Certain women should not take this two-drug regimen. Other contraindications include women with porphyria or pregnancies which are greater than 49 days. Mefipristone requires no anesthesia, no mechanical dilation and no use of suction to accomplish an abortion. This is about 5 times greater than with surgical abortion. With mefipristone the actual abortion occurs 2-7 days after you begin taking mefipristone.
Surgical abortions take several minutes to complete.
Surgical abortion requires one visit for the abortion and a second postoperative visit 2 weeks later. A second visit is required to be certain that the abortion is complete and that there is no retained tissue. With surgical abortions the heaviest vaginal bleeding occurs in a physician's office, while you are under observation. With mefipristone and misoprostol the heaviest vaginal bleeding occurs when you're at home. Both medical and surgical abortions are safe methods.