An abortion is a medical procedure with serious physical and emotional health implications that could affect the rest of your life. The best decision is an informed one. Learn as much as you can before your abortion. Many women have said they wished they'd known the answers to these questions before their abortions. Ask them of your abortion provider . . . and of yourself.
What will happen to me during my abortion?
In an early abortion, your cervix will be forced open and a tube inserted into your uterus, which is attached to a suction machine up to 29 times more powerful than a vacuum cleaner. In other methods - D&C and D&E - your cervix is forced open to allow instruments inside you that will cut up the developing human and pull out the pieces. Learn more about early abortion methods.
For a very late abortion, called a D&X, the abortion provider will pull the living baby out feet first. Before delivering the head, however, the abortion provider will puncture a hole in the base of the skull and suction out his or her brain to ensure the baby is born dead. Learn more about late abortion methods.
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Possible complications of abortion include heavy bleeding, tearing of the opening to the womb (the cervix), puncture or tear of the womb, and infection. This may make it difficult or impossible for you to become pregnant. It could also cause you to miscarry or give birth prematurely to future wanted children. Abortion is a proven cause of dangerous ectopic (tubal) pregnancies.
Among teenagers, the effects of abortion on future pregnancies are even worse. The abortion of a first pregnancy also carries a greater chance of causing breast cancer. Learn more about physical complications from induced abortion.
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The approved method actually involves two drugs taken over three days. (The safety of other dosing regimens has not been established by the Food and Drug Administration.) On Day One, the abortion provider should do a pelvic exam to make sure you're pregnant, but not beyond 49 days from your last period. You'll then be given a dose of Mifeprex to be taken by mouth. On Day Three you'll take another drug (Misoprostol), also by mouth. Two weeks later, you'll need a check-up to find out whether or not you're still pregnant.
Abortion pills can cause cramps, nausea, diarrhea, and other symptoms. The most com-mon drawback is heavy bleeding, for as long as 16 to 30 days. There is also a risk of infection, which has caused death. Learn more about abortion pill complications.
Another negative is that you may see what's aborted. Some women have been shocked to see a perfectly formed, tiny baby in their toilets when they pass the "tissue." Learn more about the abortion pill.
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You will be asked to sign a paper releasing your abortion provider from responsibility for any damage to your body. If abortion is such a simple, safe procedure, why must you sign this paper?
Ask whether your abortion provider has emergency facilities, and if not, where they take you for care. Will an ambulance be called? Will all costs arising from any complications be cared for by the abortion provider?
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Most abortion providers will perform an ultrasound just before the abortion to make sure you are pregnant and to check the size and position of the fetus. The abortion provider will probably turn the ultrasound screen away from you so you don't see the contents of your uterus. Since you are paying for the procedure you ought to be allowed to see the screen. Ask the sonographer to explain what's on the screen.
If an ultrasound is not done for you, request one. Some non-pregnant women have had unnecessary abortions performed on them because ultrasound tests were not done.
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If you were able to see the ultrasound image of the what's inside your uterus, at six to eight weeks along in your pregnancy you would see a little person with hands, fingers, feet, toes, and a *beating heart; this little one might be moving around vigorously or sucking a thumb.
By ten to twelve weeks of your pregnancy, you would be able to recognize a face with eyes, nose, mouth and ears. By fourteen to sixteen weeks an ultrasound would show the sex of your child. Learn more about fetal development.
*This recording is of a baby's heartbeat 6.5 weeks from conception.
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The abortion provider may say that the abortion merely removes a "fetus," a "blob of tissue," "the contents of your uterus," or "the products of conception." He or she may not tell you these facts: what is inside you is alive and growing; at conception the cells formed a separate human being; important information on this person (sex, hair color, eye color, personality traits) already exists.
The abortion provider may call this a "parasite," but that is not a scientific term. (Ask whether they would call a wanted baby a "parasite.") "Fetus" is the scientific name for unborn offspring. If it's not alive, why is it growing? If it is not human, what is it?
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After the abortion, someone will look at your baby to make sure all his or her parts were removed. Then, depending on local laws, the "human waste" may be disposed of down the sewer, in an incinerator, in a trash container, or taken to a lab for similar disposal.
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You should be given a two week check-up after your abortion. Some complications, however, may not show up until months or years after your abortion. It will be too late then for a refund (if there were such a thing) after you've miscarried a wanted child, or found out you'll never have another child because of the scarring and stretching that may have occured in your abortion.
You may feel relieved immediately after your abortion, but many women have found that years later an abortion comes back to haunt them. Some women report feelings of guilt, depression, loss of empathy, lack of interest in sex, drug or alcohol abuse, and lower self-esteem for years after an abortion, even though at the time they thought they were strong enough. Learn more about psychological complications from induced abortion.
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The abortion provider will ask you to pay cash up front, hoping you'll go through with it. He or she should not, however, want to perform an abortion on a patient who has serious doubts.
You may find yourself wishing the doctor and nurses would take more time with you. Ask them to give you information on adoption or other assistance should you decide to continue your pregnancy.
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The reason abortion is so difficult is that you are a person created in the image of God. God is love, and He is just, therefore you also have a sense of justice and love.
You sense that this abortion will rob the life of another person made in God's image, your unborn child, and that it is unfair. Perhaps down deep you know abortion is not a loving thing to do, and that God will judge it as sin against Him.
Stop before you go any further! Leave, even if you are already in the procedure room. If an insert has been used to dilate your cervix overnight, it can be safely removed by a competent doctor.
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If your pregnancy seems too hard to bear alone - harder than an abortion would be - seek help from someone who will tell you the truth about abortion.
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There are alternatives to abortion.
Email your questions and find help.