Does having an medical abortion affect fertility

[Happymama98]

I’m devastated I have to have one next week, it’s really not the right time for me. But I do want another child in the future when I’m in a better financial and living situation. Please someone tell me it doesn’t affect fertility? Has anyone had one and gone to have healthy children and a healthy pregnancy?

Yes, when I was a teenager I had my children in my 20s.

My understanding is that it doesn't affect. One of my ex colleagues had 3 abortions when she was young and she had no issues getting pregnant later.

By a medical abortion you mean the pills?

I had them for one of my miscarriages, that hadn't completed; my next pregnancy went to term.

What would be the mechanism by which it would affect fertility? Where have you gained the impression that it might? Termination supposedly damaging fertility is misinformation sometimes used by 'pro-life' campaigners.

@TheLittleOldWomanWhoShrinks the way I read into it and Dr explained me when I had one as being teen was that in the abortion they sometimes stretch the cervix too much and it later difficult to keep the future pregnancy in.
Anyway this was in the 90s so I’m not sure how’s done these days.

I had a medical abortion at 20 and had no problems conceiving at 25 and 27 (first time ttc on both).

I’ve recently had a surgical removal for a miscarriage and it hasn’t affected my fertility. My understand is medical management is very unlikely to impact on fertility either. I’m sorry you’re going through this xxx

I doubt the cervix gets stretched more than during childbirth, and plenty of people have more than one baby..

@SeptemberSwan where have you got that information from? It all sounds like something a pro life campaigner would say. Please provide links to the source data to verify what you're stating.

Well they are blatant mistruths 🙄
Tell us what causes these issues?
Do women who have miscarriages suffer the same? Or is it only those who choose to end a pregnancy?

It absolutely does not affect fertility. Be kind to yourself and look to the future.

My apologies, the statistics I was looking at were American where they have corporations providing abortion not actual health care systems. This may discredit me to you, but I am pro life. I do not condem anyone for having abortions. I completely understand the need for them, I just get concerned for the public health. As she did ask for advice, regardless of politics.

As long as it is straight forward (which the vast majority are) no it does not impact fertility. If you were to develop an infection post procedure there is a small risk (same as any woman getting PID for any reason) but that’s unlikely.
I work in contraception and many women get pregnant, have a ToP, worry about fertility so ‘test it’, get pregnant, time isn’t right so have another ToP, worry that 2 termination must affect fertility so ‘test’ again and on and on….please don’t do that. Have the termination, use an effective contraception and hopefully all will be well when the time is right 💕

Actually yes. When you are pregnant, a good doctor will ask you if you have been pregnant before, had any miscarriages or abortions, because it is part of your medical history.

From the NHS

Effect on fertility, health and future pregnancies

Having an abortion does not increase the risk of breast cancer or mental health issues.
Having an abortion will not affect your chances of becoming pregnant and having normal pregnancies in the future.
Many women are able to get pregnant immediately afterwards, so you should start using contraception right away if you do not want to get pregnant.
You should be offered the chance to talk about contraception at the time you have the abortion. If you choose a method of contraception, you should be able to get it from the hospital or clinic that provides your abortion.
There's a very small risk to your fertility and future pregnancies if you develop a womb infection that is not treated quickly. The infection could spread to your fallopian tubes and ovaries – known as pelvic inflammatory disease (PID).
PID can increase the risk of infertility or ectopic pregnancy, where an egg implants itself outside of the womb.
But most infections are treated before they reach this stage.

The post I got annoyed about was deleted thankfully but I will say it anyway. Breast cancer and abortion are not linked, many studies have been done about this, no link has been found.

The majority of studies do not show a link between abortion and miscarriage. A few studies have shown a very slight increase in the risk of miscarriage. Think 1.5 to 1.6 type difference (I can’t remember exactly).

Not treating an infection following abortion could potentially cause issues but women would be given advice about preventing this.

There are some risks to anything medical but it’s best to look on a reputable site or ask your provider OP. The drugs used are given to women for miscarriage as well as abortion by the way. Sorry you are in this situation! Sending hugs.

NHS link

I think you mean a surgical termination, then? If it helps - I've had four ERPCs for miscariages (fundamentally same process), and had children after.

@SeptemberSwan I had excellent care throughout my pregnancy and no one ever asked whether I'd had an abortion. Your pro life views are coming through loud and clear. Please stop. This thread is to support a woman having an abortion. Her body. Her choice.

You're being disingenuous. They'll ask "how many previous pregnancies have you had", and ideally they'll want to know what happened in each of those because what they're looking for is any previous pregnancy complications. They don't ask about abortions because having had one automatically changes the risk of a current pregnancy (it may do, for example if the abortion was a TFMR).

A medical abortion uses the same medication that you'd be given if you had a missed miscarriage and didn't miscarry naturally.
A surgical abortion would be the same procedure if you had a miscarriage and either didn't want or couldn't take the medication, or there was still products (horrible word, can't think of a better one) in the uterus after it.