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About Doctor Joan
Expertise
I am a family doctor who has provided abortion care for over a decade. I can answer any health or medical related questions about early abortion, including the aspiration procedure, the abortion pill (RU486), or surgical abortion. I run a practice called Early Options, located in New York City: earlyabortionoptions.com. The practice is dedicated to making early abortion part of mainstream medical care. There are other family doctors around the United States who practice a similar approach to early abortion care: see earlyabortion.com. Please do not ask "private" questions so that other women can learn from your experience. Please tell me what country you are from so that I can better help you.

Experience
Experience in the area: I am a board certified family doctor who has been providing abortion services for 12 years. I am the founder of Early Options (earlyabortion.com) dedicated to making early abortion part of mainstream medical care. Organizations: National Abortion Federation American Association of Family Physicians Education/Credentials: Harvard Medical School

You are here: Experts > Health/Fitness > Obstetrics/Gynecology > Abortion > Pregnant after abortion, abortion pill

Abortion - Pregnant after abortion, abortion pill

Expert: Doctor Joan - 11/6/2009

Question
Hello.
I live in australia.
On the 16th of october i had an abortion where two tablets were inserted inside and i had to take a following 5 tablets orally later that day.
I bled for 11 days. On the 12th day after the abortion i had sex twice and twice again on the 14th day after the abortion. (We didn't use protection as i was told i was infertil for a month after an abortion)
On the 1st of november i had a pulling sort of feeling in my uterus that i felt with the aborted pregnancy.
On the 3rd and 4th of november i had a brown discharge with no blood, it only lasted for those two days.
My concern is that i had this familiar discharge when i was pregnant with my now one year old son so is this a possible new pregnancy or a result of the abortion?
Thank you for your help.
Caitlin.

Answer
Dear Caitlin,
Thank you for your question regarding pregnancy after the Abortion Pill. Brown discharge is common and normal after the Abortion Pill, and may come and go for weeks to months. You may also have active red bleeding, or clots. This would all be normal. Sometimes it can be difficult to know what is your period, and what is bleeding from ending the pregnancy.

You also could be pregnant again. It is upsetting that a health practitioner told you that you could not get pregnant for a month after the Abortion Pill. That is absolutely incorrect information, and unfortunately it is common for women to have this misunderstanding. If anything, there is some evidence to suggest that you may be more fertile the month after taking the Abortion Pill. You can get pregnant after one week of taking the abortion pills, so contraception should be used immediately.

Unfortunately, it can be difficult figuring out if you are pregnant again. You can take a pregnancy test (the type that has two lines) but most likely this will be still be positive from your pregnancy. You can repeat it in one week, and compare results. If it is more positive, it is likely a new pregnancy. If it is less dark or negative, you are fine. The other option is to wait another week and then go to the doctor, and they can draw more accurate blood tests. They will need to draw blood on one day, and then repeat the test 48 hours later to evaluated whether the hormone level is going up or down.

There is more information on detecting pregnancy after abortion on my website at: http://www.earlyabortionoptions.com.

I hope this information is helpful to you,
Doctor Joan
New York City

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