New regulations about medical abortion have been published by Italy’s Ministry of Health.
Ru486 medication, taken as Mifegyne in Italy, can now be taken up until the ninth week (63rd day) of pregnancy and administration of the drug in a hospital will no longer be required.
Italian health minister Roberto Speranza explained the decision. “Taking into account the recommendations formulated by the World Health Organization regarding the administration of mifepristone and misoprostol up to the ninth week of pregnancy, updated scientific evidence on the use of said medications and recourse to medical abortion in day hospital and doctors’ surgeries by most other European countries, the director general has drawn up the guidelines for medical abortion with mifepristone and prostaglandin.”
The medication was approved by the Italian Medicines Agency in 2009, but its use was restricted to a three-day hospital stay. In actual fact, many regions issued separate ordinances authorizing the use of the drug in a day hospital setting. Tuscany was the first region to permit medical abortion using the Ru486 pill and, in 2019, the region allowed its use in doctors’ surgeries.
