How Does the Abortion Pill Work? How to Get It & Take It

What is the ‘abortion pill’?

The term “abortion pill” is a bit confusing, since there isn’t just one pill. A medical abortion is a series of prescription pills you take over 2 days — first, mifepristone (Mifeprex), and then misoprostol (Cytotec).

Other terms people use for these medications are:

Abortion pills
Medication abortion
RU-486
At-home abortion
Plan C

How is the ‘abortion pill’ different from Plan B?

The abortion pill is not the same as Plan B. Plan B is an emergency contraception pill, also known as “the morning after pill.”

Here’s how they’re different:

Emergency contraception (EC): This medication prevents a pregnancy. EC blocks fertilization, even if you have sperm and an egg inside you. If you’re already pregnant, EC will not cause an abortion, and it will not harm the fetus.
The abortion pill: These medications stop a pregnancy that’s already in progress and make the pregnancy come out of your body.

How does the ‘abortion pill’ work?

Here’s what a typical medical abortion schedule looks like:

Day 1 — mifepristone: On the first day, you take a 200 mg pill of mifepristone by mouth. This medication blocks progesterone, a hormone your body needs to grow a pregnancy.
Day 2 or 3 — misoprostol: In this period, you take four 800 mcg pills of misoprostol, which dissolve in your cheek or vagina. This medication causes your body to push the pregnancy out of your uterus.
Days 7 to 14 — follow-up: You need a follow-up visit to check that you’re no longer pregnant.

How effective is the abortion pill?

If you take both mifepristone and misoprostol, the abortion pill is very effective at ending a pregnancy that is less than 10 weeks. Overall, it ends a pregnancy more than 97% of the time. The earlier you take it during pregnancy, the better it works. Pregnancies closer to 11 weeks may need a top-up dose of misoprostol to help complete the abortion.

The follow-up visit after 7 to 14 days is to make sure the abortion pill works. If it hasn’t worked, then you may need a surgical abortion (procedure) to terminate the pregnancy.