Physicians can avoid the anti-abortionist terrorists now

The ability to get a medical abortion, though legal, has been greatly reduced by the anti-abortion terrorists to only a few places. The medical abortion solution has had the problem that in about 1 case in 1000 a serious infection can occur, so many physicians have not used the procedure. Without the availability of a drug-induced abortion the alternative for women has been to patronize one of the rare abortion clinics and run the gauntlet of the anti-abortion terrorists.

No more.

About a fourth of American women getting early abortions last year did so with drugs rather than surgery, statistics show, as a new study reported improved safety in using the so-called abortion pill.

Some experts predict that the percentage of such "medical abortions," which offer more privacy than surgical termination at a clinic or hospital, will rise even more because of the new study.

The research, done at Planned Parenthood clinics nationwide, shows that a new way of giving pills to induce abortion virtually eliminates the risk of a rare but dangerous infection.

"This is the first really huge documentation of how safe and effective medical abortion is," said Dr. Beverly Winikoff, a professor of family health and population at Columbia University. "The technology is very good and very well-used in this country and probably will be used more and more."

Two pills are used to induce an abortion. The primary drug, Mifeprex, was first approved in the U.S. in 2000. Use has risen steadily, even though manufacturer Danco Laboratories Llc. of New York hasn’t promoted it and the drug can be obtained only at a clinic or doctor’s office, not through a pharmacy.

[...]

The group’s study analyzed medical abortions at Planned Parenthood centers from 2005 to mid-2008 — about 228,000 cases. It found that the abortion pill was about 98.5 percent effective and that changes in how the drugs were given reduced the risk of a serious infection from about 1 in 1,000 cases to 0.06 in 1,000.

This is a major setback to the anti-abortion terrorists. Their targets no longer are isolated and obvious. So it is good news for women.