Facts About Abortion You Need to Know
Abortion has been among the most advocated for principles for just about ages now, and the truth is that it is really a necessity. Pregnancy can be unacceptable for many people for a number of reasons, including not having the ability to sustain a newborn. Also, most of such pregnancies are unplanned — brought about because of a variety of reasons, including abuse, rape, or even simply unpreparedness — and are, therefore, unwanted.
A survey found out that more than 40 percent of pregnancies in the most recent decades have been unintended in one way or another, and around 55 percent of these end in abortion. Moreover, this is not endemic to underdeveloped regions. As it is, the stats are hardly different for both the developed and the developing regions.
Add to it all the fact that around 45% of all abortions, globally, are unsafe and cause 4.7% to 13.2% of maternal deaths annually, depending on the region.
The reasons can be varying here — from cultural disregard of abortions to medical unpreparedness — and, so, there’s a peculiar need for provisions, but before that a broad understanding of abortion.
What is Abortion, Essentially?
In simple words, the termination of any pregnancy before the embryo is in the viable stage is what abortion is. A time period of 20 weeks is generally enough for the stage of viability to be achieved and, for which reason, abortion is recommended before this duration is reached.
Now, although the surgical form of abortion is performed for up to 14 weeks — through dilation and evacuation — and even up to 16 weeks by vacuum aspiration, to abort a pregnancy in the very first month and naturally is most rationally the best choice.
The latter can also be performed by the process of medical abortion, using an MTP Kit. Medical abortion is usually safe for up to nine or ten weeks (63-70 days). After this period, however, in case of a pregnancy that is older than ten or twelve weeks, that is, medical abortion might put you at imminent risk of complications.
Incomplete abortion and hemorrhages are among such complications, which can prove to be fatal. To avoid such unnecessary issues, a surgical abortion is advised. But also, that’s when you’re on the fence — a surgical abortion is safer from the 10th week; a medical abortion is better before that.
Going for a Medical Abortion
Quite a few surveys have found that medical abortion has almost equivalent accomplishments, even though they’re performed at home:
- A survey states that over 95% of women have been satisfied with staying at home for medical abortion.
- Another study states that carefully guided medical abortions have shown up as extremely well and with quite satisfactory results.
Moreover, with most of Europe (over sixty nations around the world) having no restrictions on abortion, and many other nations — except for a few too conservatively organized ones — following only a few restrictions, and majorly for the sake of the mother’s health conditions, medical abortions are now gaining the right amount of buzz, owing also to their efficiency, which is more than 95 per cent and guaranteed safety.
Majorly performed at home now, with studies suggesting the reason being the perception of medical abortions as a natural process and, as aforementioned, a procedure that is also quite safe, it involves the administration of the meds RU486 (mifepristone 200mg and misoprostol 200 mcg).
Both of these drugs are part of the MTP Kit and help you in having a miscarriage with sheer convenience. All you need is a good amount of rest for some time.
Taken orally with water, RU486 blocks the progesterone receptors in your body to put a check on progesterone activity, whereas misoprostol works on uterine contractions to expel the entire fetus from the womb.
It is important because the hormone progesterone promotes the thickening of the uterine lining to get ready for a pregnancy. On the other hand, the complete expulsion of the fetus from the womb guarantees that re-implantation won’t occur.
However, if the medical abortion is not really your method of choice, you should talk to your doctor right away and they can recommend you a different approach. You might need to go for a different method also if:
- you have an allergy to either misoprostol or mifepristone, or perhaps even both
- the implantation has occurred outside the uterus and, so, your pregnancy is ectopic
- you have blood circulation issues — e.g., a bleeding disorder — and/or take blood thinners
- you use an intrauterine device
- you have any severe kidney, liver, or lung disease
Conclusion
Planning an abortion can always be an exhausting task, even though it is now legal in most parts of the world, and with few limitations when it comes to your health.
For this reason, making the effort to understand how an abortion can be the right choice — say bringing a baby in this world when you’re not quite ready could most certainly be foolish if nothing more — is quite important.
It is even more important now because, with novel mechanical advancements, some governments in the world allow abortions up to 27 weeks too, which is not entirely safe, with bleeding too much being among the foremost concerns.
The WHO also supports the idea that the sooner the better is the key to safety, recommending medically induced abortion with oral mifepristone followed by misoprostol.
Considering the idea that medical abortion is both widely used and utterly safe, going for it — usually within the first month or only as late as up to the tenth week — while keeping in touch with your doctor seems to be the most sensible choice.
