Reviewer ’s report  
 
Title: Experiences with pain of early medical abortion: qualitative results from Nepal, South 
Africa, and Vietnam  
 
Version: 0 Date: 23 Jul 2019  
 
Reviewer: Deepti Tandon  
 
Reviewer's report:  
 
Please include all comments for the authors in this box rather than uploading your report as an 
attachment. Please only upload as attachments annotated versions of manuscripts, graphs, 
supporting materials or other aspects of your report which cannot be included in a text format.  
BMC Women's Health  
 Experiences with pain of early medication abortion: qualitative results from Nepal, South 
Africa, and Vietnam  
PAGE; LINE  COMMENTS  
Page 2, Line 31  
Page 9, Line 178  
Page 9, Line 181  
Pages 9 to 18  
Page 11 line 229 onwards  
Till line 398  
Page 19, Line 406  
Page 21, Line 453 to 462   It is suggested to use the term medical abortion as opposed to the 
use of Medication abortion.  
Were patients with retained products of conception following medical abortion excluded from 
the study sample?  
Was ultrasonography done in every patient to assess that abortion process was complete  
Description of pain scoring scale used, if any.  
 
The fe edback from the sample patients has been reported verbatim in an extremely lengthy 
format and is too elaborate. It needs to be concise, with significant points highlighted which 
would make for a more targeted and relevant reading.  
Details of an emotional scoring scale used, if any.  
Range of pain scores to be explained  
Better outcome indicators need to be defined to make the findings relevant since most of the 
findings seem to be assessed in a qualitative manner.  
Please overwrite this text when adding your comments to the authors.  
Are the methods appropriate and well described?  
If not, please specify what is required in your comments to the authors.  
 
Yes 
 
Does the work include the necessary controls?  
If not, please specify which controls are required in your comments to  the authors.  
 
No 
 
Are the conclusions drawn adequately supported by the data shown?  
If not, please explain in your comments to the authors.  
 
Yes 
 
Are you able to assess any statistics in the manuscript or would you recommend an 
additional statistical review?  
If an additional statistical review is recommended, please specify what aspects require further 
assessment in your comments to the editors.  
 
Not relevant to this manuscript  
 
Quality of written English  
Please indicate the quality of language in t he manuscript:  
 
Not suitable for publication unless extensively edited  
 
Declaration of competing interests  
Please complete a declaration of competing interests, considering the following questions:  
 
1. Have you in the past five years received reimbursements, fees, funding, or salary from an 
organisatio n that may in any way gain or lose financially from the publication of this 
manuscript, either now or in the future?  
 
2. Do you hold any stocks or shares in an organisation that may in any way gain or lose 
financially from the publication of this manuscript, either now or in the future?  
 
3. Do you hold or are you currently applying for any patents relating to the content of the 
manuscript?  
 
4. Have you received reimbursements, fees, funding, or salary from an organization that 
holds or has applied for patents relati ng to the content of the manuscript?  
 
5. Do you have any other financial competing interests?  
 
6. Do you have any non -financial competing interests in relation to this paper?  
 
If you can answer no to all of the above, write 'I declare that I have no competing interests' 
below. If your reply is yes to any, please give details below.  
 
'I declare that I have no competing inter ests' 
 
I agree to the open peer review policy of the journal. I understand that my name will be included 
on my report to the authors and, if t he manuscript is accepted for publication, my named report 
including any attachments I upload will be posted on the website along with the authors' 
responses. I agree for my report to be made available under an Open Access Creative Commons 
CC-BY license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ).  I understand that any comments 
which I do not wish to be included in my named report can be included as confidential comments 
to the editors, which wi ll not be published.  
 
I agree to the open peer review policy of the journal