Abortion As Your Option

What you should know before you choose:

If you are thinking about getting an abortion you probably have a lot of questions. 

Here are the questions most frequently asked by women who are considering abortion:

"WHAT WILL THE DOCTOR DO TO ME DURING AN ABORTION?"

The answer to this question depends upon what point you are at in your pregnancy. 

The 3 trimesters in a pregnancy are:

• 1st trimester - months 1, 2 and 3 of pregnancy

• 2nd trimester - months 4, 5 and 6 of pregnancy

• 3rd trimester - months 7, 8 and 9 of pregnancy

The First Trimester

During the 1st trimester there are 2 common types of abortion: Suction-aspiration and Dilation and Curettage (D&C)

In a suction-aspiration abortion The opening to your womb (cervix) has to be stretched open wide.  This is difficult because until natural delivery the cervix is closed tight and is hard.  Sometimes the abortionist uses long cylindrical rods.  Starting from the smallest and moving up in size, he inserts them into your cervical opening, stretching it as he progresses.  When the cervix is open wide enough, he will put a hollow plastic tube, with a knife-like edge on its tip, through your cervix up into your uterus.  The suction it creates is 29 times more powerful than a vacuum cleaner.  It tears the baby's body into pieces, and sucks it though the tube into a canister.  The knife edge is used to cut the deeply rooted placenta from the uterine wall.

In a Dilation and Curettage (D&C) abortion, the cervix is stretched open, then the abortionist inserts a loop-shaped knife (curette) into the uterus.  He cuts the placenta and baby into pieces and scrapes them out into a basin.  This usually creates a lot of bleeding.

The Second Trimester

During the second trimester, the Dilation and Evacuation (D&E) method is used.  the cervix is stretched open using pencil lead sized sticks of highly absorbent material inserted into the cervical opening.  Over 24 hours they absorb body moisture and swell, opening the cervix.  A long pliers-like instrument is inserted into the uterus.  Because the baby is too large to fit through the cervix, the abortionist uses the instruments to grab hold of the baby's leg or arm and twists until it is torn from the body.  That part is then pulled through the cervix.  This is repeated limb by limb until the baby has been totally torn apart.  The spine must also be snapped, and the skull crushed to remove them.  The nurse's job is to lay all the body parts out to make sure they got the entire baby out of the uterus.

The Third Trimester

During the last three months of pregnancy, a method called Dilation and Extraction  (D&X), also known as Partial Birth Abortion may be used.  The abortionist inserts forceps into the stretched cervical opening.  He grabs a leg of the unborn baby and turns the baby into a breech (feet pointing toward the birth canal) position.  He then pulls the baby out, except for the head that remains in the birth canal.  The baby is alive and moving.  The abortionist inserts a sharp scissors into the base of the skull.  A tube is inserted into the wound and the brain is sucked out.  The now-dead infant is then pulled out.