Expert: Shan Yi Sheng - 2/15/2009

Question
QUESTION: Q. Are abortions in the 11th and 12th week safe? or considered safe? Do you
know of women who have had safe abortions during this period?




ANSWER: Hi Christina,

abortions in the 12th week are safe when performed in a medical setting by an experienced doctor.
I did over 8.000 abortions of women in this group, without further problems. No worry !
Dr Shan


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Firstly, I want to thank you so much for replying back so soon and thank you
so much for sharing that information with me. i do have a follow up question.

Is there any reason why some other doctors think otherwise? Is there any
reason why some websites and some doctors say that 12th week abortion is
not safe? When they talk about abortion they do mention legal clinical
abortion and that even in that situation 12th week abortions are apparently
not safe because of the size of the fetus and the placenta being more
attached or something. The reasons seem to revolve around this. They are
okay with abortions before 10 weeks, but the 11th and 12th week, apparently
No.  But why is it deemed unsafe by them?

Some statistics I came across where that 12% of women get an abortion
during the time etc. do the statistics mean anything in particular?

ANSWER: Hi dear Christina,

Question 1: Is there any reason why some other doctors think otherwise?
Answer 1: Of course there is. To do these abortions you need skill and experience. Those colleages have neither & tell us that is impossible. Thats true....for THEM.
If you live in the US you might find many addresses of very experienced docs, like Dr Gluck in NY city, Dr Hern in Boulder Nevada and dr Tiller in Wichita Kansas. They al do abortions up to at least 20 weeks without dramatic effects nor complications.


I do not understand what you measn by:

Some statistics I came across where that 12% of women get an abortion
during the time etc. do the statistics mean anything in particular?

Right ?

do not worry but on the other hand do not wait too long.
bye for now,
Dr Shan

You might as well rate this answer



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you so much for your answer. I never thought of it like that. Yes you
are right,  I wasn't aware of all this. The statistics I personally think were
meant to imply that only a minority get an abortion done by the 12th week
because of it's lack of safety, or something to that effect.

There was one clarification I wanted to make. Plannedparenthood states that
after the 8th week the risk factor increases by 20% per week. What does this
mean exactly?

You mentioned you did over 8000 abortions in a group... where you talking
about the 12th week group?

Answer
Hi Christina again,

There was one clarification I wanted to make. Plannedparenthood states that after the 8th week the risk factor increases by 20% per week. What does this mean exactly?
Aswer: they are talking nonsense. After a few weeks the risk must be over 100 % ! haha.

You mentioned you did over 8000 abortions in a group... where you talking about the 12th week group?  Answer: yes.
I used to do abs up to 24 weeks. That's the limit in the Netherlands.

Hope you find your way out of your problem soon.

bye for now,

dr Shan