A Drug That Eases Miscarriages Is Difficult For Women To Get

When Kirstin Herbst found out she was pregnant last winter, she and her fiance were overjoyed. But when she went to the doctor for her first ultrasound, she found out she was having a miscarriage.

Her doctor prescribed a medication called misoprostol, which helps the miscarriage to pass. But the misoprostol didn't work right away, and Herbst needed to take another dose.

Herbst was optimistic when she became pregnant again this past summer. When she went in for an ultrasound, she again learned she was having a miscarriage.

Sitting next to pregnant women in the waiting room of the clinic, she says, was devastating. "I remember hating being out in public," says Herbst, who lives in Toronto. "I definitely preferred to curl up on my couch and just cry when I needed to cry."

For her second miscarriage, Herbst's doctor prescribed a regimen that the latest research shows is more effective. She took a medicine called mifepristone and then took misoprostol the next day.

The combination worked much better, and Herbst was able to pass the miscarriage at home. "You just want to sit at home