The Abortion Pill is an excellent early abortion method. However, not everyone is eligible to take the Abortion Pill. Let’s go over the basic criteria to see if you are eligible.
1. You must be pregnant. The easiest way to know if you are pregnant, is to take a home pregnancy test. You can get a pregnancy test at a local pharmacy, or you can go to a doctor’s office. The best pregnancy tests have lines on them, not words. “Digital” pregnancy tests are not as accurate. You can often buy a kit that has more than one pregnancy test in it. Follow the directions for collecting and testing the urine. Usually, if there are two lines, you are pregnant. If there is one line, you are not pregnant. If there is a faint line, you may have a falsely positive test, or you may be very early. Pregnancy tests can start to turn positive around one week after conception.
2.You should be between 5-9 weeks pregnant. If a pregnancy is between 5-9 weeks, and the medications are taken correctly, there is a 98-99% success rate with the Abortion Pill.
At five weeks of pregnancy, an early pregnancy can be identified on an ultrasound. At this stage, the pregnancy consists of a fluid filled sac that is about 5 millimeters (1/2 centimeter). There is no embryo; there are only invisible cells, floating in the fluid. The reason it is important to see this sac on ultrasound is because:1) this determines that the pregnancy is in the uterus and it is not an ectopic pregnancy. This is important because the Abortion Pill does not treat ectopic pregnancies. The other reason to identify the sac on ultrasound is to assess whether it looks like the pregnancy will miscarry spontaneously, in which case the Abortion Pill is not necessary.
Research studies have demonstrated that the Abortion Pill is most effective and has the least complications under 63 days (9 weeks) of pregnancy. The date of “63 days” is usually determined by ultrasound, rather than by calender dates. Ultrasound can accurately assess the date of conception within 3 or 4 days. Most doctors will not give the Abortion Pill after 9 weeks. The Abortion Pill is best used under 9 weeks, because at this stage there is still no visible embryo. There is significantly less risk of bleeding with the Abortion Pill under 9 weeks of pregnancy.
3) You must have made a final decision that you want to terminate the pregnancy. The Abortion Pill has a 1-2% failure rate. If the pregnancy continues after taking the Abortion Pill, there is a high chance that the pregnancy will not develop normally. The Abortion Pill causes severe birth defects.
4) You should feel comfortable with the idea of having an early miscarriage at home. Usually the experience of the Abortion Pill involves some cramping that typically lasts 1-2 hours. Usually heavier bleeding starts after the cramping. You will see blood, and white or tan tissue. This tissue includes “decidua” (a thick lining that forms around the uterine cavity” and a “gestational sac” (a fluid filled membrane that usually looks like wet paper towel, about the size of a ball of cotton. You should not see an embryo. If you are early enough to take the Abortion Pill, you are too early to see a visible embryo. At first, the bleeding can be much heavier than a period. Usually, within hours, it slows down to be more like a period.
5) You should feel comfortable with irregular, intermittent, lengthy bleeding. Most women who take the Abortion Pill experience some kind of irregular bleeding. Typically the bleeding comes and goes. It can range from spotting, to period-like bleeding, to clots. It is not uncommon to have irregular bleeding for weeks to months. It can be difficult to know if you have your period, or if you are still bleeding from the pregnancy. In 2-3 months your period should be back to normal.
6) You must agree to follow up with the doctor who gave you the Abortion Pill. There is a 1-2% failure rate with the Abortion Pill. It is very important that you are sure that the Abortion Pill was successful. Even if you bleed, you can still have a continuing pregnancy. The Abortion Pill causes birth defects, so you must be sure that the pregnancy is ended.
7) You must not have medical problems that can interfere with the success of the Abortion Pill. You should not have severe anemia (most doctors will not prescribe the Abortion Pill if you have a hematocrit under 20.) You cannot be on chronic steroids. There are other rare medical problems that the doctor will review.
Tags: abortion method, Abortion Pill, bleeding and abortion pill, Early Abortion, pregnancy test