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Late Term Abortion Cost | The Price Of The Late Term Abortion Procedure.
Late Term Abortions Cost between $0 and $35,000. The price of the Late Term Abortion Procedure for the woman depends on her qualifications to receive financial assistance from private donors and non-profit organizations.
What Is The Definition of Late Term Abortion?
A Late Term Abortion is a vague term to define. There is no exact number of weeks that actually defines “late term abortion” in the medical literature.
For this blog, the definition of Late Term Abortion will be any termination of a live pregnancy being initiated at or over 21 weeks.
How Regularly Do Late Term Abortions Occur?
The incidence of Late Term Abortions represent only 1.3% of all Abortions. The majority of them occur in patients for maternal medical indications or fetal structural or congenital abnormalities that are incompatible with life.
Approximately 66% of abortions are performed at 8 weeks from a woman’s last menstrual period or less.
Nearly 50% of women undergo the medical abortion procedure (Abortion Pill) in the US who are 8 weeks or less pregnant.
Over 90% of abortions in the US occur at 13 weeks pregnant or less.
What Percentage Of Women In The US Seek Assistance In Terminating Their Pregnancy?
Over 71% of women in the US that seek an abortion procedure in the first trimester (3 to 13 weeks) and second trimester (14 to 28 weeks) of pregnancy meet the government definition of being poor or living below the poverty line.
This makes the majority of women in the US who have an abortion to seek financial help from family, friends, acquaintances, medical facilities where abortions are performed and larger organizations that specialize in helping women find transportation and room and board in one of their most difficult times in their lives.
What Is The Cost Of First Trimester Abortions In The US?
The cost of First Trimester Abortions may range in price from $0 to $2,000. The price varies depending on the following:
- Geographic location
- The number of weeks pregnant
- VIP and Exclusive Services for women who want or need total privacy
- Financial Assistance
How Are Late Term Abortions Performed?
At 21 weeks or further in the US, medical procedures that allow fetal demise, should strongly be considered. Neither the woman or medical staff should need to consider or prepare for a live premature birth.
The use of 1% lidocaine, potassium chloride (kcl), Digoxin or air can be injected into the fetal heart. This leads to immediate expiration of the pregnancy.
Injection of medications into the fetal heart is routinely performed for many medical indications. There is no medical evidence that this procedure causes pain or torture to the fetus.
For medical personnel who are less experienced, Digoxin may injected into the amniotic cavity. Studies show the fetus expires in nearly 100% of cases in 24 hours or less.
The process for termination may be carried out surgically or medically after assuring the fetal heart beat has stopped.
Surgical Dilation and Evacuation For Late Term Abortions:
Cervical Preparation must be undertaken prior to using any surgical instruments to remove the pregnancy tissue. This is normally a 2 to 3 day process that involves using medications to slowly open and soften the cervix (opening that leads to the Uterus).
The cervical preparation process is the most important part of the procedure. It reduces the chance of all complications that may occur throughout the surgical abortion process:
- Cervical tears and lacerations
- Perforation (putting a hole) of the Uterus
- Incomplete Abortion (leaving behind pregnancy tissue in the Uterus)
- Heavy Vaginal Bleeding
- Infection
- Damage to other pelvic organs
- Maternal Death.
The medications used to prepare the cervix are Laminaria and Misoprostol.
Laminaria is sterile seaweed that is in the shape and length of a wood matchstick. It in inserted inside the cervix and slowly expands and softens the Cervix.
Misoprostol is a Prostaglandin. It can be placed vaginally, taken orally or placed between the cheek and gum (buccally) or underneath the tongue (sublingually). It causes the Uterus to contract and the cervix to open and become soft.
Late Term Abortion Using The Abortion Pill (Medical Abortion) Procedure:
Many think the Abortion Pill can only be used to terminate pregnancies in the fist trimester from 3 to 10 weeks. This is far from the truth.
Misoprostol alone was initially used in Countries where abortion was severely restricted or illegal to terminate their pregnancies from 3 to over 30 to 32 weeks without medical supervision beginning in the mid to late 1980’s.
Brazil and Countries in Africa began writing isolated reports in the Medical Literature regarding these self induced abortions. Many women ended up going to Hospitals due to heavy bleeding, severe pain, incomplete abortion and infections.
Misoprostol has been banned for purchase Over-the-counter in Brazil, other parts of South America and around the World due these self-induced abortions.
What Is Mifepristone?
Mifepristone (RU486, Mifeprex, Mifegyne, French Pill) was made in France in the 1970’s. It was found to cause early abortions in animals and was approved in the late 80’s for early pregnancy terminations (7 weeks or less).
The original intent of the drug was to be a glucocorticoid receptor antagonist to treat patients who have high blood sugars related to Cushing’s Disease.
Mifepristone blocks the Progesterone Hormone receptors on the Uterus. Progesterone is responsible for maintaining the growth of the pregnancy.
When Progesterone cannot attach to its Uterine Receptors or there is a very low amount circulating in the body, pregnancy termination may occur.
When Mifepristone is used alone, it causes pregnancy termination in 40 to 60 percent of patients who are 8 weeks or less pregnant in 1 to 3 weeks.
How Does Mifepristone Lead To Abortion?
Without Progesterone, it leads to the 1) breakdown of blood supplying the pregnancy, 2) opening and softening of the cervix, 3) an increase of pressure inside the Uterus and 4) release of prostaglandin from the lining of the Uterine wall. This initiates contractions of the Uterus and Vaginal bleeding.
Using Mifepristone alone with late term abortions leads to only a 0.2 to 0.4% abortion rate.
Thus with only a 40 to 60% success rate using Mifepristone alone in the first trimester of pregnancy and a 0.2 to .4 percent success rate in late term abortion, there was the need to add another medication to achieve a higher success rate.
Misoprostol (Cytotec) Use In Late Term Abortions:
Misoprostol was already known to terminate pregnancies in the first and second trimester of pregnancy.
Misoprostol is a Prostaglandin E1. It works by causing uterine contractions and expels the pregnancy.
Norway And Other Scandinavian Countries Have Been Performing Second Trimester Abortions Since The Late 1980’s using Mifepristone and Misoprostol:
Norway and other Scandinavian countries, UK, Africa, India and China primarily perform the majority of their abortions in the first and second trimester and all late term abortions using the Abortion Pill (Medical Abortion) Procedure.
By combining Mifepristone and Misoprostol, the success rate in terminating pregnancies in the first trimester is 94 to 99%.
The combination of using Mifepristone and Misoprostol in Late Term Abortions has a 99% success rate in 24 hours or less with less than a 1% chance of side effects or complications.
What Are The Complications And Side Effects Of The Late Term Abortion Pill Procedure?
The most common side effects are shivering, chills, low grade temperature, nausea, vomiting, lower abdominal pain, vaginal bleeding and diarrhea.
Other complications that may require immediate medical evaluation are:
- Heavy vaginal bleeding- using more than 2 pads an hour
- Severe abdominal pain that prevents routine activity and not relieved by over the counter pain medication
- Temperature greater than 101.4 for more than 24 hours and not resolved with antipyretics (Tylenol, Motrin etc).
The chance of Maternal Death is 11 to 14 times greater with women who have a term delivery than undergoing a legal surgical or medical abortion.
How Long Does A Late Term Abortion Normally Take?
A late term surgical abortion may take 1 to 4 does of cervical preparation prior to undergoing the surgical procedure that may take 10 to 30 minutes to complete.
A late term abortion pill (medical abortion) procedure may average 4 to 18 hours. Most patients complete the Induction termination process between 10 to 16 hours.
In Summary:
The definition of Late Term Abortion is vague. There is no definitive number of weeks in the medical literature that suggests what a Late Term Abortion is.
A pregnancy 21 weeks or greater is how we define Late Term Abortion in this blog. This represents 1.3% of the total number of abortions that occur in the United States.
The price of Late Term Abortions may range from $0 to $35,000.
Late Term Abortions can be started and completed in 24 hours or less in 99% of patients using the combined Medical Abortion Pill Procedure (Mifepristone and Misoprostol).
Dr James S Pendergraft | Orlando Women’s Center | Abortion Clinic Orlando
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