Medical Abortion: The Pill

On June 10th 2019, 6 days after my birthday, I had a medical abortion, the pill.

I was an immigrant at the time, going through the process of becoming a resident. I was on the pill, and it happened.  I had no health insurance and no job. My husband was barely making just enough for the both of us. We decided (mainly my decision, of course) that we could not keep it, it would be a high risk going through a pregnancy without insurance as an immigrant who wouldn’t be able to afford medical bills, nor afford a child at the time. I went to a clinic located in North Miami Beach, where I got the pill, which included some specific painkillers, for a total of $400.

I did mine at 9 weeks because my husband and I needed to save money for it. It was almost too late to do it, but I did it in time. I decided to do it when everyone was at work all day because I have social anxiety and felt like it’d make me feel worse if someone was beside me (it’s up to you if you want someone beside you to comfort you).

I followed the instructions they gave me for the painkillers and the pill.

I took the first painkiller (it’s the strong ones, which were included), and then half an hour after, I took the actual pill, which forces the uterus to have contractions, pretty much, horrible cramps. I felt constipated too because the contractions were pushing against, and I couldn’t poop, which hurt my lower back. It was agony; it felt like my lower insides were going to explode.

I think it’s different for every woman, but the first hour was kind of tolerable. Then the pain increased more and more, and the painkillers that I took accordingly as prescribed are like every eight hours, so I had to wait and to deal with the pain. I decided to be in bed on my knees and curled up forward with a pillow tucked between my legs and stomach to keep pressure there with a heat pad. It helped a lot. But I still cried and howled in pain for another 1-2 hours (I was glad nobody was home to hear me). I guess the first 3-4 hours are just the worst. So 4 hours after I first took the pill, when I got up from the bed, is when I felt a big gush of… you know, and I ran to the bathroom, and I was in the bathroom for about another hour. It comes out in chunks, and I honestly could not tell what was what, but it just looked like a very, very heavy period with liver-looking pieces.

But obviously, it takes a toll on you also mentally; any type of abortion will. The women I saw at the clinic who did it surgically and were resting looked in pain too, I think as much as I did at home, but idk.

So for that day and the day after, it was very heavy bleeding, still cramps happening, but not as horrible as the contractions from earlier. There were some chunks here and there, so I had to use some very thick absorbent pads (not use tampons), and take a lot of rest. I still continued to take the strong painkillers as prescribed. I think it was for about two days they lasted, and then after those ran out, I continued to take Tylenol.

Continued using heating pads and used a pillow between my legs for extra comfort as I rested and slept at night.

I had continuous bleeding for a little over 2 months; it was tiring, exhausting. I’m not sure if at some point it was my period coming back or not, but they say usually the abortion bleeding lasts for about 6 weeks, give or take. If anyone reading this and this happens to you, if you can, go to the clinic for a check-up. My clinic they gave me a post abortion free check-up within 30 days, they did an internal ultrasound where they inserted the thing inside to check, and there was nothing, but I was still bleeding.

I got back to my regular menstrual cycle like 4 months after the pill.

Remember that your emotional and mental health is important too, there are support videos and blogs out there about other women who had abortions, and they share their stories and how they healed, too. 💖💖

No, a problem, and you are strong too! And if you proceed with it, I promise you’ll get through it whichever way you decide!

Seeing support growing for us women who’ve gone/going through has definitely helped me emotionally and mentally. It helped heal me by seeing videos and blogs about women who experienced it and shared their stories. Makes me feel less lonely one story at a time 💖🌸🌸👭🏻👩🏼‍🤝‍👩🏽👩🏾‍🤝‍👩🏼 👭🏻👩🏼‍🤝‍👩🏽👩🏾‍🤝‍👩🏼👩🏿‍🤝‍👩🏽🌸🌸🌸♥️♥️♥️

My husband and I plan to get pregnant next year, 2021, if we feel we are financially stable enough after this pandemic affect too.

This story was shared from our partners at Shout Your Abortion.