Is It Safe To Have An Abortion At 5 Weeks?
Unwanted pregnancies may leave you at a crossroad that will put you in a position where you will have to choose whether you should continue with the pregnancy or terminate it. This decision to terminate or proceed with the pregnancy is usually a personal one. Once you decide to go in for an abortion, you will have to consider your own safety during the whole process.
Two primary methods can be used to carry out an abortion, and they include medical methods and surgical methods. The abortion method that you pick will depend on the age of your pregnancy. The medical methods are much safer when your pregnancy is still in the early stages. This is why it is safer to have an abortion at 5 weeks using the medical method.
What Are Some Of The Reasons Why You May Want An Abortion?
1. Continuing With The Pregnancy Will Endanger Your Life
One of the main reasons why it is advisable to have an abortion will be if the pregnancy will put your life in danger. Abortion will, therefore, be needed to save your life.
If your personal doctor has diagnosed you with a life-threatening condition that will put your life at risk during pregnancy or childbirth, then your pregnancy will have to be terminated to make you evade the danger. These conditions include hypertensive disorders and disorders with the placenta.
2. Financial Instability
You may decide to terminate your pregnancy because you will not be able to cover the staggeringly high expenses that are associated with pregnancy and bring up a child. An unplanned pregnancy will, therefore, put an enormous financial burden on your shoulders. If you are not prepared financially, you will be unable to afford proper medical care during pregnancy and even after the baby is born.
The average hospital cost of birth in the United States alone is $8000 while prenatal care costs around $2000. If you don’t have a health insurance, then it means that you will have to spend at least $10000 out of your own pocket. If you lack a steady income or you are still in school, then giving birth and raising a child will be a terrifying position for you such that you will have no option but to terminate the pregnancy.
3. You Don’t Want To Have A Relationship With The Person Responsible
Most women who have unwanted pregnancies don’t usually have committed relationships or live with their partners. This will mean that if you continue with the pregnancy until you give birth, then you will have to raise the child as a single mother.
If you are not willing to take this big step and raise the child on your own, then you may find yourself opting to terminate the pregnancy.
4. You Got Pregnant By Accident
At some point in your life, you may wish that you were able to turn back time to avoid certain situations. Unfortunately, there is no way you can reverse an accidental pregnancy. You may not have planned to get pregnant, but unfortunately, there you are, expecting a baby. You may, therefore, consider terminating the pregnancy through abortion.
Abortion At 5 Weeks: Is It Safe?
At week 5 of your pregnancy, the foetus is the size of an apple seed. Abortion at this stage will be very easy and can be done through the medical procedure. This is the cheapest and the easiest method since it involves the use of oral pills.
However, it is still advisable that you visit a medical abortion clinic. The pills will inhibit the growth of your pregnancy and cause your uterus to contract and expel the foetus plus the placenta.
This medical method of abortion will also give you utmost pregnancy while enabling you to be in control of your abortion procedure. You will also get support from your husband, friends and family members. However, it is not recommended to have medical abortion procedure if you have renal or hepatic diseases, pelvic infections or if you have been diagnosed with tectonic pregnancy.
You should also be ready for the side effects that you will experience as a result of the medications. These side effects include chills, nausea, fever and heavy bleeding. Before you carry out the abortion, you will need to have an appointment with your doctor where you should do the following:
- Discuss the reasons why you are considering having an abortion at 5 weeks and whether you are sure about your decision.
- Talk things over with your counsellor in order to be sure of your decision.
- Discuss with your doctor about all the abortion methods available and all the risks that will be involved.
- Take a pregnancy test to make sure that you are indeed pregnant. Your doctor can then take your ultrasound scan to determine how many weeks you are pregnant.
- Your doctor should also test you for any sexually transmitted infections. Your blood type and the level of iron in your blood should also be tested since you might lose blood during the abortion process.
The Medical Abortion Method Will Involve The Following Steps:
- You will be first given drugs that will inhibit the hormone that sustains the pregnancy after which you can go home.
- After 24 hours, you will have another appointment with your doctor after which you will be given another medicine that will induce the contraction of your uterus and the breaking of your uterine lining to terminate the pregnancy. Within six hours, your uterine lining would have broken down leading to the loss of your pregnancy.
How Will You Know How Far Along In The Pregnancy You Are?
The age of a pregnancy is usually determined from the first day of your last menstrual cycle. However, the most reliable method that is usually used to determine the age of pregnancy is the ultrasound. Ultrasounds start to detect pregnancies from the 5th week.
Summary
All things considered, it is safe to have an abortion at 5 weeks. In fact, all pregnancies that are below 13 weeks can be safely terminated without involving any surgical methods. However, you must be ready for the side effects that may include excessive bleeding, high fever, intense pain or the incomplete removal of the pregnancy tissues.
However, abortion should only be encouraged if a pregnancy is putting a mother’s life at risk. In the case of unwanted pregnancies, it should not be the only available option to women. If you are not ready to raise a child, then you should consider adoption once you give birth to her.
