E-DRUG: abortion device from Norway (dated 19 July 1999)
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[delayed response on a July E-drug question, but the author is a very
experienced abortion doctor in the Netherlands. WB]
It sounds as if it is a package of different sizes of laminaria. These are
small sticks which a doctor (!) can use for dilating the cervix before a
curettage is done (or an abortion): one starts with the smallest size and
putts it in the cervical opening and because it is made of material that
"sucks" fluid it gets thicker and forces the cervix to open. One can use
the different sizes one after another, but each one has to stay in for
several hours. It is certainly not meant for self-use, it is difficult to
insert one-self and one can perforate the uterus with it (although they are
not very long). It does not help to just put it into the vagina!
In the USA they use a lot of laminaria before the abortion, especially with
the second trimesters. But in Holland we don't, we don't find it necessary.
Usually the cervix is easy to dilate with dilators: it goes much quicker
and with the further advanced pregnancies we use nowadays misoprostol for
"priming" the cervix.
Marijke Alblas, MD
works in abortion in the Netherlands for more than 20 years
email: malblas@xs4all.nl
Women's Global Network for Reproductive Rights
Red Mundial de Mujeres por los Derechos Reproductivos
NZ Voorburgwal 32
1012 RZ Amsterdam
The Netherlands
phone (31-20) 620 96 72
fax (31-20) 622 24 50
Email: office@wgnrr.nl
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