What exactly is an abortion?

Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy.  It means that a doctor has to remove the baby by removing or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo, resulting in or caused by its death.  Abortion is the leading cause or medical procedure to end a females' decision in their duration of pregnancy. The typical woman who ends her pregnancy is either young, white, unmarried, poor, or over the age of 40, but there are also many other reasons, such as not ready to be a parent, bad home life, or even religious reasons.  Twenty to thirty million women get abortions each year.  Once your pregnancy has been confirmed, and the doctor knows how many weeks along the pregnancy is, and you have decided to end the pregnancy, the procedure offered typically reflects your stage of gestation. Early abortions can be accomplished medically or surgically, but most facilities do not have the protocols established or personnel with the technical ability to offer medical abortions (with pills). Therefore, most abortions are performed surgically. For a first-trimester termination, particularly at less than 10 weeks' gestation, rarely do you need to have your cervix dilated (enlarged so the contents of the uterus can pass through and out of your body). If you are in the latter part of the first trimester (first three months), you may have a small sterilized stick called a laminaria japonica (or more than one) placed in your cervix to open it. These laminaria take about four hours to be useful and may be placed overnight. Any questions...just let me know, I will help as much as I can!