What happens before an abortion
What an assessment covers, what to bring, what consent involves, and a printable list of questions.
Read this pageBefore and after an abortion
This section covers preparation, what can happen during an abortion, and recovery afterwards. It describes common patterns rather than predicting any individual's experience, and it separates an expected effect from a reason to call a clinician.
These pages are general information. They cannot assess your symptoms, cannot confirm that an abortion is complete, and do not replace instructions from your clinician or provider.
What happens during an abortion
The medication and procedure paths kept separate, what each can involve, and how comfort is handled.
Read this pageWhat to expect after an abortion
General recovery information on bleeding, cramping, feelings, follow-up, activity, and periods.
Read this pageWhen to seek urgent medical help
The signs that mean emergency medical help, the signs that mean calling your clinician, and how to reach help.
Read this pageAbortion safety and risks
What the evidence supports, the conditions attached to it, and the difference between a common effect and a complication.
Read this pagePregnancy options and decision support
The options, what non-directive support means, and confidential help if someone is pressuring your decision.
Read this pageWhy these pages avoid thresholds
You will find rules online such as a number of pads per hour, or a number of days of bleeding that means something is wrong. This site does not publish those, because a general threshold applied to an individual situation misleads in both directions: it can frighten someone whose recovery is ordinary, and it can reassure someone who needs to be seen.
What these pages do instead is describe the general patterns, name the signs that mean contacting a clinician without waiting, and point to the people who can actually assess you. If something worries you and it is not listed anywhere here, that is still a reason to call.