Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Abortion With Medicines)

After taking the second tablet, you may experience the following:

• Nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, fever, and headache
• Severe abdominal pain along with bleeding that is usually stronger than regular
• After two to six hours, the bleeding usually settles to the level of your normal period
• The bleeding and the cramps are likely to stop on its own after 4-10 days
• Spotting in between your cycles for the next few weeks
• The medications and the feeling of ending the pregnancy may give rise to strong emotional outbursts in you.
• After the procedure, a person’s usual menstrual period should return in 4–8 weeks. However, they may have irregular spotting or bleeding initially.

How to recover after MTP?

In the days following an abortion, a woman may feel drained, physically and mentally. Hence, both physical and mental care is necessary post an abortion.

Physical Care

• Get someone (a friend or a family member) to care for you after the procedure. Do not indulge yourself in any strenuous work.
• Try these to reduce the abdominal cramps:
• Use a heat pad
• Gently massage the stomach and the lower back
• Over-the-counter pills to relieve pain (seek doctor consultation before)
• Attend the follow-up consultations to make sure you are doing fine

Emotional Care

After an abortion, a person’s progesterone and estrogen levels gradually drop down which causes low moods. Anxiety, depression and sleep disorders are common mental issues during the post-abortion phase.

To settle down yourself with the emotional changes:

1. Take adequate time off work.
2. Speak to family members and friends who you trust.
3. Don’t carry the feeling only within yourself.

Recovery after a medical abortion is not very complicated. But, it is different from person to person. Recovery may take longer for late-term abortions. If complications develop, recovery can take several weeks.

Who can undergo MTP in India?

The abortion laws in India differ for unmarried girls, married women and rape victims. In India, a woman who is less than 7 weeks pregnant can undergo a medical abortion.

As per the provisions of the MTP Act, only the consent of the woman whose pregnancy is being terminated is required. However, in case of a minor (below 18 years of age) or a woman with mental illness, the consent of a guardian is required. (Source: Wikipedia)

“Abortion is legal in India. The MTP Act, more commonly known as the Medical Termination of Pregnancy act, was enacted in 1971, mainly as a means to control the population. Then came in the various parameters of who can undergo an abortion, where and so on,” said Dr. Sunitha Mahesh, Senior Consultant- feto-maternal medicine and Medical Director, Milann Fertility and Birthing Hospital, Bangalore. (Source: The Week)

According to the MTP Act in India, any woman can undergo abortion under the following circumstances:

• She has a severe disease, and the pregnancy would end her life.
• The fetus is not physically or mentally healthy.
• The pregnancy can put the woman’s mental and physical health in danger.
• The pregnancy is a result of rape.
• She is not socioeconomically stable.
• The pregnancy is a result of a contraceptive failure.