Expert: Doctor Early Options - 2/15/2009

Question
QUESTION: Hi joan, I have a queastion for you. Im 20 years old and I recently had an abortion on jan,14,2009. On feb,12,2009 I had unprotected sex with out no type of birth control. Right after I had my abortion I bleed for about 4 days and then it went away, but now my bleeding came back irregular meaning I bleed on and off. when I had the unprotected sex it was when I wasn't bleeding,but when we were done I started bleeding once again. Is this my period? and is there a high risk of me being pregnant again? This only happened once. Exactly 4 weeks and 1 day. Im not to sure if I can be pregnant or not, because im always hearing that woman are most fertile 2 weeks after abortion. In my case its 4 weeks while im bleeding. what do you think joan? I need help no one knows.

ANSWER: Hi Vanessa,
It is unlikely but possible that you got pregnant again.  Unfortunately, ovulation varies after an abortion, so it's certainly possible that you can ovulate late in the month. The recent bleeding can either be your period.  Also, sometimes after an abortion sex can stimulate you to bleed, because it causes the uterus to contract, and residual blood will come out.  The only real way to know will be if you continue to bleed so that it's obvious this is a period, or by checking a pregnancy test 10 days after the incident.  It may be an opportunity for you to get on a better form of birth control.
I hope this is helpful,
Doctor Joan
EarlyAbortionOptions.com
New York City

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

QUESTION: I just want to say thank you for your time. I do have one more queastion though sorry. I am still bleeding from that time so if this is concidered my period can I have gotten pregnant on my period when this incident occured? I should still wait 10 days from the day it happened to get a pregnacy test,but would it still have pregnacy hormones from my last pregnacy? Thanks once again. I forgot to tell you I live in the U.S

Answer
Hi Vanessa -
It looks like this is your period if you are bleeding on a daily basis.  You are probably not pregnant.  By this time, a pregnancy test should be negative from your original pregnancy.  To be sure, you could get a pack from the pharmacy and check one test now, and the second test 10 days from the incident.  However, at this point, it seems highly unlikely that a second pregnancy occured.  
I hope this is helpful,
Doctor Joan
EarlyAbortionOptions.com
New York City