or more than 20 years, U.S. clinicians have used a two-drug regimen—mifepristone and misoprostol—to induce at-home abortions in early pregnancy. The combo of drugs has been If mifepristone were to be restricted, clinicians would switch to misoprostol. The safety and effectiveness of a misoprostol-only course, which is widely used in Europe, are still high enough that health care providers could feel good about the substitution. However, Dr. Rebecca Cohen says the drug’s higher failure rate and higher risk of dangerous bleeding mean “that we anticipate more people would opt for surgical rather than medication abortion and that more people traveling from out of state for medication abortion would need to stay in Colorado longer. Currently, out-of-staters take the mifepristone here—because it starts the abortion process—and then use the misoprostol after traveling home. If that changes, everything will have to take place in a state where abortion is legal.”
