Do women with a repeat termination of pregnancy prefer a medical or a surgical regimen?

We compared the risk of a repeat termination and the method of termination in women with a prior medical or surgical termination, or both, in a cohort study of women with a pregnancy termination at gestational age ≤63 days in 1999-2001. Within 5 years, 24% (330/1379) had a repeat abortion, and repeat terminations were more frequent in the surgical [27% (159/588)] than the medical group [22% (171/791)] (p < 0.05). The method used at the repeat termination was medical in 49% (83/171) of women with an earlier medical termination, compared with 13% (21/159) (p < 0.01) in women with an earlier surgical termination. In 125 women who had experienced both procedures, 37% (46/125) of the next terminations were performed medically and 63% (79/125) surgically (p < 0.01). Women in our study with a repeat termination tended to choose the same method as used before, and more often a surgical termination.