Patients who undergo early medical abortion can be safely managed with telehealth and an at-home low-sensitivity urine test during follow-up, an Australian study shows. 

Doctors from MSI Australia found that 91% of women who underwent the new protocol did not require “unnecessary” in-clinic appointments after receiving MS-2 Step (mifepristone and misoprostol). 

“We found no increase in continuing pregnancy rates after [early medical abortion] or surgical intervention for incomplete abortion,” they wrote in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

The team, led by Brisbane gynaecologist Dr Catriona Melville, analysed data from 2223 women who had accessed medical abortion at 14 sexual health clinics between March and July 2020.