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First Trimester ProceduresAbortion techniques:
Chemical
RU 486
RU 486 ("the French abortion pill") uses two powerful synthetic hormones to chemically induce abortions in women who are from five to nine weeks pregnant. 9 This procedure requires anywhere from one to three trips, or more, to the abortion facility. 10 In the first visit, the woman is given a pelvic exam, blood test, and a vaginal ultrasound exam to determine the age of the baby. She is also checked over to make sure she has no obvious contra-indications; "red flags" such as smoking, asthma, high blood pressure, obesity, etc, that could make the drug deadly to her. 11 If everything aligns, she then swallows the RU 486 pills.
RU 486 softens and breaks down the uterine lining which then causes the growing baby to be shed from the uterus. At the second visit, 36 to 48 hours later, if the abortion has still not occurred, the woman is given a dose of artificial prostaglandin, which initiates uterine contractions and usually causes the embryonic baby to be expelled from the uterus. 12
Women tend to abort at different times after this procedure. Most women will abort four hours after taking the drug while they are still waiting at the clinic, and about 30% abort later at home, work, etc., 13 as many as five days later. 14 A third visit is scheduled about two weeks later to determine whether the abortion has occurred or a surgical abortion is necessary to complete the procedure (which is the case in 5 - 10% of all cases). 15
Here are some well documented side effects associated with RU 486 abortions: prolonged (up to 44 days) 16 and severe bleeding, 17 nausea, vomiting, 18 pain, 19 abdominal cramping, and even death. Long-term effects of the drug are still being studied for accurate information, but there are reasons to believe that RU 486 affects not only a woman's current pregnancy, but could also affect her future pregnancies as well, potentially inducing miscarriages or causing severe malformations in later children. 20
Surgical
Suction Aspiration
The most used abortion technique in the first trimester is "suction aspiration," also known as "vacuum curettage." 21 A powerful suction tube (nearly thirty times more powerful than a vacuum cleaner) with a sharp cutting edge is inserted into the womb through the dilated cervix. It then dismembers the body of the developing baby and tears the placenta from the wall of the uterus, sucking blood, amniotic fluid, placental tissue, and fetal parts 22 into a collection bottle. 23 In this procedure the doctor must be very careful not to puncture the uterus, which can cause hemorrhage. 24 The most frequent post-abortion complication in this procedure is the development of an infection from fetal or placental tissue left behind in the uterus. 25
Dilation and Curettage (D & C)
In this procedure, the cervix is dilated or stretched to permit the insertion of a loop shaped knife that cuts body pieces for removal. It also is used to scrape the placenta. 26 D & C, or "mechanical" curettage, can have greater blood loss than from suction aspiration procedure, and also a higher likelihood of uterine perforation and infection. 27
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