Abortion in the first pregnancy

Abortion during the first pregnancy is a difficult moment when the potential mother is faced with the choice of whether to keep the child or not.

When it comes to deciding whether to terminate a pregnancy or not, every woman finds herself in a rather difficult position of thinking about the expediency of such actions. A child is not always expected, life situations are different, then an abortion is often forced or simply necessary in the current circumstances.

More details about the most common types of abortions - surgical and medical - as well as the acceptable timeframes for abortions in the story of an obstetrician-gynecologist, ultrasound diagnostics doctor of the highest category, Yavorsky Yuri Tsezarevich, a doctor with 32 years of experience.

[ 1 ], [ 2 ], [ 3 ]

Abortion in the first month of pregnancy

When the pregnancy period does not exceed twelve weeks (three months), the pregnant woman has the right to terminate the pregnancy with the help of surgical intervention. Doctors remove the fertilized egg from the uterine cavity using special instruments. In modern realities, intravenous anesthesia is used to anesthetize the patient when performing such operations. The price for a surgical abortion during the first pregnancy in Ukrainian clinics in different cities of the country varies, but on average the minimum price is from three hundred hryvnia.

Vacuum aspiration (also called mini-abortion) is the suction of the fetus from the uterine cavity using a special device. It is performed when there has been no menstruation for up to twenty-five days, which must be confirmed by ultrasound examination.

Naturally, all the above methods are not safe, after them some health problems for the woman are possible. Nature does not have absolutely harmless methods of interrupting the natural course of pregnancy, therefore, carrying out an abortion in any form represents a certain risk for the body.

[ 4 ], [ 5 ]

Medical abortion during first pregnancy

A profitable alternative to surgical abortion is the termination of pregnancy by the medical method. Due to the negative consequences of the first, medical abortion is gaining more and more supporters every day. Medical abortion during the first pregnancy is not new in the practice of terminating pregnancy: previously, this process occurred under the influence of various infusions and decoctions, this was done by special healers and sorcerers.

The development of the drug Mifepistone took place in France in the seventies and eighties of the last century. In eighty-fifth, it began to be used to cause induced (stimulated) miscarriage. Prostangladins, with which it is combined, so that the uterus begins to contract. The international names of Mifepristone are Mifegyne, Mifeprex, RU-486. If we consider the chemical structure of the drug, it is a synthetic steroid hormone.

Mifepristone is characterized by blocking the sensitivity of uterine receptors to progesterone (this hormone helps maintain pregnancy). Because of this, there is a loss of the ability to grow by the fertilized egg, which causes its death and separation from the uterine cavity. This process is accompanied by contractions of the uterus, softening of its cervix, opening and pushing the embryo out of the uterine cavity. Prostaglandins additionally reinforce these actions.

In addition to its supporters, medical abortion also has many opponents. The ninety-first year of the last century was marked by a fairly large resistance, which was led by the National Organization for the Protection of the Right to Life of the United States of America, the head of which was John Willke. But, nevertheless, the popularity of medical abortion in many countries is growing every day.

Research conducted in 2006 showed that more than seventy percent of abortions in France were performed by medication, Switzerland and Sweden demonstrated a figure of fifty percent, Belgium and Finland - thirty percent, the United States of America - twenty-five. Ukraine does not particularly "honor" this method due to the fact that our women do not trust hormonal drugs with which medical abortion is performed. Synthetic hormones did not justify trust even when the method of hormonal contraception tried to take root in our country. The danger of using synthetic hormones is their carcinogenicity (the ability to provoke the occurrence of cancerous tumors). But even despite this, many women in our country choose medical abortion during their first pregnancy because of its simplicity, effectiveness and relative safety.

Complications after surgical abortions

Surgical abortion during the first pregnancy carries with it a number of complications, which include:

• mechanical injuries of the uterine cavity, cervix, because surgical instruments are used during the operation. Perforation of the uterine cavity may even occur - a surgical instrument can damage the walls and penetrate beyond the uterus and injure adjacent organs (damage to the bladder, intestines, etc.).
• the presence of bleeding due to the fact that the uterus was damaged; that the uterine cavity contains remnants of the fertilized egg; the blood coagulation system was disrupted. In the presence of bleeding, surgical intervention is inevitable, since it is necessary to conduct an instrumental revision to rid the walls of the uterine cavity of remnants of the fertilized egg.
• the presence of hematometra, when blood clots accumulate in the uterine cavity due to a spasm of the cervix or its bending. Most often, a repeat surgical operation is prescribed to widen the cervix and remove blood clots.
• the presence of inflammatory diseases of the uterine cavity and its appendages.
• the presence of complications after anesthesia.
• there is a risk of being infected with diseases such as hepatitis, HIV infection. Naturally, this factor accompanies not only abortion, but also any other surgical operation.

Remote complications of surgical abortions include the presence of:

• chronic inflammatory processes that can affect the internal genital organs.
• Ovarian dysfunction due to abortion can disrupt the menstrual cycle.
• the occurrence of an ectopic pregnancy.
• formation of infertility.
• the presence of spontaneous miscarriages in the future.
• subsequent labor may be accompanied by the presence of anomalies.
• future births may involve heavy bleeding.
• the presence of a number of psychological problems (stress, depression, guilt) – post-abortion syndrome.

[ 6 ], [ 7 ], [ 8 ], [ 9 ]