How does medical abortion work

Women who undergo a medical abortion often experience bleeding and cramping that can last for up to two weeks after the procedure, including passing blood clots. Other common side effects include:. Most women will abort anywhere from a couple of hours to a day or two after taking the second medication. Note that you can get pregnant almost immediately following an abortion. When women decide they want to have an abortion, they may get to choose between a medical abortion with the abortion pill, and a surgical abortion.

Your doctor will discuss your options with you, and will likely break down some of the pros and cons. Though medical abortions are considered safe, it is possible to experience complications from the medications. In many cases, you will take the first pill in front of your doctor at your first appointment. You may then return to the office for the second medication between one and three days later. You may experience symptoms like bleeding and cramping for two to four weeks.

Your doctor will schedule a follow-up appointment with you to test for pregnancy at the end of this time frame to ensure that the procedure was successful. After taking the abortion pill, wait at least one week to have sex, even if your doctor has prescribed you antibiotics.

This reduces the risk of getting an infection. When you do have sex, use contraception immediately, as you can get pregnant very soon after an abortion. Despite what critics may contend, abortion remains one of the safest and most common medical procedures in the United States.

Vitamin C might seem like a safe, easy way to have an abortion. But it simply isn't reliable. The Internet is full of home remedies that supposedly cause abortion, but these approaches are often ineffective, dangerous, or both. One to two weeks after taking the medication, the woman returns to the clinic to make sure the pregnancy has passed. When taken between nine and 10 weeks into a pregnancy, mifepristone and misoprostol are 93 percent effective at inducing an abortion, according to Planned Parenthood.

The earlier they are taken, the more effective they are. In , almost half of U. Cara Harshman , a freelance writer and marketer in San Francisco, had her legal medication abortion in January. In an interview, she said that her symptoms of cramps, bleeding and nausea lasted for about five days after taking the misoprostol. By the time she had her follow-up appointment, she was stable and feeling healthy. She wrote about her experience on the Facebook group Pantsuit Nation in an essay she then re-published on Medium and Shout Your Abortion.

According to Thaxton, most women are Rh positive. Common symptoms include nausea, cramping and heavy bleeding, similar to what women experience during a miscarriage. Thaxton generally tells her patients that if they soak through four maxi pads in two hours, that's too much bleeding, and they should consult their physician.

To prevent this, abortion providers will counsel women about whether they have a history of bleeding disorders before prescribing this method. Both mifepristone and misoprostol are available to purchase online without a prescription, even though doing so is illegal under federal law laws regarding inducing an abortion vary by state. Many women who have to resort to this method use only misoprostol, because it is easier to get on its own and is available over or under the counter in many Latin American countries.

Texas women have been getting misoprostol at Mexican pharmacies for years, The New York Times reported in ; while abortion in Mexico is legally restricted, the medication is sold over the counter for ulcers. During the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, a woman who takes three mcg doses of misoprostol orally at least three hours apart has an 85 percent chance of having a complete abortion, according to a study in the International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics.

Yet some studies suggest that inducing an abortion using misoprostol alone is no less safe than the combined method. The World Health Organization recommends misoprostol as a safe alternative when mifepristone isn't available, and Grossman says he would use the misoprostol-only method if he didn't have access to mifepristone as well.

Over-the-counter abortion medication may sound pretty far-fetched in a country like the U. Yet the fact that women are already managing their medication abortions on their own has led some to wonder: Could the abortion pill s ever be sold over-the-counter, as Grossman's study explored?

In fact, the research group Gynuity Health Projects is already conducting an FDA-approved research project called TelAbortion to test the safety of women using mail-order medication and online consultation to perform their abortions at home. Of course, future research will be needed to test these hypotheses. Depending how far along the pregnancy is, you may pass larger tissues that are brown or red in color, and may be able to see the white pregnancy sac.

Lying down with a hot-water bottle on your abdomen can help relieve any pain. Some find sitting on the toilet to be a more comfortable position.

If you need pain medication, avoid aspirin, as it can worsen bleeding. Instead, take ibuprofen Advil, Motrin. It may help to take pain medication around 30 minutes before the misoprostol. Bleeding may be lighter, while cramping may not feel so severe. Other side effects like fever or nausea should also disappear. It may take a couple of days for you to get back into your normal routine, as the process can make you tired.

Be sure to tell your healthcare provider any concerns you have. Around 4 to 6 weeks after your abortion, your period should return. Be aware that your body can start to ovulate around 3 weeks after taking the medication, meaning you can become pregnant once again. Your healthcare provider may also physically check the cervix and uterus, perform lab tests to check for the pregnancy hormone , and perform an ultrasound to determine whether the abortion pill worked.

Avoid taking an at-home test too soon after an abortion, as the pregnancy hormone may still linger in your body. You may be able to take another dose of the abortion pill, or you may need a surgical abortion instead. All-Options and Exhale offer various forms of free support, including over-the-phone counseling and a confidential text line. Lauren Sharkey is a U. She has also written a book profiling young female activists across the globe and is currently building a community of such resisters.

Catch her on Twitter. The short answer? Also known as the morning-after pill, Plan B is a form of emergency contraception….