Expert: Pat G - 8/16/2009

Question
iam a 22 years old female and iam in the 5th week of my pregnancy
pregnancy test is positive and i want to get an abortion using pills
it is forbidden in my country
i asked a doctor who is a friend of mine
and he adviced me to take 800micrograms of misoprostol sublingually
and repeat the dose after 24 hours if nothing happened
and he told me to take some NSAID if i feel any pain or cramps
please i need urgent help  ,please tell me if it is safe? and if there is any other methods for safe abortion at home

Answer
Hello, soso,

I don't know why the doctor advised you to use misoprostol. The manufacturer said a pregnant woman should NEVER use it (it's right on the label, in fact), because there are several ways it can kill, and it might only take hours. I consider it malpractice for any doctor to recommend or prescribe it. We can give him the benefit of the doubt and assume perhaps he is ignorant. There is a lot of propaganda out there about how safe a pill abortion is. Don't believe it. In addition to other problems, in the long term, it can cause breast cancer. It hasn't been in use long enough for us to know the full extent of the harm it causes. But I get questions from here constantly from women who have tried a pill abortion and suffered a life-threatening complication. For all I know, some of them have since died. Needless to say, that worries me. There is only so much I can do from a distance, and if they have no access to medical care (and a lot of them don't), they may be in trouble. But death from pill abortion is not confined to areas where there is no medical care.

No, it is NOT safe. There are women who are bleeding to death after a pill abortion, and sometimes women get toxic shock syndrome, which kills within hours (usually before it can even be diagnosed). It can also cause contractions so severe that it can rupture a woman's uterus. In fact, it is usually NOT given alone anyway. It could simply cause a birth defect instead, although that is relatively rare.

And the problem with NSAID is that it can cause a woman to bleed more, especially since it thins the blood. There are NO safe methods of abortion at home. A woman's body was designed to protect her baby, and the only way she can have an abortion is if someone causes harm to her body.

In Egypt, you do have a problem. The culture could result in your life being taken for being pregnant under the wrong circumstances. I understand why you want an abortion. Having to choose between that and a dangerous abortion is not a reasonable choice. This is what I would call a false dilemma. You are given two choices, both bad, and made to believe there are no other choices. Well, there are.

There are three organizations in Egypt that will specifically help you. Go here and select Egypt from the country list:

http://www.heartbeatinternational.org/worldwide_directory.asp

Click on "details" for contact information.

PLEASE take care of yourself, and don't take this chance! Talk to one of the organizations. They can help you find another way. Let me know if this doesn't work; I have some other suggestions. And please let me know how you do.