Yes. Complications after so-called medical abortion are four times higher than after surgical abortion: 20% compared with 5%.

Bleeding is necessary for a medical abortion and this can be a cause of complications. A Finnish study found that 15.6% of women who had a medical abortion went to hospital for care because of bleeding, one-fifth of whom required intervention.

DIY abortions, where a woman self-administers both pills at home, can be dangerous. Following the introduction of DIY abortion in Britain at the start of the pandemic, ambulance calls for abortion complications rose by 54% during 2020 compared with the same period in 2019.