What to do if you are not ready for a pregnancy

Even with the success rate of contraception, pregnancy is not completely out of the windows of possibilities.

Contraception methods such as condoms can be torn or applied incorrectly which may lead to a chance of pregnancy that you and your partner are not prepared for.

Imagine the shock of finding out you were pregnant and your first thought that came to mind was “I am not ready for this.”

What do you do in those situations? Who do you turn to for help? And what options do you have?

The first step is always confirmation

If you used a home pregnancy test kit to detect your pregnancy, please make sure to make an appointment with a mid-wife or a health provider to confirm the diagnosis as sometimes the pregnancy home test kit is positive for conditions such as Ectopic Pregnancy and Molar Pregnancy[i]. These pregnancies require a slightly different procedure than induced abortion and has great risks to health if not treated properly. The confirmation is usually done with an ultrasound of the uterus, and basic tests like the Beta-HCG test.

Remember that the first step must always be CONFIRMATION with a health professional, so that you can know for sure that you are indeed pregnant. Only then can you proceed to the second step which is navigating your options.

Choosing an option

After confirming that you are pregnant, you have to make a decision on whether you wish to proceed with the pregnancy until it reaches term or do you want to proceed with abortion. These procedures must be done with guidelines and help from a licensed health professional like Marie Stopes and must not be attempted by yourself or an unlicensed establishment/person.

Medical abortion:

This is the use of oral pills to induce abortion. You usually are able to receive medical abortion if the pregnancy is less than 9 weeks.[1] The pills consist of Mifepristone and Misoprostol. To put it simply, first you have to take Mifepristone which is a type of oral pill that can block your pregnancy from advancing by blocking progesterone production.

After that, you may take Misoprostol either right away or up to 48 hours after taking Mifepristone to cause uterus contractions and uterus emptying.

At Marie Stopes International Clinics, we choose Mariprist as our main termination treatment for medical abortion as it is a medication that is recommended by the World Health Organization for early medical abortion.[2]

Manual vacuum aspiration:

Usually, if the pregnancy exceeds 9 weeks or if your pregnancy is abnormal, you will be recommended in-clinic abortion or surgical abortion. In this case, the procedure that is done at the Marie Stopes International Clinics is the manual vacuum aspiration method.

The entire process MUST be done by midwives and/or doctors and healthcare workers in a safe and sterile environment.

Unsafe abortion is NOT an option

You are free to make a decision on whether to terminate or proceed with your pregnancy; however, unsafe abortion must not be tolerated. You risk infection, severe complications, disabilities, even death when you receive unsafe abortion by unskilled people.

In conclusion, unplanned pregnancy can be quite a hassle, but Marie Stopes hope that the information provided in this blog will help you navigate your unplanned pregnancy as best as possible and make a safe and informed decision for yourself.

References:

If you have any questions about abortion, and other contraceptive methods, consult with @MarieStopesKH now:
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[1] MSI Guidelines for Safe Abortion and Post-abortion Care

[2] https://www.mariprist.com/mariprist-professionals/about-mariprist/what-is-mariprist

[i] Ectopic Pregnancy: is when a fertilized egg implants itself outside of the womb, usually in one of the fallopian tubes. (United Kingdom National Health Service)

Molar Pregnancy: A slow-growing tumor that develops from trophoblastic cells (cells that help an embryo attach to the uterus and help form the placenta) after fertilization of an egg. (National Cancer Institute)