International Journal of Research in Medical Sciences | July 2016 | Vol 4 | Issue 7 Page 2598 International Journal of Research in Medical Sciences Kumari R et al. Int J Res Med Sci. 2016 Jul;4(7):2598-2602 www.msjonline.org pISSN 2320-6071 | eISSN 2320-6012 Research Article Mortality and morbidity associated with illegal use of abortion pill: a prospective study in tertiary care center Ruby Kumari*, Arti Sharma, Rehana Najam, Sheetal Singh, Pratibha Roy INTRODUCTION According to the World Health Organization (WHO), every 8 minutes a woman in developing nation die due to complications arising from an unsafe abortion. In India there is an unmet need of contraception. Women use abortion pill as an alternative to contraception which results in morbidity and mortality. Federation of obstetrics and gynaecological society of India (FOGSI) recommends close monitoring of distribution of drugs that are used for medical abortion and that the medical profession and pharmaceutical industry should exercise due diligence in the promotion and usage of drugs that are used for medical abortion 1 . Despite this, it has been perceived by the society that, medical abortions are extremely safe option even in-hands of untrained personnel, leading to it’s over the counter dispensing and possibly increase in unsupervised terminations and life threatening complications. 2,3 The aim of the study was to study consequences of illegal use of abortion pill on women’s health. ABSTRACT Background: In India, medical method of abortion is allowed for first 7 weeks of intra uterine pregnancy. As per WHO it is safe and effective method for termination of early pregnancy under medical supervision. It is done by using mifepristone (200mg) and misoprostol (800mcg). These drugs are not for contraception but are abortion pills. Women use the abortion pills for unintended pregnancy inspite of using various method of contraception due to lack of knowledge, apprehension, poverty, denial, and ignorance of contraceptive use without any medical supervision (illegal use) and become victim of unsafe abortion. The main aim of this study was to find out mortality and morbidity associated with illegal use of abortion pill. Methods: A prospective observational study was carried out in the department of obstetrics and gynaecology, TMMC and RC Moradabad, a tertiary care center with history of intake of abortion pill (mifepristone and misoprostol) for 1 year from 1 st May 2015 to 1 st April 2016 on 120 patients. Data was collected and analysed by percentage and proportions. Results: Illegal use of abortion pill was more common among 30-39 years (55%) group of women and mostly were grand multiparous (81.67%). In most of the cases husband brought the pills (85%) from advice of chemist (70%).The most common presenting complaint was excessive bleeding per vaginum (66.3%). Most common complication was moderate anemia (38.3%). Conclusions: The present study recommends medical method of abortion is safe and effective under medical supervision. Illegal use of abortion pills without supervision results in serious complications. Keywords: Illegal use, Abortion pill, Medical abortion, Unintended pregnancy Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Teerthanker Mahaveer Medical College and Research Center, Delhi Road, NH-24, Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, India Received: 12 April 2016 Accepted: 09 May 2016 *Correspondence: Dr. Ruby Kumari, E-mail: dr.rubybharti@gmail.com Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2320-6012.ijrms20161916