How long after taking abortion pills do pregnancy tissues get removed?

Emma Mary
2 min readDec 18, 2020

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Medical abortion is a process that does not end in one day, unlike the surgical abortion procedure. Hence, the removal of pregnancy tissues can also take time during the medical pregnancy termination procedure. This blog helps women understand how much of time do abortion pills take to work and remove pregnancy tissues from the body.

HOW DO YOU TAKE ABORTION PILLS?

The first pill, Mifepristone, is consumed on the first day of medical abortion. The consumption of Misoprostol pills follows it. Both medicines are consumed in two different ways.

The first pill has to be consumed orally with a glass of water. Speaking of the second pill, it has to be consumed either buccally (keeping the pills in the cheek pouches) OR vaginally ( inserting the pills in the vagina). Whichever consumption method you choose in the medical abortion, make sure that you take them correctly, and the pills are dissolved in the body.

WHAT HAPPENS AFTER YOU TAKE ABORTION PILLS?

When the pills are completely dissolved in the body, they start functioning in three to four hours. After taking Mifepristone, the woman may or may not experience pregnancy tissues getting removed immediately because Mifepristone does the job of stopping pregnancy growth and separating it from the uterus. Hence, bleeding after Mifepristone consumption is a rare case.

It is after you take Misoprostol that the bleeding starts. Since the pills hold prostaglandin elements, the lining of the uterus gets contracted. Due to continuous contractions made in the uterus, the pregnancy tissues are eventually expelled from the body.

It takes three to four hours for Misoprostol to get dissolved in the body and start functioning. Some women experience bleeding in only a few hours, while others may take up to 24–48 hours for bleeding. Both cases are normal.

The time taken to bleed after the pill consumption can vary from woman to woman. It usually depends on the pregnancy gestation or fetal growth. It also depends on how the body reacts to the medication.

HOW LATE IS TOO LATE

In any case, the woman should start bleeding within 24–48 hours. If she does not bleed even after 24–48 hours, she has to inform her healthcare provider. In such cases, healthcare providers examine the situation and suggest repeating the Misoprostol dosage if required.

When you take the Misoprostol pills for the second time, the uterus makes more contractions and eventually expels the fetal tissues from the body. Again, this bleeding should take place within 24 hours after the repeat dose consumption.

If you still do not bleed within the said period, you may have to look for other options such as surgical termination of pregnancy. Women should not continue that abortion pills work 97% of the time.

Even if the abortion pills don’t work in the medical abortion procedure, the only possible risk can be of incomplete medical abortion. If you have followed the precautions, there are no infections or other health risks involved.

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