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When A Woman Gets Pregnant, How Soon To Abort The Baby?

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Posted on Mon, 22 Jul 2013
Question: hi how are you?

when a woman gets pregnant how long does she have before she can abort the baby/babies? thanks
doctor
Answered by Dr. Dr. Rakhi Tayal (2 days later)
Hello,
Thanks for posting your query.
If you have an unwanted pregnancy and you want to abort it, it is best to get it done as soon as possible. The smaller is the size of the fetus, easier it is to abort and lesser are the complications.
If you experience any symptoms of pregnancy then you should check the status of pregnancy. Pregnancy symptoms include absent or delayed period for more than 10 days along with morning sickness, vomiting, frequent urination, feeling tired, tenderness of breasts, light-headedness, feeling dizzy, getting irritated, and increase sensitivity to smell.

In such a case, you can test for pregnancy by a highly sensitive pregnancy test ( 20 - 25 mIU ). Also then I would suggest you to get your serum HCG levels estimated since this is more specific than urine for pregnancy tests.

Abortion is done by two ways
1. By medicines (medical abortion)
2. Surgery (suction and evacuation).

If the pregnancy is less than 7 weeks, medicines to abort pregnancy are preferred as the success rate is nearly 95%. Side effects include gastritis, diarrhea, vomiting, headache, excessive bleeding, etc. Medical abortion medicines have no effect on future child bearing. If the abortion is incomplete by medicines or if excessive bleeding occurs than need for surgical cleaning of uterus arises.

If pregnancy is more than 7-9 weeks than surgical cleaning of uterus i.e. suction and evacuation (S&E) or dilatation and curettage (D&C) is done. The risks associated with surgery are infection, bleeding, injury to genital organs like uterus etc. These risks are not common and do not occur in good set-up. Surgery also involves anaesthesia and its associated risks.

If you are thinking of abortion consult your local Gynecologist who will assess you and guide you for safe abortion method.

Hope this answers your query. I will be glad to answer the follow up queries that you have.
Please accept my answer in case you do not have further queries.
Wishing you good health.
Regards.
Dr. Rakhi Tayal.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
doctor
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Follow up: Dr. Dr. Rakhi Tayal (13 minutes later)
no i'm not pregnant and am just asking for my own information. so the baby can be aborted anytime during the pregnancy but the smaller its size the better it is? thanks bye
doctor
Answered by Dr. Dr. Rakhi Tayal (1 hour later)
Hello.
Thanks for writing again.
Yes. The baby can be aborted till 12 weeks of pregnancy without much complications. But it is better to abort early if the pregnancy is unwanted.
Hope my answer is helpful.
Do accept my answer in case there are no further queries.
Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
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Answered by
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Dr. Dr. Rakhi Tayal

OBGYN

Practicing since :2001

Answered : 14047 Questions

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When A Woman Gets Pregnant, How Soon To Abort The Baby?

Hello,
Thanks for posting your query.
If you have an unwanted pregnancy and you want to abort it, it is best to get it done as soon as possible. The smaller is the size of the fetus, easier it is to abort and lesser are the complications.
If you experience any symptoms of pregnancy then you should check the status of pregnancy. Pregnancy symptoms include absent or delayed period for more than 10 days along with morning sickness, vomiting, frequent urination, feeling tired, tenderness of breasts, light-headedness, feeling dizzy, getting irritated, and increase sensitivity to smell.

In such a case, you can test for pregnancy by a highly sensitive pregnancy test ( 20 - 25 mIU ). Also then I would suggest you to get your serum HCG levels estimated since this is more specific than urine for pregnancy tests.

Abortion is done by two ways
1. By medicines (medical abortion)
2. Surgery (suction and evacuation).

If the pregnancy is less than 7 weeks, medicines to abort pregnancy are preferred as the success rate is nearly 95%. Side effects include gastritis, diarrhea, vomiting, headache, excessive bleeding, etc. Medical abortion medicines have no effect on future child bearing. If the abortion is incomplete by medicines or if excessive bleeding occurs than need for surgical cleaning of uterus arises.

If pregnancy is more than 7-9 weeks than surgical cleaning of uterus i.e. suction and evacuation (S&E) or dilatation and curettage (D&C) is done. The risks associated with surgery are infection, bleeding, injury to genital organs like uterus etc. These risks are not common and do not occur in good set-up. Surgery also involves anaesthesia and its associated risks.

If you are thinking of abortion consult your local Gynecologist who will assess you and guide you for safe abortion method.

Hope this answers your query. I will be glad to answer the follow up queries that you have.
Please accept my answer in case you do not have further queries.
Wishing you good health.
Regards.
Dr. Rakhi Tayal.