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Health Briefs
September 11, 1996
Web posted at: 3:15 a.m. EDTPlanned Parenthood will offer drug-induced abortions
NEW YORK (CNN) -- A drug-induced form of abortion will be offered later this month by Planned Parenthood Federation of America at many of its clinics.
In this method, part of a study that the Food and Drug Administration is evaluating, a woman who is no more than seven weeks pregnant is injected with methotrexate, which stops development of the placenta and embryo.
Four to seven days later, misoprostol tablets are inserted into her vagina, causing the uterus to contract and expel the fetus. For many women, the tablets take two weeks or more to work. The method costs $250 to $350.
Related story:
- Two prescription drugs equal one abortion- August 31, 1995
Related sites:
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- FDA
- National Right to Life Committee
- National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League
- Planned Parenthood Federation of America
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Pregnancy increases stroke risk
BOSTON (CNN) - Women who become pregnant face a higher risk of stroke but only after they have delivered their child, says a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine.
After looking at the records of more than 2,300 women, researchers found the overall risk of a stroke within six weeks after pregnancy was 2.4 times higher than it was for women who were not pregnant and that strokes tended to come after delivery "but not during pregnancy itself."
But the actual risk of a stroke is very small. For every million pregnancies, there will be 81 additional strokes, researchers calculated.
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