Abortion is a procedure to end a pregnancy. This process is done from surgery or taking medication to discontinue the birth of a child. But this choice should be made by you only.

There are many types of procedures

• Menstrual extraction
  
  
• Vacuum curettage
  
  
• Mifepristone
  
  
• Dilation and Evacuation (D&E)

Menstrual extraction

This procedure is done during the early stages of the pregency (1 or 2 weeks after your period should have started). The Abortion doctor inserts a speculum (a device that opens the vagina) into the vagina. The physician then places a small tube into the womb the cervix (the opening of the womb). The tube is used to remove the pregnancy tissue from the womb with a syringe.

Mifepristone

This is an oral medicine, that was recently approved by the US Food Drug Administration (FDA). It can be used in the first 7 weeks of the pregnancy.

How does it work? It blocks one of the hormones you need to stay pregnant and ends the pregnancy. Two days after taking mifepristone you will take a medicine called misoprostol, which causes cramping of the uterus and helps empty the uterus. Side affects to mifepristone occur one or two days after having vaginal bleeding.

Vacuum curettage

A vacuum curettage is a procedure done in the operating room. Anesthesia is given before the procedure. Local anesthesia is usually use for this procedure. You would be given a shot deep into your cervix to make your cervix numb.

After the anesthesia your health care provider stretches the cervix so a small plastic tube can be placed through it into the womb. The tube is attached to a vacuum pump, which suctions the pregnancy tissue from the womb. Then your health care provider will use a spoon like instrument (a curette) to scrape the walls of the womb and he or she makes sure that all the tissue has been removed. The procedure generally takes 10 to 20 minutes. This type of abortion can be done up to 12-14 weeks of pregnancy.

Dilation and evacuation (D&E)

D&E is used to abort the fetus from 13 to 24 weeks of pregnancy. This procedure is done with forceps with sharp metal jaws that are used to grasp parts of the developing baby, which are then twisted and torn away. This proceeds until the child's entire body is removed from the womb.

Partial Birth Abortion

This is a very controversial procedure. This is what happens the baby's skull has often hardened to bone by this time; the skull must sometimes be compressed or crushed to facilitate removal. If not carefully removed, sharp edges of the bones may cause cervical laceration.

Partial Birth Abortion

Guided by ultrasound, the abortionist grabs the baby's leg with forceps.

The baby's leg is pulled out into the birth canal.

Images used courtesy of Heather's Place

Complications Of Abortion

• Perforation (a result of surgical instrument going through the uterus and possibly injuring an abdominal organ)
  
  
• Infection
  
  
• Excessive bleeding
  
  
• Failure to end the pregnancy
  
  
• Difficulty becoming pregnant after several abortions