Women who undergo chemical abortions often say they were unprepared by healthcare providers for how painful the procedure can be, a new study suggests.
NBC News reported on a study of roughly 1,600 women in the United Kingdom published Dec. 17 by the journal BMJ Sexual and Reproductive Health.
A press release regarding the study said researchers surveyed women who had obtained chemical abortions sometime in their pregnancies up to 10 weeks in late 2021 or early 2022. The researchers asked women about their pain levels during the chemical abortion and what they wish they would have been told to expect.
According to the release, the women were reportedly told by their abortion providers that the pain they would experience while undergoing a chemical abortion would be similar to that of strong menstrual cramps.
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“While some respondents felt that was an accurate description, others said they felt unprepared and that the pain aspect of medication abortion was ‘sugar-coated’ or downplayed,” NBC News reported.
Taking abortion chemical pills blocks progesterone, a hormone necessary for a stable pregnancy, and later causes a woman’s uterus to cramp and expel the aborted baby.
The release said roughly half of the women reported the pain they experienced during the abortion was worse than they had expected. Over 90% of the overall sample rated their pain as at least a 4 on a scale of 1 to 10. Around 40% of the total respondents ranked their pain as “severe,” rating it between 8 and 10 out of 10.
“One woman who responded to the survey said: ‘Pain was so much stronger than period pain, it was like having contractions in labour. I’ve given birth three times and the pain really wasn’t too much different from that pain, the cramping contraction pain,’” NBC News reported.
According to the study, as NBC News reported, women who had previously experienced labor and birth, or women who have extreme menstrual cramps, were less likely to report severe pain.
The study abstract stated that women reportedly said they wished they were better prepared by a clear understanding of the pain levels associated with the abortion. They also recommended that women have access to other women’s first-hand experiences with chemical abortion.
According to the release, one respondent commented: “[Being transparent] might put some women off from abortion, however, I feel that patients have a right to fully understand the risks and benefits. This should be made absolutely transparent; shared and informed decision making is essential.”
Other health experts and researchers also say that women should be more informed about the pain involved with the abortion.
“Patients need to be adequately informed about what to expect and be told what we know about how to manage the pain,” Dr. Daniel Grossman, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology who was not one of the researchers who conducted the study, said in the NBC News report.
He added that pain is often “downplayed” in healthcare, especially in the fields of women’s health and obstetrics and gynecology.
LifeNews Note: Hannah Hiester writes for CatholicVote, where this column originally appeared.
The post Women Say Intense Pain From Taking Abortion Pills is Much Worse Than They Were Told appeared first on LifeNews.com.
