Pro-choice activists block the street in front of the Supreme Court as Anti-abortion activists take part in the 42nd March for Life in Washington, DC on January 22, 2015. Activists from across the nation participated in the annual pro-life rally protesting abortion and the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion. UPI/Pete Marovich | License Photo

NEW YORK, Jan. 26 (UPI) -- A new study from Planned Parenthood doctors and a doctor from outside the organization finds medication abortion is safe and effective.

The study uses data from 13,000 women who had a medication abortion at Planned Parenthood Los Angeles health centers over a five-year period. The researchers found the drug is 97.7 percent effective, and only .01 percent who used it experienced an infection requiring hospitalization.


Abortions can be done in a clinic or at home with medication. Those involved in the study got the medication from Planned Parenthood, took the medication at home and then reported their results to the organization.

"The way a medication is administered often evolves after the FDA has first approved it for use based on new medical research and professional experience. This is called evidence-based medicine and is how aspirin came to be used to prevent heart attacks, for example," said Kelly Cleland, a researcher in the Office of Population Research at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. "This study's findings build upon those from my 2013 study of more 230,000 women's experiences with medication abortion at Planned Parenthood health centers, which found the process is exceedingly safe and effective."

The study is published in the journal Contraception.