Abortion: Options and what to expect

Anyone carrying a pregnancy has the right to decide whether to continue or terminate it. An abortion is a personal choice, and it is your body and your life that matter most.

You can have an abortion at any age. The availability and legal limits vary by country, but in many places, abortion is allowed during the early stages of pregnancy for any reason. Later-term abortions may require special permission or medical justification, such as health risks, fetal conditions, or serious social circumstances.

Having an abortion can be emotionally challenging, especially if the pregnancy was wanted. Abortion does not affect your ability to become pregnant in the future. You have the right to counselling before and after the procedure, and it can help to discuss your feelings with a partner, friend, or professional.

Medical abortion

Medical abortion is the most common method of terminating a pregnancy. You start the abortion by taking medication at the abortion clinic, then you go home. After a few days, you may come back to the clinic where you will be given further medication that causes the uterus to contract. In some cases, you can do the second step at home, if you have someone at home for support. It is important that you are not alone. After a few hours, there will usually be vaginal bleeding with lumps, at which point the pregnancy is expelled. The duration of bleeding after an abortion can vary, but generally you will bleed for about two weeks. The bleeding should gradually decrease. You will often be given a home pregnancy test to take around three to four weeks after the abortion.

If you have a medical abortion after the first trimester, this will always be done in a hospital. You often get to go home the same day. Sometimes there may be remnants of the pregnancy, for example parts of the placenta. If the abortion is not complete, the doctor may need to supplement the procedure with surgical scraping.

Surgical abortion

You can have a surgical abortion in your first trimester, but not too early in the pregnancy. The procedure is usually quick and is therefore a shorter operation. Sometimes you may be given medication that first softens the cervix. After this, you will be sedated and the pregnancy will be gently sucked out of the uterus using a thin tube connected to a suction device. Once the operation is finished, you will be allowed to recover for a few hours at the clinic before going home. As a rule, you will bleed less after a surgical abortion compared to a medical one.

It is difficult to predict how you will feel after the abortion, but it may feel easier if you ask for help and support from the people around you about the abortion. Remember that it is you who decides what happens to your body and whether you want to have an abortion or not. Some people may feel depressed while others may feel relieved – there’s often a mix of many different emotions. It may be that it feels particularly difficult if you have had children before and so have experienced a different outcome to a pregnancy, which may be exemplified by the contrast to the living child you already have. If you feel that you need counselling after your abortion, you can contact the clinic where you had the abortion, as they have counsellors attached to the clinic. Counselling is free. If you are a partner in a pregnancy, you may also feel bad about the abortion and may also need to talk to someone, so don’t be afraid to seek and ask for help.

The abortion clinic will tell you where you can turn to if you have complications related to the abortion, such as an infection or heavy bleeding, and what to do while you are still bleeding. You have the right to contraceptive counselling after the abortion if you wish.

Remember: Your body, your choice.