[TOPIC] Abortion

It varies strongly but here is what I know about the UK abortion

- Girls who are 16 and over don't need to inform their parents and don't need their consent. Girls under 16 need parental consent unless they can convince the doctor that she understands what is going to happen or that it isn't in her best interest to inform her parents.

- It should be okay before the third month of pregnancy.

- According to privatehealth.co.uk the costs for a consultation range from 50 to 70 pounds with the medical abortion's costs being about 350 to 500 pounds but there may be a cost-free alternative offered by the NHS (have to check that out).

Okay, more:

- THe most common form is the medical abortion also known as abortion pill. The woman is given a mifepristone-pill and 36 to 48 hours later a tablet (prostaglandin) is placed in her vagina. This combination ends most pregancies within the following four hours and is the most common in the early stages of pregnancy. It feels like having an extremely painful period (including vaginal bleeding). You should see a doctor about a month after the abortion to make sure that everything is okay.

- If a doctor (gynaecologist, doctor at family planning center or Brook Institute) refers you to the NHS, you can get a free abortion. The chances are the highest if you do that asap and the abortion is done before the 12th week. There usually is a 2 to 4 week waiting period so the best thing is to get in contact with them before your 8th week of pregnancy.

- Under 16: medical abortion can be given till the 9th week of pregnancy. I can't find more about regulations for girls under 16 but I guess you should look into the NHS thing instead of a private clinic. Keeping it from her parents this way would be easier as she wouldn't have to explain what she needs the money for.

2006 - Whodunnit?!
2007 - Ich sehe
2008 - Finding Me

http://www.abortion.com/

Looks like you have to make an appointment with a doctor beforehand and settle health insurance/payment options.

"Some states require a minimum 24-hour waiting period between your first call and the scheduled appointment."
---according to the above website

I know that there are two types of abortions- chemical and surgical, but I'm not knowledgable on the specific differences between them.

I've a right to my opinion,
you've a right to laugh at me.

Have a look at the NHS info here: http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/articles/article.aspx?articleId=1

It will definitely be different depending on the country. If you're looking for someone's personal experience with aborting, try this blog: http://myabortion.tumblr.com/

I'm not familiar with the laws and regulations surrounding abortion in the UK, though. Parental consent may or may not be required for someone your MC's age.

Liberal Feminist Hippie

One of the things you may need to look at is that currently the law states that you have to have spoken to two doctors beforehand and they have to have agreed to the procedure. (This isn't exact - I'm no expert!) I know they're trying to change the law with regard to this since it's been used as a way of slowing down the system by people who don't approve.
Some links that might be helpful

http://www.womens-health-concern.org/help/factsheets/fs_abortion.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_in_the_United_Kingdom#Later_laws%3...

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2006: A Measure of Life - Won!
2007: The Scold's Bridle - Won!
2008: Unnamed EpicWIP
http://www.frostintofire.blogspot.com

No need to keep it from parents, they've been told.
A hearty thankyou to you and everyone else on the thread so far, it's all useful.

It depends on where your novel is set. Some places have legislation about needing "counselling" (of some description) prior to getting one. Some don't. Maybe try looking into your local legislation, which can vary a LOT from state-to-state. :)

Probably there'll be protesters hanging around outside, from what I've heard. Unless, of course, she's somewhere where it's illegal for them to be there. Said protesters may harrass her for going into the clinic (even if they don't know why she's going in there, and she wouldn't be showing at three weeks-- she may not even lnow she's pregnant by that stage).

Um, at 3 weeks, a LOT of women don't know they're pregnant. Generally the first sign of pregnancy is a missed period-- and since women menstruate monthly, it's often not til a month or so after they realise something's "not quite right." Also, hormone levels in the bloodstream mightn't be that strong at that stage-- I know when I was pregnant with my oldest, I felt changes in my body-- so I did a pregnancy test-- about two weeks after I thought I'd conceived, yet nothing showed up. I felt like I was going nuts-- here I was feeling ill from alcohol and cigarettes, my breasts hurt and I felt like I smelt different-- yet two pregnancy tests came out negative. It was only a day after that missed period that it came up positive.

It's a bit tough for me, but I'm going to tell what I had to go through, since I've noticed that one linked journal has been switched to private.

In Tennessee, I did not have to talk to an actual doctor, probably because I was over 18 when I had it. Although when I read the paperwork it seemed to me that you don't really need to tell anyone unless you were under 16 years of age. The clinic I went to only did surgeries on Fridays, so you had to come in that morning. You fill out paperwork much like you do at any medical facility, they want to know of any allergies you may have to certain medicines, if you've had abortions before, etc. It is also required for someone to drive you home or they can call a taxi for you. A patient is just simply unable to drive themselves due to the medication they are given. You pay for it all up front (which was about $600 rounded up), and then they call the girl in to do some testing. They take a blood sample via pricking the right middle finger (which sucked because I write with my right hand and I still needed to finish the paperwork) and take her blood pressure. Then they send you back into the waiting room until they call you in again to discuss what's going to happen in general, pretty much give you one last chance to change your mind, and discuss your insurance stuff if you have any. They also asked me why I was getting it done, but they weren't asking me for the sake of bullying me one way or the other. Because of my own reasons, they offered to refer me to other doctors to possibly find out why it was necessary for me to have this done. Then they send you to another waiting room where all the other patients are.

You get an ultrasound done to see where the fetus is inside the uterus, and if you opted to only have the pills instead of the IV for surgery, they give those to you around this time. The pills, from what I was told, are valiums and pain suppressors. They allow you to go to the bathroom as much as you wish, and actually encourage you to go sometime before your surgery. After a bit of waiting (they only had one doctor), a group of women will be taken to a room downstairs where a nurse will give a step-by-step of what is going to happen (not the actual surgery itself, but what we're going to have to do), and warn us that if we're too squirmy the doctor will have to stop due to safety precautions.

When it's your turn, you are taken to a room with a medical chair with stirrups for your feet. You take off your shoes, pants, and undergarments (which, I might add, you HAVE to wear undergarments for later) and they cover your lower body with a paper sheet-like thing so there's some hint of privacy. If you opted for the IV instead of the pills for surgery (this is what I opted for because my body has a naturally high tolerance to valiums), they give you it at this time. I forget exactly what they put in me, but it was a very short IV and they just shot it in there. It was a thick liquid, so it burned in my veins a little. And...then I somewhat forgot what happened. See, the IV has something that has an effect that makes your memory "blank out", possibly so the event isn't so traumatizing. I vaguely remember the procedure being quick, and the nurses cleaned me up and put a very thick pad on my undergarments and wheelchaired me into the recovery room. Because I don't know my blood type, or if the patient isn't B type, you had to get this shot to prevent infection. It sucked because they inject it into your buttock. At this point they pretty much do whatever they can to make you as comfortable as possible while recovering. They gave me a small glass of orange juice and put a hot water bottle on my abdomen to help ease the discomfort. Some girls vomited, but I didn't. People react differently to undergoing surgical procedures.

When it was time for me to go, they helped me walk to the front waiting room, where my husband helped me into the car and drove me home. They give you two types of pills that you have to take, one is an antibiotic and I have forgotten what the other one was for, but it was very important that I took them all. It took me about a month to fully recover from the bleeding (it was much like a period), although I was on my feet and able to do things about a week or so. Again, others may be better or worse than I was for recovering. After the semi-period was over, it was back to business as usual physically, although emotionally and mentally it took me a while to come to grips with what I had done. I am mostly fine in that aspect now.

I almost forgot to talk about the protesters. *sigh* It may vary from place to place, but the clinic I went to had a few people outside the building protesting. They weren't violent or very confrontational, but they would try to talk to me from a distance. There is ALWAYS at least one police officer on the premises in case they do ever get violent. I have heard some horrible stories about other clinics.

I'm sorry if this was long-winded. If you're writing in the POV of the girl's ride, your character is going to be doing a LOT of waiting. I went into the office at 7am sharp and by the time I was able to go home it was roughly around 6-7pm.

I meant my character was 3 weeks post conception, and a piece of general knowledge I didn't know was it's measured from the last period, which would make her roughly 5 weeks pregnant.

Thankyou very much, MrsX. That's a lot of useful meaty information, I am indebted to you.

Hi, I'm a UK theatre nurse and I've worked in this field...

It is possble to realise that you're pregnant straight away, or even suspect just before the period date. Your character would probably have to have very regular periods to realise that she was late - or add in a dash of nausea, disliking a favorite food, hints of dizziness to make her wonder what is going on, and then to have had one of those 'bottom dropping out of the world, uh-oh moments.

In the UK, visiting the GP would be a good start, but as it's often family doctors, who've known you since you were 3 and also treat the whole family, this can be embarrasing. Another route is to contact a specialist group, the Marie Stopes clinics in the UK will sort it out without the GP being involved. The offices are similar to GP rooms, or if attending an NHS hospital it might be to an outpatients department, where you sit in a big room with all kinds of other visitors (usual drink/snack machines) and wait to be called to a room, usually down a boring hospital corridor, and to a room, again similar to any other examination room. If it's a male doctor, a female nurse will be called in during any physical examination.

First off a doctor will check you out, this may include a personal physical exam to feel the size of the uterus and gauge the age of the pregnancy. It is also common on the NHS to have a dating scan - an ultrasound to check how far along. There are deadlines on certain forms of abortion. The doctor will discuss why you feel that an abortion is the way to go, they're not talking you out of it at all, but making sure that you have the best advice. SImple things like blood pressure etc may be taken.

Even if a GP disagrees with abortions for religious or other reasons they cannot refuse to help, they do not have to be involved, but should refer the person on to someone who will help. Obviously the Marie Stopes people will already be pro-choice. Medical professionals cannot refuse to assit someone having an abortion, only to not be involved in the proceedure itself for example they cannot ask theatre staff to be present, as that is being involved, but once it's done the recovery staff cannot refuse to care for the patient.

before 9 weeks it is possible to take medication, one to stop the pregnancy developing and the other taken a few days later makes the body expel the remains

before 12 weeks a minor surgical proceedure (I'm more familier with this form), surgical forms can continue up to about 20 weeks, but get more complicated.

UK law means that you have to have seen 2 doctors before an abortion can go ahead, this could be the GP and the surgeon or clinic doctor, or 2 doctors at the clinic. It would be usual for people to be seen quite quickly, but even if you turn up at the GP at 5 weeks (actual 3 weeks of pregnancy) by the time the abortion takes place it may be 8-9 weeks, which is fairly fast, but I believe will feel like it feels forever to the woman. Probably an appointment at 6-7 weeks to meet the first or second doctor and discuss options. They will also very much discuss future contraceptive usage at this point.

No difference for under 16s, parents do not have to be involved. As long as the doctors believe that you understand what is going on you can sign your own consent form, this is also true of other operations. Technically parents can sign consents for unwilling under 16 year olds that would be also be valid, but the only time I've come up against this with underage pregnancy the doctors withdrew their consent to perform the surgery.

Abortions are free on the NHS, but can cost a couple of hundred or more from a private clinic, most 15 year olds would have to go NHS, and with parental support there would be no need to sneak off to a clinic quietly. It's about the same timing for both so going private doesn't really speed things up either.

perhaps try http://www.fpa.org.uk/information/leaflets/documents_and_pdfs/abortion.c... for answers.

Or NaNoMail me if you want any more details (I could write a 20 page essay, or a 50000 word novel about this!)

blah - double post

but since I'm here again. Just to mention that after a general aneasthetic you can only go home the same day if there is someone to stay with you, in case of later reactions to drugs/heavy bleeding etc. Otherwise an overnight stay will be planned

Just did a huge report on foetal screening so have been looking into this onthe law side. reminds me its due tomorrow!!!!

to get an abortion in NZ you have to see 2 doctors, much like the UK and get them to sign you off basically, but they have to be certified by the committee working under the Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion Act, and have the procedure done in a certified hospital. A woman, or girl has the right to choose no matter her age, and does not need the consent of her parents to have an abortion. the thing is, the legality of an abortion is dictated under the Crimes Act, so the doctors have to decide whether or not the person is legally required to have an abortion. i gather though that most women would be able to get one. legally they must also be provided counselling, whether or not they accept it is up to them, but they have the right to it, and i assume it is free. i don't know how much it costs.

you should be able to look up the laws for your country quite easily on the internet, you have a right to them so they should be easily available. i think i searched, abortion law and getting an abortion to find the information i gathered for my report. (uni report - it was impartial and unbiased).

to MrsX, that was very brave of you to tell of your experiences, and I hope everything is well with you. If you are writing good luck for NaNo.