After a court case brought by Right to Life New Zealand failed, use of mifepristone was permitted.Mifepristone was approved in Israel in 1999.Clinical trials of mifepristone in China began in 1985. In October 1988, China became the first country in the world to approve mifepristone. Chinese organizations tried to purchase mifepristone from Roussel Uclaf, which refused to sell it to them, so in 1992 China began its own domestic production of mifepristone. In 2000, the cost of medication abortion with mifepristone was higher than surgical abortion and the percentage of medication abortions varied greatly, ranging from 30% to 70% in cities to being almost nonexistent in rural areas. A report from the United States Embassy in Beijing in 2000 said mifepristone had been widely used in Chinese cities for about two years, and that according to press reports, a black market had developed with many women starting to buy it illegally (without a prescription) from private clinics and drugstores for about US$15 (equivalent to $23.6 in 2021), causing Chinese authorities to worry about medical complications from use without physician supervision.In 2001, mifepristone was approved in Taiwan. Vietnam included mifepristone in the National Reproductive Health program in 2002.Mifepristone is approved in only one sub-Saharan African country—South Africa, where it was approved in 2001. It is also approved in one north African country—Tunisia, also in 2001.Mifepristone was approved for use in India in 2002, where medication abortion is referred to as "medical termination of pregnancy".
Medication abortions accounted for 32% of first trimester abortions at Planned Parenthood clinics in the United States in 2008. Considering abortions performed in non-hospital facilities, medication abortions accounted for 24% in 2011 and 31% in 2014. In 2014, facilities that provided a relatively small number of abortions (fewer than 400 procedures per year) were more likely to perform them with medication. Medication abortions accounted for 39% of all U.S. abortions in 2017, and 54% in 2020. Europe
In France, the percentage of medication abortions of all abortions continues to increase: 38% in 2003, 42% in 2004, 44% in 2005, 46% in 2006, 49% in 2007 (vs. 18% in 1996). In England and Wales, 52% of early abortions (less than 9 weeks gestation) in 2009 were medication-based; the percentage of all abortions that are medication-based has increased every year for the past 14 years (from 5% in 1995 to 40% in 2009) and has more than doubled in the last five years. In Scotland, 81.2% of early abortions in 2009 were medication-based (up from 55.8% in 1992 when medication abortion was introduced); the percentage of all abortions that are medication-based has increased every year for the past 17 years (from 16.4% in 1992 to 69.9% in 2009). In Sweden, 85.6% of early abortions and 73.2% of abortions before the end of the 12th week of gestation in 2009 were medication-based; 68.2% of all abortions in 2009 were medication-based. In Great Britain and Sweden, mifepristone is licensed for use with vaginal gemeprost or oral misoprostol.