Abortion

Having shown you the contraceptive methods available to prevent unwanted pregnancies I will elaborate on what to do if you have them. One way is through abortion. This is a very controversial topic because it involves human lives. It also involves women's rights so one must consider both parties involved. In most countries, this is only done in the first trimester of pregnancy when people don't consider the fetus a life. So I shall not dwell on the moral aspects, but more on the scientific part of abortion itself.

Intentional abortion is also known as Induced abortion. There are 2 main methods, surgical and medical.

Surgical methods include suction-aspiration or vacuum abortion during the first 12 weeks. Manual Vacuum aspiration (MVA) abortion, consists of removing the fetus or embryo by suction using a manual syringe. MVA can be used in very early pregnancy, and does not require cervical dilation. Electric vacuum aspiration (EVA) abortion uses an electric pump.

Surgical techniques are sometimes referred to as 'Suction (or surgical) Termination Of Pregnancy' (STOP). From the 15th week until approximately the 26th, dilation and evacuation (D&E) is used. D&E consists of opening the cervix of the uterus and emptying it using surgical instruments and suction.
Dilation and curettage (D&C), the second most common method of abortion. Curettage refers to cleaning the walls of the uterus and embryo with a curette. The World Health Organization recommends this procedure when MVA is unavailable.
Other techniques must be used to induce abortion in the second trimester. Premature delivery can be induced with prostaglandin; this can be coupled with injecting the amniotic fluid with caustic solutions containing saline or urea.

After the 16th week of gestation, abortions can be induced by intact dilation and extraction (IDX), which requires surgical decompression of the fetus's head before evacuation. IDX is sometimes called "partial-birth abortion," which has been banned in the United States.

A hysterotomy abortion is a procedure similar to a caesarean section, and is performed under general anesthesia because it is considered major abdominal surgery. It requires a smaller incision than a caesarean section and is used during later stages of pregnancy.
From the 20th to 23rd week of gestation, an injection to stop the fetal heart can be used as the first phase of the surgical abortion procedure to ensure that the fetus is not born alive.

The second type of abortion is medical, in which only drugs is used to induce abortion. The first wave of drugs is usually either an injection of methotrexate or a dose of mifepristone in tablet form.
Mifepristone binds to the progesterone receptor to block progesterone. Progesterone is necessary for pregnancy maintenance. Mifepristone also softens and dilates the cervix, and causes decidual necrosis (which leads to placental detachment).
Methotrexate blocks an enzyme necessary for DNA synthesis, thus inhibiting the growth of rapidly dividing placental trophoblastic cells.

Both drugs are then followed up by A prostaglandin analog--a dose of misoprostol in tablet form, or gemeprost. Misoprostol works by softening and dilating the cervix, and binding to myometrial cells to cause strong uterine contractions. Contractions cause expulsion of the embryo.

Having shown you all the methods of abortion if you have an unwanted pregnancy, I would end my topic on issues of sex here.

I thank wikipedia and wikimedia for the info and pics