7 FAQs About The Abortion Pill!

The abortion pill is a medicine that ends pregnancy only in its early stages. In general the abortion pill is recommended to end the pregnancy within 63 days or 9 weeks after the first day of a woman’s last period. Medical name for the abortion pill is “mifepristone”.

1. Is the abortion pill work effectively?

Yes, medication abortion with the abortion pill is very effective. Out of 100 cases, the abortion pill works effective for 95-98 cases. After the abortion, you need to consult your health care provider to make sure that it worked and that you are well.

Few medicines used in the medication abortion cause serious birth defects if the pregnancy continues. If the abortion pill doesn’t work, then you need to undergo aspiration abortion to end your pregnancy.

2. How does the abortion pill work?

Most of the women feel nervous about having medication abortion or any kind of abortion procedures. You can also feel better once you know what to expect.

Before undergoing medication abortion, you will need to:

• Talk about other choices for abortion


• Tell your doctor about your medical history


• Undergo laboratory tests


• Have a physical exam, called as ultrasound


• Carefully read and sign the papers
  

Usually, medication abortion is the procedure that starts immediately after taking the abortion pill. It consists of three steps:

Step 1: Taking the abortion pill

Your doctor will give you the abortion pill at the clinic. He/she will also recommend some antibiotics to take after the abortion pill. Usually, the pill works by blocking the progesterone hormone. When we block the progesterone hormone, uterus lining breaks down and pregnancy cannot persist.

Step 2: Misoprostol

Misoprostol is the second medication that you will take during the abortion procedure. This second medicine should be taken within three days after taking the abortion pill. Your doctor will give complete instructions on how and when to take the second medicine.

Misoprostol causes cramping and heavy bleeding. Few women start bleeding before taking the second the medicine. But for most of the women bleeding begin only after taking the second pill. During the abortion procedure, you will observe larger blood clots and tissue.

Usually, most of the women abort within 4-5 hours after taking the second abortion pill, whereas some others take longer.

Normally, women experience slight bleeding or spotting for up to four weeks after undergoing the abortion.

Step 3: Follow-up

You will need to consult your doctor within two weeks after the abortion. Follow-up is essential in order to ensure that the abortion procedure is complete and you are well. Again you should undergo ultrasound and blood test.

In case if your pregnancy does not end, you will need to undergo aspiration abortion. Your health care provider will discuss the options with you.

3. How do I feel during the abortion procedure?

Along with bleeding and cramping, you will also experience:

• Nausea or vomiting


• Dizziness


• Strong cramping


• Temporary abdominal pain


• Diarrhea


• Temporary mild fever or chills
  

4. Is it safe to use the abortion pill?

Most of you can undergo the medication safely. But, any of the medical procedures have their own risks, so safety is a big concern.

Rare, but possible risks include:

• Allergic reaction to any of the pills


• Infection


• Bleeding heavily


• Incomplete abortion


• Undetected ectopic pregnancy
  

In most of the cases, these risks can be treated with medication or other treatments.

5. Are there any serious complications of abortion?

Serious complications may have warning signs. You should immediately call your health care provider if you experience any of the following signs:

• An unpleasant smelling discharge from your vagina


• Fever of 100.4°F or higher that persists for more than four hours


• Severe abdominal pain that cannot be cured by medications


• Blood clots for more than two hours and are bigger than a lemon


• Heavy bleeding


• Vomiting that persists for more than 4-6 hours


• symptoms that you are still pregnant
  

6. Does anyone take the abortion pill?

• Women more than 9 weeks pregnant


• Women who have a known or suspected molar pregnancy


• Women with severe heart, liver, adrenal gland, or kidney problems


• Women who take medicines that should not be combined with medications used in abortion procedure


• Women taking anti-clotting medicines or have any blood clotting disorders
  

7. What can I feel after using the abortion pill?

Your doctor will give you complete instruction about dos and don’ts after undergoing the abortion procedure. Women experience wide range of feelings after undergoing the abortion procedure. Most of you feel relief. But, some women feel guilt, anger, sadness, or regret for some time due to the sudden change of hormones.

Your menstrual cycle starts within 4-8 weeks after undergoing the abortion.

You should avoid the intercourse or inserting anything into your vagina for at least one week after the abortion. You will become pregnant immediately after undergoing the abortion. So, it is essential to use birth control. Discuss with your healthcare provider about which procedure is best for you.

17 Abortion Complications You Should Aware Of!

Side effects after an abortion will vary from woman to woman. There are both side effects to expect and also risks that you need to know exist.

It is essential to talk with your doctor who will perform abortion regarding the possible side effects.

After undergoing the abortion, your period should return within 4-6 weeks and you can get pregnant again soon after the abortion.

If your doctor prescribes antibiotics, you need to take them as directed as this will help you to prevent the infections.

Here are some of the possible side effects that you will experience after undergoing an abortion:

1. Bladder infection

Perforation of your uterus can also cause perforation of your urinary bladder. This condition can lead to peritonitis, which is an infected and inflamed lining of your abdomen. It can cause severe pain and sometimes it needs reparative surgery.

2. Breast cancer

Women who undergo abortions have greater risk of developing breast cancer in their later life.

3. Bowel injury

Perforation of your uterus can also cause perforation of your intestines. This can result in vomiting, nausea, peritonitis, abdominal pain, blood in stools, fever and also death if the condition is not treated quickly.

A part of your intestines needs to be removed and a temporary or permanent colostomy is inserted in your abdomen.

4. Tubal pregnancy

This kind of pregnancy happens outside of your uterus. After undergoing an abortion, you are at 8-20 times at a risk of having tubal or ectopic pregnancy. If the condition is not discovered soon, tubal pregnancy ruptures and severe bleeding can sometimes lead to death.

5. Failed abortion

Failure of an abortion in aborting the unborn baby younger than 6 weeks is very common. Sometimes, an abortionist fails to successfully evacuate the placenta from your uterus. Your pregnancy will continue even though you have endured the dangers and abortion cost.

6. Effects on your future pregnancy

• Undergoing an abortion can cause:


• Bleeding during the first trimester of your pregnancy


• Your future baby is twice as likely to die during the first few months


• There is a chance to give a low birth weight baby in the future pregnancy


• There is less chance for you to have normal delivery


• Your baby will be four times at a risk of dying in the last months of her first year of life


• There is a chance to give premature birth
  

7. Infection

Infections that occur from abortion can cause mild fever and sometimes death. This can happen in 1 out of 4 women to 1 out of 50 women.

8. Hemorrhage

1-14% of women need blood transfusion due to heavy bleeding from an abortion.

9. Hepatitis

Women who undergo blood transfusion are at greater risk of developing hepatitis.

10. Cervical laceration

Every 1 out of 20 women can suffer from this condition during an abortion. If this condition is not treated properly in your next pregnancy, this can lead to 50/50 chances of having miscarriage.

If you have severe cervical damage from the abortion procedure, then there is 30-40% chance of having miscarriage in the future pregnancy.

11. More later miscarriages

The more times you undergo abortions the greater you can experience first trimester miscarriages. Undergoing vaginal abortion can keep you at ten times an increased risk of having second trimester abortions in future pregnancy.

12. Uterine perforation

Perforated uterus can be seen in 1 among 40 and 1 among 400 abortions. Almost, this can also cause peritonitis, which is similar to having a ruptured appendix.

13. Post-abortion syndrome

After undergoing an abortion, you are more likely to suffer from psychological and mental conditions, such as repeated dreams of the abortion experience, relationship problems, memory impairment, sleep disturbances, avoidance of emotional attachment, guilt about surviving, hostile outbursts, depression, suicidal thoughts, and substance abuse.

14. Placenta previa

After undergoing an abortion, you are 6-15 times more likely to have placenta previa in your next pregnancy. This condition causes heavy bleeding.

15. Disseminated intravascular coagulopathy (DIC)

Abortion can cause DIC, which means that your blood doesn’t clot and you will continuously bleed. This condition is extremely life threatening and it is difficult for treating. This condition occurs in 2 out of 1,000 2^nd trimester abortions.

16. RH incompatibility

If the mother is RH negative, your doctor should confirm about your baby’s Rh blood type. This ensures your baby to be protected against Rh incompatibility.

The Rh incompatibility needs your future baby should receive blood transfusion immediately after birth, causes birth of the dead baby, and causes baby to die immediately after birth.

17. Sterility

Abortion can also make you sterile. This condition can happen in 1 out of 20 to 1 out of 50 women.

Aware Of 8 Common Miscarriage Causes!

Miscarriage is the spontaneous loss of pregnancy before 24 weeks. In the vast majority of cases, there is no way to prevent miscarriage.

Having a miscarriage doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to get pregnant again and most of the women go on to have a successful pregnancy.

The most common symptom of miscarriage is vaginal bleeding that can range from light spotting to heavier than a period.

You can also experience blood clots, brown discharge or other tissues that are not identifiable.

Here are the common causes of miscarriage:

Miscarriage is more common in women who become pregnant during their 30’s. Here are some causes:

1. Chromosomal abnormalities

According to the research, up to 70% of first trimester miscarriages and 20% of second trimester miscarriages are only due to a glitch in the fetus’s genes. As you age, your eggs are more likely to have faulty chromosomes.

Abnormalities in the chromosomes of the fetus are the most common causes for the loss of pregnancy. About half of the miscarriages in the first 13 weeks are due to chromosomal abnormalities. Normally, miscarriage removes about 95% of the fertilized egg.

This type of spontaneous abortion usually occurs before you know that you are pregnant. Sometimes, these chromosomal irregularities are due to parents’ genes.

This is more possible when you have had recurrent miscarriages or if there is a family history of birth defects.

Genetic tests and analyzing the fetal material after the miscarriage can help your doctor to determine the exact problem.

2. Chronic illnesses

Chronic illnesses, particularly those that restrict blood flow to the fetus can increase the chance of miscarriage.

Among those, certain conditions include: thyroid disease, diabetes, heart disease, lupus and certain illnesses such as rubella, Chlamydia and herpes. Controlling the conditions before and during the pregnancy can reduce the threat of miscarriage.

3. Hormone balance

Some women can not produce enough progesterone, which is the hormone that makes the uterine lining to nourish the fertilized egg. If the womb lining can not hold the egg, it finally leads to miscarriage.

To avoid this problem, you can take progesterone supplements in the form of an injection or in rectal or vaginal suppositories. Blood test and a biopsy of small amount of tissue removed from the uterine lining can find whether you are producing enough progesterone or not.

Sometimes, hormonal imbalance is also due to thyroid disease or diabetes.

4. Uterus and cervical abnormalities

Anything physically mistaken in the cervix or uterus can cause miscarriage. You can have some of these abnormalities right from the birth. Some conditions such as fibroids and widening of the cervix too early during the pregnancy without any labor signs can release the fetus from uterus.

About 15% of the miscarriages are due to these types of problems. In order to diagnose these conditions, your doctor injects some fluid into the uterine cavity and then takes an X-ray of the uterus and fallopian tubes.

Other method to examine your uterus is inserting a long and thin instrument through the vagina. Sometimes, cervix condition can not be determined until you reach 15^th week.

5. Immune system abnormalities

Some women experience recurrent miscarriages since their bodies consider each baby as an invading organism and attack it with antibodies.

Generally, all the elements of the immune system of the mother’s body should work together in order to hold the baby. If there is any problem in providing the coordination, a miscarriage occurs.

Other immune abnormalities and autoimmune diseases can cause miscarriage. If the mother’s blood contains high risk antibodies, then chances of miscarriage are more. 70-75% of pregnant women with lupus associated antibodies are at high risk of miscarriage.

6. Excess caffeine intake

Consuming 200 milligrams or more caffeine each day can keep you at twice the risk of having miscarriage. This is because chemicals present in the caffeine cross the placenta and disturb the developing cells.

7. Excess alcohol, smoking and drug use

Exposing the fetus to large amounts of alcohol, drugs and cigarettes can cause miscarriage as they can pose poisonous effects on the developing cells.

8. Maternal stress

Stress increases the hormone cortisol. Some amount of cortisol is normal during pregnancy, but elevated levels can lead to miscarriage. High cortisol levels during the first three weeks of pregnancy can keep you three times at risk of having miscarriage.

Abortion Types That You Should Know About!

Abortion is the most common medical procedure performed in the United States every year.About 40% of the women will end their pregnancy by abortion at some time in their reproductive lives.

First confirm your pregnancy with the help of any home pregnancy tests available at drug stores.Then you can consider abortion of any type.

Here are the different types of abortion methods:

First trimester abortions:

During the first trimester, you can consider two types of abortion methods. One is suction aspiration and the other is dilation and curettage. Both these methods are performed around eight weeks of pregnancy.

1. Suction aspiration: This is one of the most common surgical procedures, usually performed in the first trimester. During this procedure, abortionist numbs your cervix and stretches it open.

Then, he introduces a hallow plastic tube with the help of sharp knife edge into your uterus and suctions your baby’s body into the bottle. In this procedure, baby’s body is ragged apart. As the suction procedure is much more powerful, placenta connected to your uterus lining can also be ragged away.

2. Dilation and curettage (D&C): This procedure is similar to suction aspiration method. In this method, abortionist introduces a curette, a loop shaped steel knife into the uterus and scratches the wall.
Scratching is concentrated where abortionist puts pressure.

He scratches the placenta and also the baby into small pieces and suctions out them into a basin. During the procedure, some bleeding takes place that is little bit more than suction aspiration method. Sometimes, this method needs anesthesia, either general or spinal.

3. Chemical abortion: It is the modern trend of abortions. Immediately after implantation, abortion can be considered by using abortifacient drugs such as RU-486, also known as mifepristone and methotrexate. Usually, these drugs are used with prostaglandin, which is the labor-inducing drug.

Second trimester abortions:

Your baby can acquire some definite shape and size during this trimester. In order to compensate this, different abortion types are used. Among those, the most common one used during 2nd trimester include dilation and evacuation (D&E).

4. Dilation and evacuation: This method is similar to dilation and curettage. But, in D&E, cervix needs to be dilated more broadly because abortionist inserts large instruments to remove the large pieces of your unborn baby.

After performing the dilation, abortionist introduces forceps delivery. Then he cuts your baby carefully into pieces. During this abortion type, you need to receive an analgesic and intravenous fluid.

If your pregnancy crosses 14 weeks period, then you are administered with oxytocin in order to make the uterus contract and shrink.
Third trimester abortions:

During third trimester, instillation methods are used to abort the baby. In these methods, abortionist injects lethal chemicals. These methods result in birth of a severely damaged, but living baby.

5. Saline amniocentesis: Also called as salt poisoning and is used after 16 weeks. In this technique, a large needle is inserted into your abdominal wall and into your baby’s amniotic sac. Most concentrated salt solution is introduced into your baby’s amniotic fluid. When your baby breathes and swallows the fluid, it move violently and sometimes convulses.

The solution makes your baby’s organs and tissues to hemorrhage. Large bruises appear on your baby’s body as veins and arteries rupture. This powerful solution burns your baby’s outer skin to a large extent. The baby endures for about an hour. After a day, you will deliver the dead baby.

6. Urea abortion: It is an alternative to saline abortion. In this procedure, urea is introduced into the amniotic sac. It is a nitrogen based solution, which kills your unborn baby. This solution can be used with prostaglandins and makes you to deliver the baby.

7. Intracardiac injections: This method includes poison injection such as digoxin into the heart of your baby. During this method, cervix is opened for one-four days. Whenever the cervix opens, labor is induced. Finally, you will deliver a dead baby. D&C is also performed at the end.