Expert: Pat G - 9/1/2010

Question
I am 5 weeks and 3 days pregnant. I have decided to terminate this pregnancy but I have to options. Either have a surgical procedure done, or the abortion pill. I am so torn and confuse I need some guidance in which direction to go. I was considering the pill but its only 95% effect. please help!!!

Answer
Hello, Nancy,

All abortion methods are very, very dangerous. Even if you escape immediate injury, there are long term consequences. Yes, some women SEEM to have an abortion and they're fine, but it is usually NOT the case that they don't develop problems at some point. In fact, there is permanent damage to the reproductive system of 35% of the women. And that's not counting breast cancer. And ten percent of the women who have one abortion will be unable to conceive again, and remain childless the rest of their lives.

No abortionist is going to tell you these things, but I will.

When a woman dies from abortion, the doctor who was present at the time of death usually lists the complication as the cause, even though the complication would not have occurred without the abortion. This means that thousands of deaths from abortion are being swept under the rug. It's not uncommon for abortionists to leave dying women lying in the room, unattended. They just abandon them.

Surgical abortion can harm your future children. If you have a pill abortion and it doesn't work, they will want to do a surgical abortion on you, and then you will have the risks of both methods. Surgical abortion can cause repeat miscarriages, tubal pregnancy, complications at birth, and very early birth, in future pregnancies. Very early birth is a leading cause of cerebral palsy, epilepsy, autism, mental retardation, blindness, and deafness.

Pill abortions can cause a woman to bleed to death, or develop a fatal infection called Toxic Shock Syndrome (that only takes hours to kill a woman, and there is no way to save her life once symptoms start), or a ruptured uterus. The manufacturer of one of the pills used says a pregnant woman should NEVER take it. If anybody gives it to you, they are committing malpractice. The reason women often bleed to death from a pill abortion, is because the pill stops the hormones that control a woman's bleeding. I just got an email today from a man whose daughter was killed by a pill abortion. I regularly get questions here from women who are bleeding profusely. Even a hemorrhage is a possibility, and that can kill within hours.

If that weren't bad enough, women who have a pill abortion must wait days for the abortion to be completed, and may be at home when complications develop, with no ready access to emergency medical care. I know one woman who got so sick her 6 year old had to take care of her. The woman has to go through labor just as if she were giving birth.

Both kinds of abortion greatly increase a woman's chance of getting a particularly nasty form of breast cancer. This form kills 1/4 of its victims. It tends to strike while a woman is still young, such as when she is in her 30's or even earlier. If a woman has a close relative who has had breast cancer, she is almost certain to get it. So from that, the death rate is one out of four women.

Surgical abortion can also cause a woman to bleed to death, or can result in a punctured uterus, infection, paralysis, and death from other causes. A woman can react to anesthesia, for instance. If she suffers a punctured uterus, other organs can also be damaged. Many abortionists do not sterilize their instruments properly, if at all, so it is possible to get a sexually transmitted disease from an abortion, including HIV. Abortion facilities are being shut down all over the United States because they are in shoddy condition and the care being given is shoddy. Only the near failures in medical school go into the abortion field, and some abortions are being done by people who aren't even doctors. You have no way of knowing. And once a surgical abortion is done, the uterus is raw, and if a woman has intercourse before it heals, there is a direct pathway to her bloodstream.

And sometimes a surgical abortion doesn't work, either. Sometimes they miss the baby, or cause an injury, and the baby is then born with this injury.

The scarring from a surgical abortion can cause tubal pregnancy, which is a life-threatening condition that requires emergency surgery. It can also cause placenta previa, because a future baby cannot attach where there is scar tissue. During labor, the placenta can rip loose, and both mother and baby can hemorrhage to death. This makes it necessary to do a Caesarian section. A mother can also experience prolonged labor, which is a threat to both of them as well, and also may make a Caesarian section necessary.

If you are 5 weeks and 3 days gestational age, forget a pill abortion. It probably won't work. And sometimes when it doesn't work, the baby suffers a birth defect, and it can be severe. And I have had women who changed their minds before a pill abortion was complete, and they're pleading with me to help them save their baby.

In addition, there are severe emotional consequences from abortion. There are a lot of women running around trying to escape these consequences, but sooner or later, they strike most women. We speak of a woman who says she is comfortable with her abortion as being in denial. She may stay in denial for her entire life, but more likely, she will experience what I call being broadsided. This is when something happens that brings the whole thing rushing into her mind. It can be a medical textbook, a movie, a conversation, seeing a baby, a billboard, and many other things. Women who have had abortions report that they experience suicidal tendencies (some commit suicide, and I have sat up all night with suidical women who had an abortion they were sure they wanted, and I am pretty sure I lost one woman to suicide. She never read my message, and I never heard back from her. She was seriously distraught). Women are more like to die from an accident or homicide in the year following abortion as well. And women tend to abuse drugs and alcohol, to resort to self abuse such as cutting, or to suffer from anorexia or bulimia. They are likely to develop sleep disturbances of several kinds, including horrible nightmares. I have experienced those nightmares. You don't want to go there.

One more thing I need to ask you. Do you have the money to pay for these kinds of complications?

The result is that I do NOT recommend abortion by ANY method. You deserve better.

There are other options. There are organizations all over the United States that offer all kinds of services for women in your situation. You can find one near you by going to this web site:

http://www.pregnancycenters.org/

I will be here for you no matter what you do, but PLEASE don't take this risk. Let me know what your circumstances are, and I'll see what suggestions I can offer. Let me know how things go, and stay safe. Please.