Abortion is Safe Healthcare
ABORTION IS SAFE AND EFFECTIVE
The report finds that all forms of abortion are safe and effective. Abortion has no impact on a woman’s future health and rarely involves serious complications. In fact, less than a fraction of one percent of medication abortion patients have experienced complications. Furthermore, the report explains that it is a violation of long established standards of informed consent to require providers to inform patients about risks that have been invalidated by scientific research.
Abortion can safely be performed in an office setting with a trained provider
The research finds that in most cases, abortion care doesn’t require special equipment or emergency arrangements. In fact, the majority of abortions are performed either in an abortion clinic (59 percent of procedures) or another medical clinic (36 percent of procedures), as opposed to a hospital. Moreover, the research explains that a trained physician, physician assistant, certified nurse-midwife and nurse practitioner has the skills and experience to perform most procedures.
Medically Unnecessary Regulations Hinder a Woman’s Ability to Access Quality Care
When reviewed against the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) six attributes of health care quality, the researchers find abortion care is safe and effective, but its level of quality is negatively impacted due to medically unnecessary abortion regulations.
The report defines medically unnecessary regulations as policies that “limit the number of available providers, misinform women of risks of the procedures they are considering, overrule women’s and clinician’s medical decision making or require medically unnecessary services and delays in care.”
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In the news
Arkansas has made access to safe, legal abortion even more difficult
THE SUPREME COURT’S refusal to hear a challenge of an Arkansas law governing medication abortion had immediate effects. Women en route to appointments to receive the pills used in the procedure were forced to go home with no backup plan. Two clinics offering only...
Restricting access to medication abortions undermines women’s health care
The Arkansas law requires abortion providers to have an agreement with a backup provider that has admitting privileges at a local hospital to administer medication abortion. Ultimately, the Arkansas law could force two of the three clinics providing abortion care in...
The medical and scientific communities stand for abortion access
Last week the Trump administration rolled out a new, deeply concerning proposal designed to cut off access to federal family planning funds for facilities where abortion is performed or where patients may receive referrals to abortion services. This decision has...
About the NASEM Report
Six private Foundations supported the development of the NASEM report, with no control over the structure, development, or conclusions of the report. The full report can be accessed directly from NASEM at www.nationalacademies.org/ReproductiveHealth.
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