What are the two pills?

Mifepristone, the primary medicine, is more often recognized as RU-486. It is the abortion pill that primes the uterus in the course of pregnancy. There has been extensive research to study the effects of this drug and its effectiveness as a part of the abortion pills regimen. Mifepristone is sold under various trade names like Mifeprex and Mifegyne while also being available in other generic forms. One can also buy Mifepristone online.

The secondary medication in the regimen is a prostaglandin. The most widely used one is Misoprostol. The combined therapy of Misoprostol and Mifepristone is the most studied one. However, these abortion pills are only advisable in the first trimester starting from the 4th week, within which also they work with varied efficiencies owing to the progress of pregnancy. The longer the female has been into gestation, the less will be the efficiency of the drugs. Despite this, the overall success rate of medical abortion is 94%. You can buy abortion pills online at an affordable price and easily terminate the pregnancy in a comfortable setting.

Is one of them enough to induce abortion?

What happens when you use Mifepristone alone?

In very exclusive cases, when pregnancy in a woman has been detected at a very early stage, Mifepristone brings about a complete abortion without any complications. If you suspect a complete abortion is suspected, there are a number of clinical assessments that can confirm the same. In most cases, however, the intake of Mifepristone alone may cause a missed abortion or a continued pregnancy.

• A missed abortion and its causes

Mifepristone works by competitively inhibiting the function of pregnancy maintaining substances in the body like the hormone progesterone and a number of glucocorticoids. This leads to decidual necrosis. Decidual necrosis is a medical phrase to describe the rupture of the thickened uterus lining.  The uterus can hence no longer carry the contents of pregnancy. Moreover, it sensitizes the myometrium, the inner lining of the uterus. This further initiates mild contractions.

In the case of a missed abortion, the uterine contractility resulting from Mifepristone alone proves to be insufficient because of which, although the pregnancy is no longer viable, the contents that are to be discarded, remain in the uterus. This poses a serious threat of an infection. If left untreated, it greatly reduces the chances of a future pregnancy. Women who face an incomplete abortion undergo a vacuum aspiration procedure or a surgery to rid the uterus of the pregnancy contents.

• A continued pregnancy and its reason

In later stages of pregnancy, when a medical abortion can still be used, complete abortion requires a more vigorous treatment. Towards the 9th week of gestation, the embryonic phase turns into the fetal phase with the development of eyes and earlobes. This means that Mifepristone alone will really have very few chances of completing abortion. Instead, the fetus is more likely to absorb the components of the medicine and grow with abnormalities.

In a very few cases, pregnancy also continues normally.

So, does misoprostol work alone?

This drug is essentially a prostaglandin which is also otherwise produced by a number of tissues in the female body. Misoprostol, in a Mifepristone primed uterus, enhances uterine contractility and softens the cervix for the easy expulsion of the pregnancy contents.

A greater number of women try Misoprostol alone than Mifepristone. Although this use is documented with a very low-efficiency rate, it does have a standard protocol which differs from the combination therapy. The regimen for this involves three doses (800 mcg each) of the same drug a 12-hour gap. The route of administration can be buccal or vaginal. But all the three doses should use the same method.

Most women in the earliest stages of their pregnancy are eligible for the misoprostol-only regimen. However, it is always safer to use the combination therapy which also has a higher efficiency rate.