728 Main Street * P.O. Box 28 * Mendota, IL 61342
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815-538-3044
Toll Free: 877-954-HOPE
(4673)
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Abigail Women's Clinic will help you understand abortion procedures.
We do not perform these procedures.
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You're pregnant and you don't know what to do. Someone has told you abortion is the quickest and easiest way to get rid of the problem. Legally, you have a choice. Get all the information you can before deciding because abortion is permanent and not reversible.
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Before 14 weeks
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| After 14 weeks |
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| After 22 weeks |
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Different procedures are used depending on how far along you are in your pregnancy.
Before fourteen weeks
RU-486--the abortion pill
Must be used early in the pregnancy, no later than nine weeks after your last period.
RU-486 has been called a wonder drug. Swallow a pill and it's over. But here is the truth. RU-486 is a process involving a series of pills inducing the chemical abortion followed by several visits to the clinic for cervical exams. Mifepristone is the first chemical taken orally or by injection. Mifepristone stops the natural function of your body, softening the lining of your uterus, preventing progesterone from working, cutting off the blood supply to the embryo and resulting in the baby suffocating to death. If the baby has not passed in two days, you return to the doctor for a second drug (Cytotec or Misoprostol) which dilates your cervix and begins contractions similar to labor. In some cases, this method fails to abort and the doctor will need to surgically remove the fetus. This procedure can cause cramping, bleeding, nausea and diarrhea.
Methotrexate (MTX)
Must be used up to seven weeks after the date of your last period.
MTX fights cancer by attacking cells that are growing rapidly preventing them from multiplying. This kills the embryo. MTX is usually injected and then approximately a week later Misoprostol is inserted as a vaginal suppository to begin contractions. This drug has not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for abortions. If the abortion is not complete, you will need a surgical abortion. This procedure can cause excessive bleeding and cramping.
Suction Aspiration
You will be given a cervical anesthetic to reduce pain. You are on your back with your feet in stirrups as the doctor stretches your cervical muscle with cone-shaped rods until the opening is wide enough to allow the abortion tools to pass into your uterus. The doctor inserts the suction device through your cervix into your uterus. When the suction machine is turned on you feel the strong vacuum which is pulling the placenta and fetus into parts small enough to pass out of your body through the suction tube.
Dilation and Curettage (D&C)
The doctor opens your cervix as in the Suction Aspiration procedure. With a D&C procedure the doctor uses a loop-shaped knife to scrape the wall of your uterus, cutting the fetus and placenta into smaller parts and pulling them out of your body through the cervix. A general anesthesia is usually required. There is a higher risk of perforating your uterus with this procedure.
After fourteen weeks
Dilatation and evacuation (D&E)
Your fetus' bones are larger and stronger now so the doctor uses a medical instrument resembling pliers to pull the fetus into smaller parts and removes those parts from your body through the cervix. The cervix must be stretched wider than with the Suction or D&C methods. You have a greater risk of harm to your reproductive organs.
After 22 weeks
Partial Birth Abortion
Laminaria (a type of seaweed that expands when moist) is used to dilate the cervix over a two-day period. On the third day, the membranes are ruptured. An ultrasound is used to locate the lower extremities. The doctor uses large forceps to grasp a leg and pull it down into the vagina. After the body is delivered, the skull is lodged at the cervical opening. The doctor makes an incision in the base of the fetal skull, inserts a suction catheter and empties the contents of the baby's skull. Damage may occur due to extensive stretching of the cervix during this procedure.
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These physical risks are possible if you choose abortion.
Excessive bleeding
Women sometimes bleed heavily during an abortion or for a few days afterward. When using RU-486, you could bleed 13-15 days or more. Some cases require a transfusion to replace lost blood. Sometimes a second curettage procedure, or a hysterectomy, is necessary to stop the bleeding.
Infection
Your uterus is a prime target for infection right after an abortion especially if part of the baby or placenta is left inside of you. Your risk is even greater is you have Chlamydia or Gonorrhea. You will have pain and fever. Infections are generally treated with antibiotics but sometimes another curettage procedure must be used. If not taken care of, an intense infection could develop and result in infertility.
Perforation
Sometimes the abortion tools are accidentally pushed through the wall of the uterus during an abortion. If one of your internal organs is damaged, you may need major surgery to repair the damage. This complication can cause extensive bleeding.
Continued Pregnancy
The fetus may be growing in your fallopian tube rather than in your uterus. The abortion procedure would miss this and the continued growth of the fetus in your tube is both dangerous and potentially fatal.
Breast Cancer
Studies have shown a link between abortion and breast cancer. Abortion interrupts the natural process of breast development leaving the breast with more cells that can become cancerous. The extra estrogen of pregnancy causes cells to multiply. Third trimester hormones of a full-term pregnancy turn cells into milk-producing cells and turn off their growth (and cancer-forming) potential. "Interruption during the first trimester of a first pregnancy causes a cessation of cell differentiation, which may result in a subsequent increase in the risk of cancerous growth in these tissues." Planned Parenthood Federations of America (1994)
Effects on Later Pregnancy
When you want to carry a pregnancy to full term in the future, you may not be able to because of the damage your cervix incurred from your abortion. Perhaps you won't be able to become pregnant at all because of scarring which blocks your fallopian tubes. Other difficulties could include tubal pregnancies, premature births, miscarriage or stillbirth, pelvic inflammatory disease, and need for a hysterectomy. The risk of miscarriage in later pregnancies is higher if a woman has had two or more abortions.
Death
In rare cases, death has occurred after abortion usually cause by heavy bleeding or from complications with the drugs used for pain. When abortion happens after the first three months of pregnancy, the risk of death increases.
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Many woman who have had abortions find themselves dealing with emotions they never dreamed they would have. The most common emotional effects are: guilt, desire to become pregnant again, inability to forgive oneself, intense grief or sadness, anger or rage, emotional numbness, sexual dysfunction, lowered self-esteem, anorexia or other eating disorders, drug or alcohol abuse, suicidal urges, flashbacks, memory repression, anniversary reactions, hallucinations, difficulty keeping close relationships.
If you are contemplating abortion, weigh the risks before signing any forms. Don't be intimidated. It's your body and you are the one who suffers the consequences of abortion. Make sure you are willing and able to accept them.
Whatever you decide, remember that you are not alone. Call the Abigail Women's Clinic at 815-538-3044 or toll free 877-954-HOPE
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Abortion effects the father, too. The male doesn't face the physical risks the female does but the emotional consequences are just as real for him. Some men who have been a part of the abortion process describe their experience as bewildering and painful beyond their coping abilities.
Too often the male's role is minimal or non-existant in the abortion decision, sometimes by choice but also because the female decided not to involve him. When you are a parent, you are a parent forever, even to a dead child. You find it difficult to resolve the death because the child was denied humanity. Because the child was not born, there is no burial or grave commemorating his life.
How can you deal with the guilt and grief?
- One of the best remedies for guilt is self-disclosure. Talk about unfinished business to clear up guilt. It has been known to generate small miracles.
- Admit you have a ton of unfinished emotional business. This is a load off your shoulders and allows you to stop pretending. Then you can admit to the pain you've endured.
- Allow yourself to feel and feel deeply which can bring knowledge and freedom.
- Forgive. Forgiveness for abortion flows from the willingness to know the truth and tell the truth. To grow is to forgive yourself no matter how intense the mistake.
- Accept your own feelings first so that you are free to truly forgive.
- Take the time you need to grieve. Cry if you need to. Ask your aborted child for forgiveness. Name your baby. Claim him as your own. Name the sin, but remember that God's mercy is greater than any offense you could ever commit.
- You don't have to suffer alone. Turn to God, your loving Father. Look to Jesus who died upon the cross for your sins. Ask Him into your heart now.
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© 2002-2008 Abigail Women's Clinic
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