Most important fact: nobody likes having an abortion, and many abortions are avoidable by using the ‘emergency contraceptive pill’ within 72 hours of having unprotected sexual intercourse.

Not using emergency contraception if you are worried that you could be pregnant, is ‘burying your head in the sand’ and hoping for the best. Get down to your family doctor, or any other family doctor, or your local family planning clinic or your local ‘emergency room’ NOW and get yourself the ‘emergency contraceptive pill’.

Facts about abortions

There are few subjects which raise more emotion in people than that of abortion. The arguments rage backwards and forwards from ‘it is murder’ to ‘it is the right of every woman to have an abortion if she wants one’.

These arguments all have some truth in them, but dealing with the facts:

• Abortion of foetuses up to the 24th week of pregnancy is legal in England, Scotland and Wales (in Northern Ireland is only legal in exceptional circumstances)
• Abortion is available in these countries subject to the approval of two doctors
• 180,000 legal abortions are carried out in Britain every year
• The majority of abortions are carried out before 12 weeks

Further facts are:

• Legal abortion is very safe for the pregnant woman, and there is very little risk, particularly during early pregnancy
• Legal abortion does not normally interfere with you having a baby later on in life
• Legal abortion is free on the National Health Service in England, Scotland and Wales

You’ll need to think carefully about:

• Your moral stance on abortion
• Your religious stance (if any)
• How far pregnant are you (If you choose an abortion, the earlier you have one the better – before 12 weeks if possible)
• The nature of the relationship that you have with your sexual partner
• Your age
• Where you are with your education at the present time

• What your financial situation is – are you still living with your parents etc

• The attitude of your parents and how supportive they will be whatever you decide (though you may choose not to tell them)

Whatever you decide they’ll be ups and downs

You may, if you decide to have an abortion, have your baby adopted, or keep your baby, feel sad afterwards. This doesn’t mean that you made the wrong decision – it is just that there are no absolute rights or wrongs in all this and whichever you decide there are upsides and downsides. You may:

• think that it is alright to have an abortion, but when it comes to it, find it hard to go through with

• think that abortion is all wrong, but when it comes to it, having an abortion is the better option

If you want to find out about getting an abortion (even if you don’t really think that you want to go through it):

• You need to see a doctor, a general practitioner or someone from a charitable abortion clinic like the ‘Pregnancy Advisory Service’ or the ‘Family Planning’ service
• If the first doctor you see is not sympathetic about you having an abortion, don’t be put off, but arrange to see another doctor without delay. You have the right to consult another family doctor under these circumstances
• The first doctor will then refer you on to a second doctor, either at a local hospital or someone who is part of the abortion clinic set up

• Abortions must be carried out in a hospital or a clinic approved by the Department of Health such as those run by Marie Stopes International or the British Pregnancy Advisory Service
• Up to 24 weeks of pregnancy a woman who wants a safe abortion can have one legally with the agreement of two doctors
• These two doctors need to agree that your abortion is necessary for your mental and/or physical health
• It is not legal to have an abortion in Northern Ireland other than in the most exceptional of circumstances
• A legal abortion after 24 weeks of pregnancy is extremely rare and can only take place if the mother’s life is in serious danger from the pregnancy or if there is something seriously wrong with the baby

The abortion pill:

• This works for up to 9 weeks after the date that you had your last period
• It involves two or three visits to the clinic or hospital
• You take tablets given to you by the clinic or hospital at the first visit
• Two days later you visit again and have prostaglandin pessary (tablet) inserted into your vagina. You stay in hospital for a few hours after this until you have aborted, which sometimes involves having strong pains like period pains
• For a small number of people (less than one in twenty) this method does not work and you have to have the suction method described below

The suction, or vacuum aspiration method:

• This can be used up to 12 weeks after you have had your last period
• You normally will be ‘put out’ by having a general anaesthetic, which may when you come round from it, make you feel tired for a bit
• You don’t normally have to stay in the clinic or hospital overnight

Both these methods are very safe and are unlikely to lead to any complications like not being able to have a baby later on.

For late abortions after 12 weeks:

• after 13 to 14 weeks different methods of abortion are used
• over 13 weeks there is a similar method as the abortion pill method but with some variation, and there may be more pain and bleeding
• another method is dilating your cervix under anaesthetic and sucking out the foetal remains