The safety of early vacuum aspiration performed as an outpatient procedure using local anesthesia was examined in a controlled study sponsored by the World Health Organization and undertaken in two centers in Yugoslavia and Singapore. The sample consisted of healthy women whose pregnancies were between 7 and 12 weeks in duration. Follow-up four weeks after abortion was nearly 100 percent in both centers. No important differences in complication rates were found between the different types of services and anesthesia, even though overall complication rates differed markedly between centers. Overnight postabortion observation was not associated with any decrease in complications.

Complications following early induced abortion by vacuum aspiration were examined in a controlled study. Data were collected on healthy women 7--12 weeks pregnant at the time of abortion. No association was found between complication rates and age, marital status, or parity. However, women in their first pregnancies and those who had experienced an induced or spontaneous abortion in their previous pregnancy had a higher rate of complications following the current induced abortion.