There are two different types of abortions available to women in the United States: surgical and medical. A surgical abortion is offered inside a clinic and is usually performed on women greater than 15 weeks pregnant. A medical abortion, also know as the abortion pill or a chemical abortion, is an abortion that uses medication to end a pregnancy less than 15 weeks along. It is important to understand the difference in procedures, as the the emotional and physcial healing after abortion can be different.
During our Support After Abortion Healing Network weekly Facebook Live Event, our Expansion Director, Jessie Lapek, shared her personal experience with both a surgical and medical abortion. Her experience with a surgical abortion was entirely different then when she took the abortion pill. Jessie shared having different emotions, concerns and struggles after each of her abortion experiences. Her experiences are articulated below:[tm_blockquote design_style=”blockquote-style1″ text_font_style=”italic” text_font_weight=”” footer_cite_font_weight=”” quote_icon_theme_colored=”no” text=”Surgical Abortion: “I can remember vividly going into the waiting room after my surgical abortion, it was the first glimpse of realizing what I had done. They (abortion clinic staff) had women lined up across each wall and you didn’t know what to do when you looked at them. All of us just realized what we had done. The shame, guilt and crying caused us to not want to make eye contact with each other.” Chemical Abortion: “I had a false sense of security when I took the pill. I thought I could convince myself that I had a miscarriage. They (abortion clinic staff) told me it was going to be like a heavy period, so I went home and took the pill and the painkillers they gave me. I woke up in the middle of the night, alone and in pain. I sat down to use the restroom and heard my baby hit the toilet.””]Jessie’s experience with surgical and medical abortion were equally as traumatic, but in different ways. Jessie stated that her experiences with abortion impacted her marriage, parenting and other relationships. When she realized the negative impact it was having, she discovered the importance of after abortion healing. Support After Abortion helped her get connected to a virtual after abortion healing program that was specific to her needs.
If you or someone you know is struggling after abortion, you are not alone. Contact us today.
I never thought in a million years I would be making this decision that will either help me or break me. I took the medication pill and the feelings I was experiencing were similar to my other two births. So when the first clot came out I yelled cause it felt so awful and this whole time I have my two girls in the other room. I stay in bed and when I get the urge to push/pee there was a even bigger clot with lots of bleeding. I feel disgusting at this point bit it wasn’t over I continued to lay it bed, overwhelmed, bleeding heavy this is making me so weak. So around hour 3 1/2 is when I believe it was the last but this time I had a clot on my pad and also what I believe the sack. The camps went from 10 to a 3-4 of pain. I still have this pain all over my body but like I told my partner the pressure is gone. So that’s why I think I passed it and I can’t stop thinking about what I did and how could I do this? I feel horrible and I’m trying to get myself to be able to take care of my other children. I feel like I’m going down a path of where I feel the guilt and I don’t know if I could forgive myself for doing that to my body. How could I look at my girls and know what I did? May God forgive me for my sins. My partner is going through his old stuff and the guilt is hurting him alot! With that said he feels it’s his fault when in reality it’s no one’s fault. I know we needed to do this for the sake of our other children we couldn’t afford another and I knew that. So with him feeling like this like its his fault when it’s not how do I be there for him while hurting so much and having the reminder everytime I take a breath or go the bathroom or even watch anything that pops up on the TV about abortion or just having a baby it kills me. Will him and I be okay? I don’t want him to think I don’t think he is feeling the samething I’m feeling cause I know if things were different him and I would loved to have another. And it’s hard to know we weren’t happy when we found out more than worried and concerned. I was supposed work tomorrow but unfortunately I’m feeling extremely pain and my depression as gone everly high. I/we need help!