'A gamechanger': this simple device could help fight the war on abortion rights in the US

Only a tiny fraction of primary care physicians provide abortions. Dr Joan Fleischman wants to offset the rightwing war on reproductive rights by training many more of them

by Poppy Noor

Sarah Blesener/The Guardian

Tue 18 Apr 2023 02.00 EDT

Joan Fleischman has always had people flying in from across the world to her private abortion practice in Manhattan. In the two decades her clinic has been open, she has seen clients from places such as Ireland, the Bahamas and Mexico, who couldn’t get abortions in their home countries. In the past year, that has changed. Since the US federal right to abortion was overturned in June last year, she is now more likely to see patients flying in from her own country.

Often they are from Texas, sometimes Ohio, or Florida. Some with links to the city, others with none.

After years of providing abortion care, Fleischman, 60, still finds these trips shocking. “Usually, if somebody needs unusual medical care, they are willing to fly around the world for it – like for advanced neurosurgery or something. It’s always struck me as incredible that people are flying to me for the most simple procedure.”

There’s a reason people fly to see Fleischman. She provides abortions through manual uterine aspiration – using a small, hand-held device to remove pregnancy tissue. The device is gentle enough that the tissue often comes out almost completely intact. It is a quick and discreet procedure where a patient might be in and out of the door in less than an hour.

Fleischman is a co-founder of the MYA Network, a network of primary care clinics and clinicians in 16 states. They believe the tool could be radical in the hands of more primary care clinicians – clinicians they are amping up to train.
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It's a fairly long but excellent article. I encourage you to read it in its entirety.

Much more at the link:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/18/abortion-reproductive-rights-manual-uterine-aspiration


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Additional article from

The Global Library of Women’s Medicine

Surgical Techniques for First-Trimester Abortion

https://www.glowm.com/section-view/heading/Surgical%20Techniques%20for%20First-Trimester%20Abortion/item/439#

The term “vacuum curettage” is used interchangeably with “uterine aspiration” or “vacuum aspiration”; all refer to evacuation of the uterus by suction, regardless of the source of the suction. Manual vacuum aspiration is the term commonly applied to uterine evacuation using a hand-held syringe as the source of the vacuum. "Menstrual regulation" refers to surgical or medical treatment to "bring on" a late menstrual period without first doing a pregnancy test, and is an important means for providing safe services in countries that allow menstrual regulation, but do not allow legal abortion.

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A device used for manual vacuum aspiration (MVA).


Fig 2. Ipas MVA Plus™ aspirator (Ipas, PO Box 5027, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27514)

Much more at the link.
https://www.glowm.com/section-view/heading/Surgical%20Techniques%20for%20First-Trimester%20Abortion/item/439#

❤️pants