ABORTION: What are the methods to terminate your pregnancy
Below you can find out more on the last resort for many women who get pregnant, but don’t want to keep their baby. What are the methods to terminate your pregnancy?
Do you support the right of a mother to choose abortion or the right of a baby to live? (jlp)
How is an abortion performed?
Artificial termination of pregnancy (or 
abortion) is a procedure that deliberately ends the life of an unborn child. There are a number of techniques used to terminate a pregnancy. One technique is a medical abortion. A woman is given a pill that causes the death of the fetus and a kind of natural miscarriage or a heavy period. Another technique is vacuum aspiration or the suction method. This is a surgical procedure where the fetus is removed through the cervix and vagina. In rare and special cases, a pregnancy is terminated by a surgical procedure where the fetus is removed through the walls of the abdomen and womb.
Methods of abortion
The most common method used to terminate a pregnancy is vacuum aspiration. The procedure is carried out under a local or general anesthetic. The entrance to the womb (cervix) is gently opened to allow a plastic suction tube to pass through it into the womb. Once the tube is inserted, it takes about a minute to remove the baby and placenta by suction. After the procedure, you usually stay in the hospital for a few hours for observation, but you’re able to go home the same day. This method is commonly used for pregnancies up to 12 weeks. The potential complications are infections of the reproductive organs, bleeding from the womb and injuries to the cervix and the wall of the womb.
The abortion pill
The abortion pill RU-486 was developed in France in 1988 and is licensed for use in the USA and several European countries. If you want to terminate your pregnancy, you have to take the pill in the first 7-9 weeks of the pregnancy. The pill contains a steroid compound called 
mifepristone that causes the uterine lining to detach, along with the developing unborn child. Sometimes the pill is enough to trigger an abortion within a few days, but often a woman has to take the hormone prostaglandin, which causes the womb to contract within 4-8 hours and shed its lining so that the embryo is lost through the vagina. The side effects are cramps, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and, in rare cases, long-term bleeding from the vagina.
In China, 12 million abortions are performed each year. (jlp)
The right to life or choice?
There are few topics that deal with such a moral dilemma. People have very opposing opinions about abortion. Some argue the child’s right to live and others argue the right of choice. You’ve probably formed your opinion, but when you’re faced with the choice to terminate your pregnancy, your moral principles may change significantly. You have to be aware that the decision on abortion is never easy to make. So, use effective and simple birth control methods, such as condoms and contraceptive pills, to make sure that you won’t have to make this decision.
