Abortion

Plan B, often called the “Morning After Pill,” is a high-dosage birth control pill that women can take up to 72 hours after unprotected sex. It ends a pregnancy by preventing an egg from being released, interfering with a woman’s menstrual cycle, or preventing an embryo from implanting in the uterus. Some side effects include nausea, dizziness, abdominal pain, headaches, and vomiting.

Abortion Pill is a medical abortion procedure that involves a series of two medications that are taken within the first 10 weeks of pregnancy. The first medication will stop the hormone needed to sustain the pregnancy. Side effects associated with the second medication include severe cramps, bleeding, nausea and vomiting. It is possible that after these two pills, women will still need a surgical procedure to effectively complete the termination.

The most common surgical abortion procedure is the Manual or Vacuum Aspiration procedure. This procedure involves using either a syringe or vacuum to suck the pregnancy out of your body. After a vacuum aspiration abortion, you will need to take antibiotics to prevent infection, as well as pain relievers to help with the cramping discomfort. You can expect to experience cramps until the uterus shrinks back down to its normal size, which can take a few days. Bleeding and spotting can last two weeks or longer. You may notice when you are more active, your bleeding increases, and when you are less active, it reduces to spotting. As with any other surgery, you should expect to feel some side effects including cramping, nausea, sweating and faintness.

The Dilation and Evacuation procedure combines vacuum aspiration, dilation and curettage, and forceps. For this procedure, you are given a sedative and an injection in your cervix, while forceps are used to remove larger sections of the pregnancy. A curette is then used to scrape the lining of the uterus, while suctioning any remnants out of your body.

Just like any surgery or medical procedure, there are health risks associated with abortion. Some risks may include heavy bleeding, infection, damage to cervix, damage to the uterus, damage to other internal organs, sepsis, fertility loss and death. If you still have questions, our medical team can give you the complete information on the risks of these procedures.

A viable pregnancy is a pregnancy that will most likely carry to term. Having a positive pregnancy test does not mean you have a pregnancy that will result in birth. Up to one-third of all pregnancies are not viable, meaning they have no chance of survival. An ultrasound helps you determine if you have a pregnancy that requires a decision.