Most women undergoing first-trimester abortion are healthy. However, abortion providers also encounter women with a wide variety of medical conditions, some of which are serious and complex. When such a condition exists, consultation with the woman’s physician or a specialist can facilitate decision making regarding hospital referral and additional preparations that may be required. Medical ... Read more >

One known complication of induced abortion is upper genital tract infection, which is relatively uncommon in the current era of safe, legal abortion. Currently, rates of upper genital tract infection in the setting of legal induced abortion in the United States are generally less than 1%. Randomized controlled trials support the use of prophylactic antibiotics ... Read more >

For decades, the induction of fetal demise has been used before both surgical and medical second-trimester abortion. Intracardiac potassium chloride and intrafetal or intra-amniotic digoxin injections are the pharmacologic agents used most often to induce fetal demise. In the last several years, induction of fetal demise has become more common before second-trimester abortion. The only ... Read more >