Medical vs Surgical abortion - my experience.

By anonymous on 21/05/2013
I am 26 and I have a son who is nearly one. I found out I was pregnant very early on and instantly knew another baby was out of the question for us as a family at this point in time. I opted for a surgical abortion when I was 6 weeks pregnant at marie stopes. The whole experience was the ideal in an awful set of circumstances. I did not feel pain, discomfort or distressed. My husband was able to stay at the clinic and wait for me. Afterwards I felt relief and some sadness, which I feel was good as I was able to grieve in the right way because I was not dealing with any other emotion turmoil. Surgical abortion with sedation is painless, effective and what I would recommend to any woman with an unwanted pregnancy. Six years earlier... When I was 20, I found out I was pregnant. I was studying at university and did not want to go through with the pregnancy. I went to my GP and they instructed I have a medical abortion. I was not at all familiar with abortion or how it worked - I was confused and distressed. No-one explained the options to me or what I could do.

I had my medical abortion at 9 weeks.

I was given a tablet and then given pessaries. I experienced extreme contraction pain and was very uncomfortable. I vomited heavily and my bowels were loose. I was a mess. They left me without pain relief crying and buckled over in pain for hours. **It was the single most traumatic experience of my life**. Eventually the pregnancy passed and I was free to go - the whole event lasted for 12 long hours. At the end of it, the nurse was rude and cold and asked about contraception. I informed her I was on the pill. She scoffed and said "then how on earth did you get pregnant?" I had to explain about the antibiotics I had taken, it was quite frankly the last conversation I wanted to have with this rude cruel woman. It took me years to recover from this event and the emotional pain only really faded five years later when I welcomed my son into the world. So these are my two very different experiences and shows how the method of treatment can have such a massive ripple effect. If my daughter had an unwanted pregnancy I would want her to go for surgical termination with sedation, every single time. Please make sure you're sure and do what is right for YOU, and no-one else.

Editor's Comment

It is helpful to read of your 2 very different experiences. I think it would also be important to factor in the possible risks with each procedure if you were making this decision. I know that in practice a lot of NHS providers favour an early medical abortion if a woman is under 9 weeks of pregnancy.

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