Aftercare After Abortion Pills

After your abortion, you should feel better and get back into your normal activities soon. Some symptoms can take a little longer to stop. Here's what to expect after taking abortion pills.

Abortion recovery time is usually fast. Most people feel well enough to go back to normal activities in a day or two. Here's what you can expect during the first week after your abortion:

• Bleeding after abortion pills: Once the pregnancy passes, your bleeding will get lighter. It's normal to bleed on and off during that first week. It may be similar to a period, or it may be light spotting that comes and goes.

• Cramping: Pain and cramps should get much better after you've passed the pregnancy. You may still have some cramping on and off for a few days.

• Pregnancy symptoms: Things like tender breasts, nausea, and fatigue (feeling tired) should go away within a week after your abortion.

Some symptoms might continue past your first week of abortion pill recovery. The most common one is bleeding. Some people stop bleeding in the first week after their abortion. Others continue to have some bleeding or spotting that comes and goes for longer. This bleeding can last up to 4-6 weeks after your abortion. It may stop and then start again. This is all normal.

You can expect to get your period within 4-6 weeks. Keep in mind that if you have sex, you can get pregnant again, as soon as 8 days after taking abortion pills.

Lots of people ask: how much bleeding is normal after an abortion? This section explains what is normal bleeding after an abortion, what is not normal, and when to check in with a doctor or nurse.

There's a wide range of normal when it comes to bleeding after an abortion. Heavy bleeding after abortion pills is common, especially in the first week after your abortion. But not everyone has heavy bleeding. Some people only have light bleeding or spotting. It's also normal for bleeding to stop and start again for up to 4-6 weeks after your abortion.

The color of your blood can change at different times. It's normal for bleeding to be any color from light pink, to red, to dark brown. Older blood that's been in your uterus for a while will look darker than fresh blood.

While there's a wide range of normal for bleeding after your abortion, there are a few things to look out for. If any of the below happen, contact us using the phone number we emailed you, or contact the M+A Hotline (833-246-2632) for information and support.

• During your abortion:

  • You soak through 2 or more maxi pads per hour, for 2 hours straight.

• After your abortion:

  • Very heavy bleeding that comes back after your abortion is done.

If you're worried your abortion didn't work, you're not alone. Abortion pills work about 95% of the time. This means they don't work only 5% of the time. Here are the signs of an incomplete abortion:

• You haven't had any bleeding and it's been 24 hours since you took the misoprostol. If this happens, you can take another dose of misoprostol.

• You still have pregnancy symptoms (like sore breasts or nausea) more than a week after your abortion.

• You have a positive pregnancy test and it's been 5 weeks or more since your abortion.

• After your abortion you have belly pain that is bad and getting worse.

If any of these happen to you, contact us using the phone number we emailed you, or contact the M+A Hotline (833-246-2632) for information and support.

Taking a pregnancy test after abortion pills is complicated. This is because a pregnancy test can show up positive for weeks after your abortion. So you can still get a positive pregnancy test after an abortion, even if it worked.

You don't have to take a pregnancy test to make sure the abortion worked. If you bled during your abortion and don't feel pregnant anymore, you probably aren't. Most people are able to tell if the abortion worked based on symptoms alone.

You can take a pregnancy test after your abortion to make sure it worked. But you need to wait for it to be accurate. A pregnancy test will be accurate 5 weeks after your abortion. This is because the hormone the test looks for (hCG), takes time to go down. So if you take a pregnancy test too soon, you can get a false positive.

The best kind of pregnancy test to take is a sensitive pregnancy test. This is the kind that shows you lines. They're more accurate than the digital pregnancy tests.

If you take a pregnancy test, here's how to understand your results:

• If the test is negative, that means the abortion worked.

• If the test is positive, it might be a false positive. You can take a picture of the test, and then take another pregnancy test in a few days. If the line is getting lighter or harder to see, it means your hCG levels are still going down. This means it's probably a false positive and the abortion worked.

• If a pregnancy test is positive after 5 weeks, you may still be pregnant.

If you're worried you're still pregnant after your abortion, contact us using the phone number we emailed you, or contact the M+A Hotline (833-246-2632) for information and support.

If you want a test that will be more accurate sooner, you can go to a lab (like LabCorp or Ulta Labs), or a medical provider and get a blood pregnancy test. You may need to take 2 of them, 2 days apart. You look for the number to get lower.

But remember, you don't have to take any kind of pregnancy test to know that the abortion worked. Most people know that it worked because they bled after taking the pills and don't feel pregnant anymore.

Most people can go back to their normal life 1-2 days after their abortion. Here's what you can expect, and some things to keep in mind.

After your abortion is done, you can go back to normal life when you feel ready. It can help to pay attention to your body and how you're feeling. Stop and rest if you need to.

You can do any kind of exercise you normally do as soon as you feel ready. This may not be the best time to try a hard new workout. Stick to things you've done before for a few days, if you can.

It's safe to take a bath, even during your abortion. It's safe to swim when you feel ready.

You can have sex as soon as you feel ready after your abortion. Lots of people wonder: can you get pregnant after an abortion? The answer is yes, pretty quickly. It can take 4-6 weeks to get your period after having an abortion, but you can get pregnant if you have sex before that.

So if you want to have sex after your abortion and don't want to get pregnant, birth control can help. You can start taking birth control, including options like the birth control pill, right after your abortion.

If you're interested in getting birth control pills along with your abortion pills, let us know at checkout. You have the option to add birth control pills to your package so you can get started right away, or whenever you feel ready.

There are great places to find emotional support after an abortion. Here are some we suggest.

Here are some helpful support lines to check out. They're all free, nonjudgmental, supportive, and private:

• Exhale (617-749-2948): Text or call for nonjudgmental emotional support after abortion

• All-Options (888-493-0092): Free, confidential support for all pregnancy experiences

• Connect & Breathe (866-647-1764): Nonjudgmental after-abortion talkline

• Reprocare (833-226-7821): Peer-based emotional support, medical information, and referrals

You may have many different feelings after your abortion. However you feel is okay. You deserve support if you want it. Some people find it helpful to talk with a friend or loved one. Some speak to a professional mental health counselor or therapist.

Some people like to get involved, like by telling their abortion story. You can do this anonymously or not. It can feel good to help others having an abortion to feel less alone or ashamed. Abortion stigma is everywhere. Telling your story is one way to help break down the shame and stigma in our culture around abortion. If you want to do this, check out Shout Your Abortion or We Testify.

Abortion with pills is very safe and effective. Millions of people have taken abortion pills over decades and had no medical issues. Rarely, people do need medical help during or after their abortion. Here's when to call us, when to see a doctor after abortion, and what abortion follow up care looks like.

If you have any of the symptoms below, contact us using the phone number we emailed you, or contact the M+A Hotline (833-246-2632) for help:

• No bleeding within 24 hours of taking misoprostol.

• Soaking through 2 maxi pads per hour for 2 hours or more.

• High fever above 100.4°F or fever that lasts longer than 24 hours.

• Very bad pain that doesn't get better with pain medicine.

• Pain that gets worse several days after your abortion.

• Pregnancy symptoms are still there more than a week after your abortion.

• You're worried the abortion didn't work.

We can tell you if you need to see a doctor or not. The hotlines listed can also help you figure out if you need to see a doctor or nurse.

If you do have to go to a hospital for medical care after an abortion, here are some things to keep in mind. These are especially helpful if you live somewhere where abortion is banned or restricted, or you just want to keep your abortion private.

• You have a right to privacy.

• No one, not even a doctor, can tell if you've taken abortion pills once the pills dissolve. There is no test that can find them in your body.

• Treatment for problems from a miscarriage and abortion are the same.

When you're at the hospital and asked about what happened, you can simply say what's going on with your body: that you're pregnant and bleeding heavily. This is all the information a doctor or nurse needs to treat you.