Women’ experiences of medical abortion : A descriptive literature review

Background: Abortion is an act that results in fetal death and is controversial in many countries. Among the ways of abortion, medical abortion is the most influential one. Women consider medical abortion as a covert method and take it, but their relative lack of knowledge about abortion care makes them vulnerable to complications.Objective: To describe the experiences of women undergoing medical abortion.Methods: Two databases were used (PubMed and Cinahl).After reading the titles and abstracts, 349 PubMed and 24 Cinahl articles were found, 40 of which were retained after skimming. Finally, 10 articles met our inclusion criteria. The authors obtained the results by comparing similarities and differences through the made tables.Results: Our study reveals that medication is the most influential factor in medical abortion, that access to medication is diverse, and that women's knowledge of medication has a great impact on pain and post-abortion care. A woman’s decision to have an abortion is complex and influenced by external factors and personal emotions. There is a lack of knowledge of complications among women. See Appendix 4 below for additional information.Conclusion: Medical abortion is a complex experience that can affect a woman’s life and psychology. The study suggests that women should be guided by a professional to have a medical abortion and receive the right medication. Nurses should be concerned not only about the quality of life of women after abortion, but also to ensure their physical and psychological well-being.Key words: experiences, medical abortion, nursing, wome