The term therapeutic abortion can be defined as an intentional termination of the pregnancy before the fetus is able to survive on its own. This kind of procedure is legal in the country since 1973.
The purpose of the abortion that is therapeutic
Such a procedure can be performed in case there is a serious reason to end the pregnancy.
In the majority of the cases women opt for abortion in case their life is endangered by pregnancy, if it would cause them hardship or in case the prenatal testing have shown that the baby would have abnormalities after being born.
The safest period to have abortion that is therapeutic is between 6 and 10 weeks from the last menstrual period. This date is known as the gestational age and it helps to determine the stage of the pregnancy.
As an example in case you are two weeks late with your period, you are said to be six weeks pregnant.
90% of the women who have therapeutic abortion, have the procedure before the first 13 weeks of pregnancy and only in few cases occur any complications.
It is rare to hear about abortions performed after the 24th week of pregnancy, and usually it is done only in case the pregnancy endangers the life of the mother.
Precautions regarding abortion that is therapeutic
Usually women can have the procedure at clinics or other facilities in case they are at an early stage of their pregnancy. In case you happen to have diabetes, high blood pressure, epilepsy or HIV, you could have the procedure at an outpatient facility in case there are precautions taken.
There are some categories of women who need to be hospitalized in case of a therapeutic abortion. These include women having heart disease, asthma, previous endocarditis, lupus, blood clotting disorders, uterine fibroid tumors. This is because these women need special monitoring.
Early abortions that are therapeutic
In the early stages (5-7 weeks) abortion can be done through menstrual extraction. In this case suction is used through a tube that is inserted into the cervix.
There is another method known as ‘morning after’. This is a pill that acts like high doses or birth control pills. It needs to be taken after 24-48 hours after intercourse. The therapeutic abortion is done through changing the lining of the uterine so that it won’t be able to nourish the fetus. Even though the egg has been fertilized, it will be cleaned out of the body.
There are two main kinds of pills. One of them achieves abortion that is therapeutic similarly to the birth control pills, through the use of progesterone and estrogen. On the other hand you could also use your regular birth control pills after you have discussed with your doctor.
The other kind of pill comes with only one hormone known as progestin. The truth is that this is more effective regarding therapeutic abortion and it lowers the chances of experiencing side effects like nausea.
