An abortion is the intentional termination of pregnancy using medications or surgery. A late-term abortion is defined as an abortion that occurs on or after the 13th week of gestation. Late-term abortions account for 5 to 10 percent of all...
Almost 1 million teenagers in the United States become pregnant annually; 78 percent of these girls did not intend to get pregnant, notes the Feminist Women’s Health Center. In 2006, 29.3 percent of white teens ended their pregnancies, as...
Abortions occur when a fetus is expelled from a woman's uterus. Abortions generally occur within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Approximately 1.3 million women in the United States have an abortion to end a pregnancy, according to the American...
Induced abortion, or intentionally ending pregnancy via drugs or surgery, according to the Merck Manuals Online Medical Library, is one of the most common surgical procedures performed in the United States. Early abortions initiated by choice...
The risks of complications following a surgical abortion are increased as gestational age rises. It is important to know and understand which procedures are used at various stages of pregnancy, and the complications that may arise. A sonogram is a...
A spontaneous abortion, also known as a miscarriage, is the term used when a pregnancy ends on its own within the first 20 weeks. Approximately 10 to 25 percent of pregnancies end in miscarriage, according to the American Pregnancy Association....
Abortions in the United States are common. In fact, more than 1 in 3 American women have had an abortion by the time they are 45 years old, according to Planned Parenthood. Women who are planning to have an abortion should do so as early as...
The choice to have an abortion is not one women make easily. Ending a pregnancy can be both physically and mentally uncomfortable, with emotions vacillating between sadness and relief. A woman might walk into an abortion clinic certain she is...
While abortion continues to be a hotly debated topic throughout America in 2010, women are still seeking the procedure when they feel they are not ready to a child, have been raped or their health is in danger. The Westside Pregnancy Clinic says...
Abortion is defined as the premature exit of the products of conception. Every state has its own definition of what constitutes a late term abortion. The average seems to include the twenty first week of pregnancy, when it is suggested that a...
Abnormal vaginal bleeding can occur after a suction, manual or medication abortion. All women are warned to be on the lookout for post-abortion abnormal vaginal bleeding, as this can indicate infection, hemorrhaging or other complications....
Family planning is making a decision to have a certain number of children, and avoiding pregnancy when it is undesirable. It also includes purposely spacing children by a certain number of months or years. It can include abstinence, fertility...
Surgical abortion is performed by appropriately licensed physicians to end unwanted pregnancies. Surgical abortions usually are performed as an elective procedure during the first trimester of pregnancy, but may be performed throughout the entire...
Methadone is a prescribed synthetic opioid substitute for the opiate heroin used to control addiction. During pregnancy, both heroin and methadone can be passed from the mother to the fetus via the placenta. According to the Substance Abuse and...
Tuberculosis is the leading infectious disease worldwide in women of childbearing age, according to an article in the Global Library of Women's Medicine by Edward Newton, M.D. He says one-third of the world's population shows evidence of infection...
If your vaginal walls are coated with thin, white discharge with a fishy odor that has been confirmed by your physician as symptomatic of bacterial vaginosis, go in for treatment at once. The benefits include relief from vaginal symptoms and...
A member of the pepper family, ashwagandha, or Withania somniferum, is native to regions of African and India. Extract derived from the roots of ashwagandha may yield health benefits when used medicinally. Talk to your health care provider about...
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 850,000 abortions occur every year in the United States. There are many reasons a woman may decide to terminate a pregnancy. The type of abortion performed will vary...
If you are looking for a way to boost sexual desire as you try to get pregnant, you're likely to come across the purported aphrodisiac damiana. This herb also is called Turnera diffusa, herba de la pastora and old woman's broom. This herb has...
Electively terminating a pregnancy, called an abortion, can be done several different ways. The options for a woman depend on how far along she is in the pregnancy. Typically, the earlier the decision to abort the pregnancy is made, the more...
When it comes to making abortion decisions, women have the final say. No state allows a father the right to stop or prevent an abortion that he does not want, nor to force one that he does. The laws governing abortion are complicated and subject...
Neovlar, available in Taiwan, is an emergency contraceptive, or EC, unavailable in the United States. The ingredients in Neovlar, ethinyl estradiol and levonorgestrel, are prescribed individually in the U.S. as emergency contraceptives, but their...
Dioxin is introduced into humans through industrial processes such as paper bleaching, burning garbage and herbicides. In addition, dioxin-contaminated foods such as meat and dairy products expose humans to high levels of the chemical. Dioxin...
Cytotec is a trade name for the medication misoprostol. Cytotec belongs to a class of medications known as prostaglandins and works in two ways: it prevents the secretion of gastric acids and it causes uterine contractions in pregnant women.
Plan B is the brand name of a medication used to prevent pregnancy after unprotected intercourse. Levonorgestrel, the active ingredient in Plan B, is a synthetic form of the female hormone that prevents the release of an egg from an ovary,...
HCG, better known as human chorionic gonadotropin, is a hormone that is essential for normal reproductive function. It is essentially produced by human placenta and is measured in blood or urine for diagnosis of pregnancy. HCG is also very...
According to the Feminist Women's Health Center, surgical abortions can be performed from the beginning of a pregnancy up until about 24 weeks. The exact type of abortion will depend on the pregnancy length. If a woman has only been pregnant for 4...
Doctors used to believe that bacterial vaginosis, while capable of causing irritating vaginal symptoms, was essentially harmless. However, evidence linked bacterial vaginosis to more serious conditions such as pelvic inflammatory disease,...
When faced with an unwanted pregnancy or a pregnancy that requires termination due to medical issues, abortion is a safe option available around the world. Despite its controversial nature, women are choosing this option daily. Understanding the...
