Commentary: No-Test Medication Abortion: A Sample Protocol for Increasing Access During a Pandemic and Beyond
- Published
- June 1st, 2020
- Type
- Publication
- Topic
- Medication Abortion
- Authors
- Raymond, E.G., Grossman, D., Mark, A., Upadhyay, U.D., Dean, G., Creinin, M.D. Coplon L., Atrio, J.M., Taylor, D., Gold, M.
Contraception; 2020 Jun; 101(6):361-366; doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.contraception.2020.04.005. Epub 2020 Apr 16.
The COVID-19 pandemic is acutely threatening access to essential health services, including abortion. For patients seeking abortion, urgent modifications of current protocols are needed to ensure that patients can continue to obtain this time-sensitive treatment while limiting transmission of infection by maintaining distance between and among patients and providers.
To assist abortion providers with the current crisis, we present a sample protocol for providing a ‘‘no-test” medical abortion that includes recommendations for patient selection, Rh status evaluation and management, the treatment regimen, and follow-up. The protocol is intended to serve as a guidance.