Myth: Only young and irresponsible women have abortions.
Fact:
This is simply untrue!
Any woman may choose to access abortion care. Women have about 3 decades of fertility to navigate, and many women who choose to access abortion care already have children.
Myth: If women used contraception they wouldn’t need abortions.
Fact:
It’s estimated that every year 33 million women all over the world will have an unplanned pregnancy while they are using contraception. The reality is that no contraception is 100% effective. Even if ‘the morning after pill’ is taken, if you are already at a point in your cycle when you are ovulating, this may be ineffective.
The most effective type of emergency contraception is to arrange to have an IUD (coil) fitted within five days of having unprotected sex (the failure rate of the coil as emergency contraception is less than 1%). Unfortunately, some women become pregnant through rape, or may be being controlled by their partner, in which case contraception may not have been an option at the time.
Myth: Having an abortion will make it difficult to get pregnant in the future, it can make you infertile.
Fact:
It will be possible to get pregnant immediately after an abortion. If you don’t wish to become pregnant it’s important to start using contraception immediately. We can give you information and advice about contraception options and can provide your chosen method.
In a regulated, safe, and legal clinic there should be no cause for fertility issues after treatment. A safe facility will follow the World Health Organisation’s recommendations to provide safe ‘vacuum aspiration’ for surgical abortion, and medical abortions up to 9 weeks + 3 days using mifepristone and misoprostol tablets.
This myth most likely started when women were using illegal abortion providers, which didn’t use the safe procedures and medical checks that clinics use today. This myth could lead to more unplanned pregnancies if women believe they will be infertile after an abortion.
Myth: Abortions are unsafe and often fatal, even with specialist providers.
Fact:
This myth tries to make women afraid of accessing legal abortion care.
In truth, abortion is very safe when performed in the clean conditions of a clinic registered with the Ministry of Health.
In fact, the World Health Organisation says that the risk of death from a safe abortion is lower than death caused by a penicillin injection, or by continuing with a pregnancy.
Myth: An embryo or fetus feels pain during an abortion procedure.
Fact:
Many trusted, peer-reviewed studies show that a fetus cannot start to feel pain in any sense until the nervous system begins to develop, which is at least 24 weeks gestation. A study in the Journal of American Medicine goes further and suggests that it’s probable that a fetus cannot feel pain before 29 or 30 weeks gestation. This is well before the development of a nervous system.