Researchers at the University of Gothenburg and the Karolinska Institute have led the study in which 457 women participated, with planned medical abortion after twelve weeks of pregnancy.
About half took the first dose of the abortion medication at home in the morning, and the rest took the first dose at the hospital ward.
The results showed that more of those who started the abortion at home could be treated as outpatients, compared to the group that started treatment at the hospital.
One of the researchers is gynecologist Johanna Rydelius, who is a doctoral student in obstetrics and gynecology at the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg.
"Outpatient care is potentially also less costly for both healthcare and the individual patient. Being able to start medication treatment at home also promotes patient autonomy," she says in the press release.
The study's results can also have effects on abortion care abroad.
"Offering outpatient care for this group of patients could mean that countries with limited access to inpatient care can expand their abortion care," says Johanna Rydelius.
