abortion

[tasha77]

can i take the abortive pill at my gp without having to go to the hospital

[poohshunny]

According to this you would have to go to hospital

http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/health_advice/facts /abortion.htm

[radiogaga]

i know their is one pill which they let you go home and take it.

[Goodsoulette]

You take the first set of pills at the clinic and go home for two days. This softens your cervic and should stop the pregnancy from developing. Some people will have a spontaneous abortion before they go to hospital/clinic for the second set.

You then go into hospital/clinic and are given prostaglandin vaginally on the end of a tampon. You keep the tampon in for a little while to give them time to work. Depending on if you have lost many clots in the previous couple of day, they will want to check what you are passing, to make sure the termintaion of pregnancy is complete, or whether you are needing more prostaglandin.

It's not a very nice experience, there could be some complications. The nurses who deal with this on the whole are truly wonderful and sympathetic. You should really go to the hospital and stay for at least four hours after you have taken the prostaglandin. Some women experience very bad cramping and at least some good pain killers will be on hand.

If everything is straight forward it is a very unintrusive procedure and you should feel well very quickly. I would recommend that you take maternity pads instead of sanitary towels, they are better equipped to deal with the amount of blood loss you will experience.

[Ice.Maiden]

Not discounting the other answers, radiogaga's right. At the very early stage of a suspected pregnancy, a GP can prescribe medication to induce a period. A relative of mine was given two tablets to take when her usually-good cycle was suddenly late. The desired effect then occured a day or so later, and there was no need to go to a hospital or clinic.

[Goodsoulette]

Was that at a clinic ice, as I know the NHS don't like to do very early medical abortions. Pre 6 weeks, a tablet could cause complication so they recommend a vacuum aspiration termination up to 6 1/2 weeks, and then medical up to 10. Also even if you have what you suspect to be a compete spontaneous abortion, they expect you to go for the second set....just in case!

[Ice.Maiden]

No - it was prescribed from the doctor's surgery. The period was a week late, which doesn't sound much to worry about in the usual way, as we all know they can go a bit haywire sometimes, but this person, who's very close to me, couldn't possibly have a child at this time, and so the medication was given. Side effects were possible sickness and cramps, but neither of these things happened, and the period arrived as a normal one.

[Goodsoulette]

That doctor sounds very irresponsible, Ice. The follow up treatment is extremely important. There has been a lot of hoohah regarding mifepristone being used for early terminations of pregnancy and the abortion acts are quite tight on how it should be taken and the care given. I would imagine in 99.9% of circumstances a 4-6 hour stay in hospital will be required 48 hours later and then 10 days after that you have to have a scan to make sure the termination was complete.

[Ice.Maiden]

I take your point Goodsoulette, but since I don't know for sure whether a pregnancy was confirmed or not, then it could've had some bearing on the outcome. These tablets seemed to work in the same way as the morning-after pill does. Obviously, an early pregnancy'd be termintaed by using these things, yet they're widely prescribed, with no obvious side-effects. I personally don't believe in abortion or terminations, except under exceptional circumstances, but whatever the truth about the case I highlighted, the doctor in question's not irresponsible at all. They're also in charge of a Family Planning unit, and as radiogaga said, such medication IS used. I think perhaps that the methods of termination as you described, are used on people who're definitely a few weeks pregnant, but I can check on that, as my sister in law and others in the family are doctors themselves. x

[4getmenot]

I think it all depends how far gone you are. There are many different ways