What is an abortion? | Live Science
Abortion is an early termination of pregnancy, which can occur spontaneously, as in the case of miscarriage, or when pregnancy ends by medical or surgical means.In these latter cases, the method of abortion is Pregnancy stageAmong other factors.
How is abortion triggered?
Dr. Deborah Powell, a professor of experimental medicine and pathology at the University of Minnesota, has several ways to induce an abortion, depending on how advanced the pregnancy is and whether the pregnancy is inside or outside the uterus.Members of the National Academy of Reproductive Health Services: Assessing the Safety and Quality of Abortion Care in the United States
According to Powell, most abortions occur early in pregnancy, within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, or shortly thereafter.
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Method is as follows. 2018 report The safety of abortion care in the United States, written by the National Academies of Reproductive Health Services Committee:
- Drug abortion, or “medical” abortion: This method is FDA approved for pregnancies up to 10 weeks gestation and includes two medications taken at 24-48 hour intervals. The first pill is mifepristone, which blocks the production of progesterone, an important hormone for maintaining pregnancy. The second pill is misoprostol, which induces uterine contractions that empty the uterus. (Note that in some cases misoprostol may be prescribed alone. World Health Organization (Opens in a new tab)WHO.
- Suction miscarriage (also known as surgical miscarriage, suction curettage, or dilation and curettage (D & C)): Suction is the most common method of abortion used in the United States, accounting for about 68% of abortions in 2013 and can be used up to 16 weeks gestation. This procedure dilates the cervix to allow a hollow curette or tube to be inserted into the uterus. At the other end of the tube, use a handheld syringe or electrical device to aspirate and empty the uterus. The procedure usually takes less than 10 minutes.
- Expansion and Evacuation (D & E): This type of miscarriage usually occurs 14 weeks after gestation and involves dilation of the cervix followed by suction and / or forceps drainage of the uterus.
- Induced miscarriage (also known as “medical” miscarriage): This method involves the use of drugs to induce labor and childbirth. The most effective regimen is to use high doses of the same medications used for abortions in early pregnancy, mifepristone and misoprostol.
Is abortion safe?
“Abortion is very safe,” Powell told Live Science. “Abortion is as safe as a normal pregnancy, but less secure.”
According to the 2018 National Academies report, all methods are generally expected to cause vaginal bleeding during and after an abortion.
Drug abortions often cause severe cramps and abdominal pain, as well as the pain felt during a miscarriage. With this method, the patient may pass through the clot and appear to be a very heavy period of time, which can last up to 2 weeks. Powell said. Over-the-counter anti-inflammatory drugs can help relieve pain.
According to the report, complications of all types of abortion are extremely rare and most often occur in less than a few percent of patients. The risk of complications increases slightly with gestation.
“Abortions that occur late in pregnancy are very rare and are usually done by a doctor,” Powell said. Abortion can be caused by the underlying condition of the pregnant patient or fetus, and there is a risk of complications if the pregnancy continues, but “the abortion procedure itself is not safe,” she said. Stated.
Abortion is considered unsafe only when it is performed in a non-medical environment by people who are neither medical professionals nor trained healthcare providers, Powell explained. In these situations, there is a risk of serious and harmful infections if attempts to eliminate pregnancy are made in non-sterile instruments or non-sterile environments.
What happens after an abortion?
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Based on a thorough review of scientific literature and research around the world, researchers in the 2018 report said that abortion Future fertility Or the risk of developing future pregnancy complications, preterm birth or breast cancer. The report’s authors conclude that abortion does not pose a significant risk to the patient’s mental health.
Objective and controlled studies of pregnancy and abortion in a clinical environment similar to those found in the United States have found that abortion does not affect future fertility. However, some states in the United States may provide or provide information to abortion patients, such as those in Arizona, Kansas, Nebraska, North Carolina, South Dakota, and Texas, that suggest that abortion may adversely affect future fertility. It is obligatory. Such information is more than 20 years old and is based on data that has many potential sources of bias. Therefore, according to the National Academy of Assisted Reproductive Technology Services, the data do not meet the rigorous criteria of the latest research on this topic.
The authors of the 2018 report also found that there was no link between abortion and future pregnancy complications, including stillbirth. Ectopic pregnancy (Pregnancy that occurs outside the womb) or gestational hypertension (hypertension during pregnancy).2014 study published in BJOG (Opens in a new tab): The International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology shows that women who have had a previous drug abortion (not any other type of abortion) are at increased risk of bleeding during vaginal delivery compared to the first pregnant woman. Reported to be slightly higher. However, according to a 2018 report, the medical reason for this increased risk remains unclear, and other studies have not yet confirmed the findings.
Also, there is no link between an abortion and a future preterm birth, regardless of when the abortion occurred or how many times the person had an abortion in the past.That said, a 2017 study published in the journal Obstetrics and gynecology (Opens in a new tab) Based on medical records of about 20,000 Finnish women, evidence was found that pregnancy immediately after an abortion (within 6 months) has a slightly increased risk of preterm birth (about 1.5% higher). However, it is unclear whether the association is causal or due to other maternal factors such as obesity and gestational diabetes.
Perhaps women who have an abortion due to fetal abnormalities or other medical complications may be more emotionally burdened than women who have an unwanted pregnancy. Studies conclude that the incidence of mental health problems in women with unwanted pregnancies was the same regardless of whether they had an abortion or had a baby, the 2018 report concludes.
Several major medical institutions, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and WHO, have announced what pre-pregnancy and post-pregnancy care should look like, as described in the 2018 National Academies report. We publish guidelines for.
The organization agrees that patients should receive individualized, sensitive communication and comprehensive education on the risks and benefits of abortion options available and how each procedure is performed. Health care providers also need to confirm with the patient that the decision is voluntary and support the patient’s emotional needs before and after the procedure. This care should include counseling on appropriate post-contraceptive contraceptive options.
Who will have an abortion?
In the United States, there were approximately 862,320 abortions in 2017, down 7% from 926,190 in 2014. Guttmacher Institute (Opens in a new tab)A non-profit research and policy organization focused on reproductive health and rights. This is about 1.35% of women aged 15-44 years, the lowest ever in the United States, even before abortion was legalized in 1973.
The latest demographic data on abortion is from the Guttmacher Institute’s 2014 National Survey. According to a study, the majority of abortion patients in the United States were between the ages of 20 and 29, were heterosexual, white, had at least one childbirth, and earned below federal poverty levels. Over half (51%) of abortion patients used contraceptives during pregnancy.
Data show that most abortions in the United States are due to unwanted pregnancies, but some abortions are medicines that make the fetus unsustainable or pose a serious health risk to the pregnant person. It is caused by an abortion. The exact number of abortions that occur for that reason is unknown, but many healthcare providers are concerned that if an abortion becomes illegal, the life of the patient could be seriously compromised. Occurs frequently.
For example, an ectopic pregnancy, or an ectopic pregnancy (most often in the oviduct), is rare, but if the pregnancy does not end, there is no doubt that it will cause serious and life-threatening complications for the pregnant person. ..
Ectopic pregnancy is just one example of the many potential reasons that abortion may be medically necessary for the health of a pregnant patient, and creating a law that allows all these scenarios is not possible. Powell said it was impossible. In short, “abortion is healthcare,” she said, “and should be supervised by a healthcare provider.”
Originally published on Live Science.
Additional resources
Wired put together a guide (Opens in a new tab) It has resources for navigating abortion and abortion questions.
Check this out to learn more about the science and history of abortion rights Scientific American page (Opens in a new tab) A carefully selected selection of some opinions and feature articles.
The Guttmacher Institute has statistics (Opens in a new tab) Other information about abortion in the United States, including information on rates, safety, demographics, insurance, law, and more.
What is an abortion? | Live Science
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