context of the increasing availability of abortion drugs online and through the mail, there are serious ramifications, not only as the lives of unborn babies are ended by these drugs but also as women’s safety is put at risk. The stakes are too high for informed consent to be treated as a formality."

The Big Picture:

The abortion pill is heavily marketed as safe, and no different than having a heavy period. It's no wonder, then, that post-abortive women are reporting they were not properly prepared or informed for what they would actually experience.

A recent insurance database analysis from the Ethics and Public Policy Center found that adverse events from the abortion pill occurred at a rate 22 times higher than that reported on the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) drug label. Another study found that mifepristone is four times more dangerous than a first-trimester surgical abortion. As Live Action News previously reported:

Recent research from Ireland about the abortion pill showed 12% of women went to the ER for bleeding or infection. In addition, 16% suffered incomplete abortions.

This percentage corresponds with a recent U.S. insurance database analysis from the EPPC, showing a nearly 11% “serious adverse events” rate after taking the abortion pill.

Still another study found women were not properly prepared for how painful undergoing a chemical abortion would be, with respondents saying that comparisons to period pain were "inaccurate and misleading."

Planned Parenthood downplays the reality of chemical abortions on its website, saying women can expect to feel “tired and crampy” and that it’s “kind of like having a really heavy, crampy period.”

Women not only can undergo extreme pain, but also trauma due to blood loss and due to seeing the body of their dead child.

The Bottom Line:

The abortion pill is dangerous and needs to be taken off the market, yet it is growing increasingly common, leaving a trail of injured, traumatized women and dead preborn children in its wake.