It is very important to understand here, there is no
“safe” abortion
method or method
for terminating pregnancy per se. the only relevant point is
that a few methods can be less taxing on the woman compared to the rest which
can potentially harm the reproductive faculty for life.
Abortion
Methods or Methods for Terminating Pregnancy
Among the so-called safe abortion methods or methods
for terminating pregnancy, here are a few of them.
Dilation
and Curettage (D & C Procedure)
Dilation and curettage is also known as D
& C procedure. Apart from being an abortion method,
the doctor resort to it for the treatment of different uterine conditions
unrelated to pregnancy.
As an abortive method, the doctor stretches the neck of the womb or the cervix
of the woman thereby causing either a premature delivery or death of the fetus.
The womb is then examined and cleaned of the remains of the fetus and there is
this risk of subsequent hemorrhage and sepsis. It is rather a natural
follow-through of a complete abortion.
Vacuum
Aspiration
This is a suction method where a vacuum device is
used to dismember or tear apart the fetus. The vacuum aspiration is considered
to be a very archaic surgical technique. Here, the surgeon inserts a plastic
tube inside the womb through the cervix after stretching is wide open with the
help of a stretching device.
The tip of the tube has some sharp-edged openings
that dismember the baby. The suction tube that is attached to it evacuates the
remains and the placenta from the woman’s womb. This is an early abortion
technique that abortion promoters believe to be “safe”. Most of the vacuum
aspiration abortions are performed within the 13-19 week of pregnancy and often
other instruments and devices are used to bring out the remaining parts of the
fetus that are too large to pass through the suction tube.
The woman does recover after a while and it is
necessary to note that most abortions take place due to non-medical reasons and
the women too are quite young. Thus recovery also reaps the benefit of young
age and there are no detailed reports of the potential health risks suffered by
the woman following the abortion in the long run.
Hysterotomy
This abortion procedure is not very popular and is
akin to the caesarian
section surgery. A medically alive fetus is brought out of
the mother’s womb by cutting open the mother’s abdomen. In some states like
Britain, these fetuses are allowed to survive as a legal duty on the part of
the performing surgeon, but in most cases where abortion is sought, the fetuses
are left to die. This method is a termination of pregnancy through deliberately
destroying the baby after removing it from the womb. The baby is killed by
cutting the umbilical cord that supplies oxygen to the fetus.
There can be a number of risks involved in this
abortion method like thrombosis, pulmonary embolism and the scar that can
threaten a successful future pregnancy.
Salt
Poisoning
In this abortion technique, a concentrated salt
solution is injected into the amniotic fluid of the woman’s womb and is
performed after four months of pregnancy term. It is the cheapest technique
where the abortion happens within an hour. A day after the injection is
administered; the woman delivers a dead baby. The potential health risk to the
mother is very intensive and largely unexplained.
Prostaglandin
This abortion method requires the use of a
prostaglandin drug. There is a risk of hemorrhage and infection and a surgical
intervention is more likely to remove the remnants of the placenta after the
abortion. The drug causes violent contractions of the womb and expels the fetus
thereby killing it. Another drug is injected after the process so as to ensure
the death of the fetus.
