Vitals Spotlight - We Give the Doctor an Exam

Dr. Beth Jordan

Last year one quarter of all American women seeking abortions used drugs instead of surgery, according to a new study done at Planned Parenthood clinics all across the country.

“The impact and promise is huge,” said Dr. Beth Jordan, medical director of the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals. According to Vitals.com, Jordan attended University of Arizona College of Medicine where she received her medical degree and completed her residency in internal medicine.

The medical abortion can be administered during the first nine weeks of pregnancy. The first pill, mifeprex, is swallowed at the doctor’s office and a second pill, misoprostol, is used 24-48 hours later.

Originally the misoprostol was inserted internally, which lead to a handful of deaths caused by a rare bacterial infection. In April 2006 Planned Parenthood had its 300 clinics dispense the pill orally, with some clinics also providing an antibiotic. Six months into the study this change lead to a near zero report of serious infections.

Heated controversy continues to revolve around the topic of abortion, as demonstrated by Scott Roeder’s brutal murder of an abortion doctor in the beginning of June. The Gallup poll released in early May found that 51% of Americans call themselves pro-life, the first time in fifteen years that a majority ruled on that opinion. Many in this group object to the ease of swallowing a pill to abort a fetus. They feel that removing the medical procedure, eliminates the uncomfortable space of opportunity to rethink this decision.

Abortion Pills Mifeprex & Misoprostol (womenonwaves.org)

It took pro-choice activists 12 years to get the abortion pill approved by the FDA. Dr. Jordan helped lead the fight in her role as medical director for the Feminist Majority Foundation, a position she continues to fill.

Experts feel that the number of women getting early abortions using the abortion pill will increase after learning the results of Planned Parenthood’s study.

“I think that providers are going to be pretty impressed with the data,” said Dr. Jordan, who plans to highlight the findings to doctors, nurse practitioners and pharmacists at its annual meeting in September.

Given that 87% of US counties have no abortion provider, Jordan hopes the findings might encourage some primary care doctors to offer abortion using the pills.

“But I don’t think its going to open the floodgates.”

CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT DR. BETH JORDAN

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Tags: abortion, abortion pill, Dr. Beth Jordan, mifeprex, misoprostol, Planned Parenthood, pro-choice, pro-life, Vitals.com

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 14th, 2009 at 9:25 am and is filed under Lifestyle Research, Medical Research. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.