I found out at the weekend that I am currently pregnant. I have been to visit the doctor and been told I could be around 8 1/2 weeks but the soonest I can have a scan is next Tuesday which seems like a lifetime away. I have been on the pill, but suffered from Gastric flu in November which is possible the cause of flushing out the pill through sickness and diarrohrea.

I'm 25 soon and my boyfriend has been very supportive, despite a lot of arguments recently, but is pretty certain he can't manage a child, emotionally, physically or financially. He's 23 and we are both living together and struggling financially as I've just set up a new business.

My concerns are that I had an abortion when I was 17 and told the baby was 8 weeks prior to surgery and then told after I was in fact 13 weeks. This to me makes a difference in my decision due to the difference in procedure and development of the baby. I also had severe heavy bleeding after the abortion and couldn't get out of bed which I have since found is not normal.

My other concern is the effect a second abortion could have on any future planned pregnancies and the risk of miscarriage or other difficulties.

Lilly x

Hi Lilly,

Today is the 35th anniversary of Roe Vs Wade in america - the supreme courts decision to allow abortion for just about any reason during the whole 9 months of pregnancy. If you have sky tv, have a look at channels 769 for TV or 0147 radio for extensive coverage of the topics and issues.

The thing is there are many reasons why you should carry this baby to term.

1. Brest Cancer
Your first abortion at 17 and on the 13th week puts you at a 150% greater risk of developing pre menopausal Brest cancer. Aborting your second pregnancy will just increase the risk even further. (I am assuming you have not carried a baby to full term yet, if you have, then you would have decreased your risk)

check out www.AbortionBreastCancer.com or www.abclink.org
for more informatiion.

2. Uterus strength. If your first abortion was surgical, the Doctor would have had to force open your uterus in order to abort the baby. This can weaken the uterus, increasing the liklihood of miscarriage for later pregnancies. This does not affect your ability to get pregnant (fertility) bot can affect your ability to stay pregnant. Of course this does not happen to every woman, but the risk cannot be ignored either.

3. Your own emotional well being. of course only you can be the judge of this, but Post Abortion Stress (PAS) can have a 5, 10 or even 20 year delay built in due to the mothers very natural desire to ignore deny and repress the trauma associated with abortion.

Lilly these are the big three affecting you. This leaves out all consideration of your baby, and the possibility that this child could change history if you let him or her live.

I am sorry to be so morose today, but I want you to be fully informed. You cant buy a box of aspirin today without a booklet telling you of potential side effects and reactions, but about 6000 women get abortions every day in the UK and US almost completly ignorant of what they are doing to their health.

Siobhan

I recently asked my gp what effect a second abortion would have on my fertility and she told me that abortions themself do not effect future fertility or pregnancies but if you get an infection from the abortion these can cause problems. HTH

Hi

Thanks for your response.

I'm pretty at rest now with the fact that it won't affect fertility, but it's just the risk of miscarriage or other difficulties that I am concerned about.