A follow-up visit 12 days later confirms the pregnancy has ended. In a small number of cases, a surgical procedure may be necessary. This action causes the uterus to shed its lining, as it does in menstruation. An early embryo attached to the lining is shed at the same time. Approved as a cancer treatment by the FDA in 1953, methotrexate's efficacy as an abortifacient was discovered later.
Methotrexate terminates pregnancy by blocking cells from multiplying and dividing.
Both methods also require the use of misoprostol, which stimulates uterine contractions to expel the fertilized egg. Women Recommend Medical Abortion Women in the mifepristone clinical trials described the abortion process as similar to menstruation or a natural miscarriage. Many found the act of swallowing a pill more natural than a surgical procedure as well as more private and noninvasive. Most state abortion laws were drafted at a time when medical abortion was not available and pregnancy termination was always achieved by surgical means. Although many of these laws do not make sense in the context of medical abortion, they will be enforced against providers of medical abortion.