The term abortion can apply to a spontaneous abortion (miscarriage) or more usually as an induced abortion (the deliberate medical or surgical intervention to end a pregnancy). Abortion is a serious, life-changing decision. No-one can predict how you will react.

Often women choose abortion to avoid interruption to their careers, believing that they will be able to return unaffected to their pre-pregnancy state.

Once a woman realises she is pregnant, the instinctive desire to protect and nurture a child is activated. If the child is not welcomed or the mother is under considerable coercion to reject the baby this creates intense conflict in her mind. What is happening biologically in the body is recorded and reinforced in the mind. As the biological attachment grows and becomes more intimate, so does the psychological attachment. This intimacy creates an indelible imprint in the mind of the mother. Her memory stores the individual characteristics of this child. Not wanting or welcoming the child does not stop this attachment from occurring. Because the attachment to an unborn baby is unavoidable, grief is profound and inevitable when that baby dies.

Many women consent to abortion because of fear -

• Fear of telling parents and of losing their respect.
• Fear of having to drop out of school or give up a career.
• Fear of being unable to support the child alone.
• Afraid their lives will not continue as they had planned.

This same fear causes them to ignore the facts about what is involved in an abortion.

Abortion Procedures

Morning After Pill (MAP):
If you have had sex without contraception, or if contraception has failed, you may be thinking about using emergency contraception. Emergency contraception (the morning after pill) is used within 72 hours (3 days) of having sex in order to avoid pregnancy. The morning after pill is not just one pill. Different tablets are used, but Postinor-2 is most likely to be offered. This is a package of 2 tablets. These tablets each contain a large dose (750mcg) of levonorgestrel. Levonorgestrel is a hormone similar to the female hormone progesterone.

The morning after pill works in two major ways.

1. If it is taken at a certain time in the menstrual cycle, it can prevent or delay ovulation - that is , it can stop or delay an egg from being released from the ovary so that contraception is prevented.
2. But if the tablets are taken very close to the time of ovulation, or soon afterwards, conception may occur. Then the morning after pill works by stopping the new embryo from being able to attach to the womb to gain nourishment, and so it dies. This is an early abortion.

Mifeprex, also known as RU-486: within 4 to 7 weeks after LMP
This medical abortion is used for women who are within 28 to 49 days after their last menstrual period. This procedure usually requires three office visits. The RU 486 or mifepristone pills are given to the woman who returns two days later for a second medication called misoprostol. The combination of these medications causes the uterus to expel the fetus.

In November 2004 the Food and Drug Administration announced important new safety changes to the Danco Laboratories, LLC's labelling of mifepristone. FDA and Danco Laboratories have received reports of serious bacterial infection, bleeding, ectopic pregnancies that have ruptured, and death, including another death from sepsis that was recently reported to FDA. The revised labelling will provide physicians and patients with important information so that they can respond and possibly prevent rare but serious complications that may occur with any abortion.

Early Vacuum Aspiration: within 7 weeks after LMP
This surgical abortion is done early in the pregnancy up until 7 weeks after the woman's last menstrual period. The cervical muscle is stretched with dilators (metal rods) until the opening is wide enough to allow the abortion instruments to pass into the uterus. A hand held syringe is attached to tubing that is inserted into the uterus and the fetus is suctioned out.

Suction Curettage: within 6 to 14 weeks after LMP
In this procedure, the doctor opens the cervix with a dilator (a metal rod) or laminaria (thin sticks derived from plants and inserted several hours before the procedure). The doctor inserts tubing into the uterus and connects the tubing to a suction machine. The suction pulls the fetus' body apart and out of the uterus. One variation of this procedure is called Dilation and Curettage (D&C). In this method, the doctor may use a curette, a loop-shaped knife, to scrape the fetal parts out of the uterus.

Dilation and Evacuation (D&E): within 13 to 24 weeks after LMP
This surgical abortion is done during the second trimester of pregnancy. The developing fetus increases greatly in size between the thirteenth and fourteenth weeks of pregnancy. The body of the fetus is too large to be broken up by suction and will not pass through the suction tubing. In this procedure, the cervix must be opened wider than in a first trimester abortion. This is done by inserting laminaria a day or two before the abortion. After opening the cervix, the doctor pulls out the fetal parts with forceps. The fetus' skull is crushed to allow easier removal.

Dilation and Extraction (D&X): from 20 weeks after LMP to full-term
Also known as Partial-birth Abortion, this procedure takes three days. During the first two days, the cervix is dilated and medication is given for cramping. On the third day, the woman receives medication to start labor. After labor begins, the abortion doctor uses ultrasound to locate the baby's legs. Grasping a leg with forceps, the doctor delivers the baby up to the baby's head. Next, scissors are inserted into the base of the skull to create an opening. A suction catheter is placed into the opening to remove the skull contents. The skull collapses and the baby is removed.