Abortion pill or procedure? It’s My Choice website helps patients decide

A new online decision aid helps people seeking an abortion choose between pills and a procedure. The website, It’s My Choice, is for Canadians who are less than 10 weeks pregnant and want an abortion.Since neither pills nor procedures are clinically better, the website helps people choose the one that’s most aligned with their values and priorities. “We know from decades of research that both the pill and procedure are safe and effective, but they differ in other ways,” Kate Wahl, a PhD student at UBC who was part of the team that developed the website, said in an interview with the university. “We wanted to help people understand those differences and choose the best option for them.”She worked with other researchers, patients, and clinicians at the University of British Columbia and Dalhousie University to develop the site. It joins other resources at www.sexandu.ca, a public-focused site from the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada. Read: Manitoba plans buffer zones to restrict protests near abortion clinicsIt’s available in French, Mandarin and Punjabi. Users are anonymous, and the site includes a quick exit button and directions on how to clear a browsing history. It includes substantial information about each choice and an interactive patient decision aid. The aid asks users to input what’s most important to them, such as whether they want or need to keep their abortion private, avoid pain, have someone with them, or take as little time off as possible. The aid also allows users to rate how important those things are to them. Then, it offers a percentage match with an abortion pill or abortion procedure and explains why it’s a good fit. Read: New Brunswick’s only private abortion provider announces it is closing its doors“Like any other healthcare decision, the choice between the abortion procedure and pill is very personal, and I hope the tool helps make that choice easier,” says Wahl. She says they’ve gotten positive feedback from healthcare professionals around it. “Healthcare providers have told us that the tool will help them counsel patients better. For example, a patient can complete it and then they can discuss the summary page and any questions together in the appointment.”It also explains other information about abortions in general. That includes the fact that they are legal and free in Canada, the options after 10 weeks, and the difference between an abortion pill and Plan B. And it directs people to a helpline if they aren’t sure about their decision to have an abortion. The site also directs people to outside sources for finding abortion providers and support after an abortion. There is information about the various kinds of providers that can prescribe the abortion pill and the options for virtual care, which is particularly beneficial to patients in rural, remote and northern communities. The final website came after the team interviewed 61 people about an earlier iteration of the tool. They published the results of those interviews in the Journal of Medical Internet Research last month. In response to concerns raised by participants in that study, they changed the website, making it interactive instead of static, modifying certain language, and adding additional information about things like pain and where to get an abortion. Read: Providing contraception and medication abortion? This new toolkit can help

Abortion pill or procedure? It’s My Choice website helps patients decide

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