Study: Abortion by telemedicine, mailed pills is safe

Taking abortion pills prescribed through telemedicine and received by mail — a method used by growing numbers of patients — is as safe and effective as when the pills are obtained by visiting a doctor, a large new study found.

The method was about 98% effective and was safe for more than 99% of patients, according to the study, led by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco and published Thursday in Nature Medicine.

The study looked at the experience of more than 6,000 patients in the months after the federal government began allowing abortion pills to be mailed, from April 2021 to January 2022.

The patients used one of three telemedicine abortion organizations that served 20 states and Washington, D.C.

The services prescribed pills to patients who were no more than 10 weeks pregnant and screened patients for medical issues that would make them ineligible, such as ectopic pregnancies or blood-clotting disorders.

If medical eligibility was unclear, patients were asked to get ultrasounds and were then prescribed pills.

The effectiveness and safety rates were similar to those in several large studies of in-person medication abortion and of telemedicine abortion where ultrasounds were required.

They were also similar to the rates on the Food and Drug Administration’s label for mifepristone.

Researchers also found no difference in safety or efficacy for patients who received real-time video consultations compared to those who received prescriptions based on written information they provided via text messaging, which most patients did.