Abortion - Terms, Types, Indications

2024 Author: Rachel Wainwright | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 07:39

Abortion - timing

There is a subtle bitterness in the word "abortion".

Translated from English, this word means "throw out". In medical terms, an induced abortion is the termination of pregnancy for any reason or at the request of a woman. It happens in life that sometimes there are reasons that do not allow a woman to give birth to a baby already born in her body.

Abortion is an intervention in the natural course of pregnancy. For a woman, this is not only physiological damage to health, but also the strongest emotional and hormonal stress. The consequences of abortion can be dire. In the postoperative period (and abortion is a real surgical operation), there is a sharp restructuring of the body, already tuned in to the birth of a child.

Abortion: how long can you do

Terms of abortion, i.e. the time during which it is possible to terminate a pregnancy at the request of a woman is strictly limited. But if there are medical indications for termination of pregnancy (fetal anomalies, diseases of a woman, in which the further development of pregnancy will threaten her life), then the termination can be performed absolutely at any time.

By timing, abortion is divided into early and late. An early abortion refers to the termination of pregnancy before 12 weeks. An early abortion is carried out for medical reasons or at the woman's own request. Late abortion at 12-22 weeks of gestation can be performed only for necessary medical reasons, i.e. the maximum period for abortion is 22 weeks. Termination of pregnancy after 22 weeks, when the fetus is already ripe for birth, is called artificial birth.

If a woman decides to terminate a pregnancy for a period of more than 22 weeks, then, upon her application, the relevant commission considers this issue and issues its opinion, taking into account the medical and social indications available to a particular woman.

Types of abortion

Only a doctor can decide on the method of termination of pregnancy.

Abortion up to 5-6 weeks of gestation can be performed using vacuum aspiration. This procedure is called a mini-abortion. In this case, the removal of the ovum occurs using a special syringe. A significant drawback of this method is the possible leaving of embryo particles in the uterus, which ultimately leads to the need for further scraping of the uterine cavity.

Often women at the doctor's office ask the question of how long an abortion can be done without instrumental intervention, i.e. to carry out medical abortion. For this type of termination of pregnancy, drugs are used to stop the further development of the fetus. They are usually prescribed with medications that contract the uterus to terminate the pregnancy. Medical abortion is only possible before 8 weeks of pregnancy. After it, you need to make sure that the fetus has been successfully removed from the uterine cavity.

Instrumental abortion for gestational age up to 12 weeks is considered the safest. It is currently being performed under the supervision of hysteroscopy. The operation can be performed under local or general anesthesia. During the intervention, the doctor dilates the cervical canal and, with the help of instruments, extracts the ovum with the remains of the endometrium.

Abortion should be performed only in medical institutions and only by an obstetrician-gynecologist.

It happens that for one reason or another, women miss the terms of an abortion and try to get rid of unwanted pregnancy using folk remedies or grandmother's methods. Do not do that. Of course, pharmacies now have a lot of medicines, herbs, tinctures that can provoke a spontaneous miscarriage. But where is the guarantee of a successful outcome? Even a medical abortion performed during pregnancy, established by the abortion regulation, most often harms a woman's body. And even more so, attempts to get rid of the fetus on their own, and even after the permissible maximum terms of abortion have expired, can lead to an unpredictable result. Up to death.

Therefore, a woman who decides to get rid of an unwanted pregnancy should consult a doctor, choose a method of abortion and be sure to meet the deadlines for an abortion.

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