Women’s experiences and acceptability of medical termination of pregnancy: Results of an introductory study in Thailand

• Main Authors: Kittipong Saejeng, Unnop Jaisamrarn, Wanapa Naravage
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Emerald Publishing 2019-01-01
• Series: Journal of Health Research
• Subjects: abortion pills; medical abortion; medical abortion introduction; medical termination of pregnancy; mifepristone; misoprostol
• Online Access: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JHR-08-2018-0079/full/pdf?title=womens-experiences-and-acceptability-of-medical-termination-of-pregnancy

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to understand women’s experiences, acceptability and outcomes of using the medical termination of pregnancy (MTP). The study is conducted at nine reproductive health and family planning clinics at university hospitals as well as regional and provincial hospitals located in Bangkok and the locations within Thailand. Design/methodology/approach - This is a descriptive research recruiting healthy women with pregnancy up to 63 days since the last menstrual period (LMP) who opted for MTP during 2012–2014. Findings - A total of 443 women who were referred from the reproductive health networks voluntarily participated in the study. Overall, 92.6 percent of participants had a complete abortion. No serious adverse events were found for cases using misoprostol at home or at clinic. More than 98.3 percent of the women felt satisfied or very satisfied with the method. More than 80 percent of participants thought that the side-effects of the method were as expected or less than expected. More than 95 percent of the women recommended having MTP available in Thailand. Originality/value - The introduction of MTP that uses a mifepristone and misoprostol regimen (Medabon®) in pregnancies up to 63 days, since LMP demonstrates that misoprostol can be safely used by women at home or at clinic. The administration of misoprostol at home reduces the number of hospital visits, which saves time and costs for traveling from home to the facility. In addition, women have more privacy and control over their bodies by self-administering misoprostol. The MTP’s introductory results also show that MTP service provision is well integrated into reproductive health and family planning services. It is useful for stakeholders who would be involved in design and planning of health system services before the MTP is made broadly available throughout the country.