Does a medical abortion cause pain?
The medical abortion causes uterine contractions which are usually mild to moderate in discomfort. Most women describe the pain as hurting less than their menstrual period but there are some patients who may require anti-inflammatory medications and even a small percentage (10%) may need narcotics. These are patients who are generally further along in their pregnancy and have heavier vaginal bleeding. Women generally experience cramps for several hours and the cramps increase when passing the gestational tissue which occurs for a large percentage before 4 to 6 hours, although in some patients it may take up to 2 to 3 weeks for the tissue to pass completely. At 49 days the embryo is only 1/5 of an inch in size and not visible to the naked eye. A grayish gestational sac may be visualized at 7 weeks but patients will see mostly blood clots.
