If you are pregnant, you have the choice to have the baby, place the baby up for adoption, or have an abortion. If you are considering abortion, please speak with a medical professional before making your final decision. If you do not want a child at this time, you may consider adoption, the morning after pill, abortion pill or a surgical abortion. An IUD may be used to terminate a pregnancy, but it will not be discussed on this page.

The morning after pill is a series of birth control pills taken within 72 hours of unprotected intercourse. The doctor may have you take 2 or 3 pills in the morning (of the highest dosage) and two or three at night (of the highest dosage). Taking the series of birth control pills may or may not prevent pregnancy. There is a 75% percent success rate with the morning after pill.

When you take a higher dosage of birth control pills, it tricks the body into thinking it's time to shed the uterine lining. If an egg is fertilized, once it reaches the uterus, it will no longer be the optimal environment for implantation. Therefore, the egg will be discharged out of the body. Sometimes, this does not work and the fertilized egg still implants into the uterine wall. If at this time you did not want to continue this pregnancy, you would have to consider the abortion pill or a surgical abortion.

After you take the series of birth control pills to end the pregnancy, you may experience nausea, vomiting, headaches, breast tenderness and irregular bleeding. You should get your period a little earlier or later than you normally would. If you do not get your period within 4 weeks after taking the morning after pill, consult a doctor.

If you are 7 weeks pregnant or less, you may want to consider a medical abortion, that does not require the surgical methods of an abortion. This method uses methotrexate to terminate a pregnancy up to the 7^th week. It has a 90 to 95% success rate for terminating a pregnancy. Methotrexate may take anywhere from 6 to 28 days to end the pregnancy. If this method does not work, you will need to have a surgical abortion performed. 

Some women will not experience any side effects after taking methotrexate. If side effects are experienced, they may include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and mild sores in the mouth.

Methotrexate will be given as an injection and then approximately a week after the injection, misoprostol will be given as a suppository or vaginal inserts. Usually, cramping will be experienced within 12 hours after the suppository or vaginal insert. The medical abortion generally takes 24 to 36 hours to terminate the pregnancy.

****Contact your doctor for more information about a medical abortion.****

If you have carefully considered all of your options, you will need to contact someone in your surrounding area for a surgical abortion. The type of abortion procedure you will have will depend on how far along you are in your pregnancy. Most doctors will not perform a surgical abortion until after the 6^th week of pregnancy. The average cost of a surgical abortion during the first trimester is between $250 and $450. Some states may accept Medicaid and some states require parental notification for women under the age of 18.