What happens during an abortion

Before having an abortion, you'll attend an appointment to talk about your decision and what happens next.

Whenever possible, you should be given a choice of how you would like the abortion to be carried out.

There are two options:

• medical abortion (the "abortion pill") – you take two medications, usually 24 to 48 hours apart, to induce a miscarriage
• surgical abortion – you have a minor procedure to remove the pregnancy and normally go home soon afterwards

After an abortion, you'll probably need to take things easy for a few days. It's likely you'll experience some discomfort and vaginal bleeding for up to two weeks.

Risks of an abortion

Abortions are safest if they're carried out as early as possible in pregnancy.

Most women won't experience any problems, but there is a small risk of complications, such as:

• infection of the womb – occurs in up to 1 in every 10 abortions
• some of the pregnancy remaining in the womb – occurs in up to 1 in every 20 abortions
• excessive bleeding – occurs in about 1 in every 1,000 abortions
• damage to the entrance of the womb (cervix) – occurs in up to 1 in every 100 surgical abortions
• damage to the womb – occurs in 1 in every 250 to 1,000 surgical abortions and less than 1 in 1,000 medical abortions carried out at 12 to 24 weeks

If complications do occur, further treatment – including surgery – may be required.

Having an abortion won't affect your chances of becoming pregnant again and having normal pregnancies in the future.

In fact, you may be able to get pregnant immediately afterwards and should use contraception if you want to avoid this.