What are the limits when an abortion is performed?

[Yuffi]

Hi all,

I'm trying to understand this a little more.

Basically I am unclear about when it is performed.

Let's say (for example) you have an abortion in the first trimester when most of them occur. That's around 13 weeks or so.

So if someone gets an abortion in the first trimester - is the first trimester considered 13 weeks *from the time of conception* or 13 weeks *from the last period*? Basically how do they count the weeks to the maximum time when you can have one?

[ret5hd]

1. why would you...

come to a message board such as this to get an answer to a question like that?

let the hopelessly endless and banal regurgitation of the opinions endlessly reposted here begin...complete with hit-and-run flame-baiters, evangelical democrats, freeper trolls, and atheists begin.

hope you're happy.

[Yuffi]

2. Not an opinion

I'm just unclear how the weeks are counted.

[slinkerwink]

3. wrong forum to ask your flame-bait question

[Yuffi]

7. Ugh

Not flame bait. I was reading the PP web site and it lists everything in weeks. I'm just not sure if the weeks are counted from conception or the last period.

[Liberal Veteran]

11. Logically it would be silly to count from the last period. Think about it.

Many women have irregular periods. If she didn't have a period for six months and got pregnant last month, she is NOT six months pregnant.

[Yuffi]

15. I agree

But one of the PP FAQs said "from the last period" and that threw me off.

[Warpy]

21. So go ask THEM

[Endangered Specie]

4. Ahem, WRONG forum!

[davidh_R]

5. abortions

I'm not sure how they determine that, i do know that in Minnesota that its legal to get an abortion anytime during your pregnancy, even in the third trimester. i wonder if it is legal to give birth naturally, and have the doctors perform an abortion before they completely remove the baby?

[Liberal Veteran]

8. Case in point.

:)

[blondeatlast]

12. That didn't take long, did it? nt

[sangh0]

23. Check it's profile

It didn't last long either

:goodbye:

[blondeatlast]

26. No wonder, check out this GD post regarding civilian casualties

in Iraq:

davidh_R (4 posts) Sun Sep-26-04 03:23 PM
Response to Original message

7. how can you expect no civilian casualties in a war?


there has never been a war in history where innocent civilians have not died, is this supposed to be shocking news? those people in Iraq appreciate us for helping them liberate them from Saddam's sadistic regime!


Was the guy from the textbook, or what???

Rimjob's gotta stop sending over the kiddies or he'll never get anywhere.

[ret5hd]

9. and here we go...

are you and yuffi friends?

[bluestateguy]

6. From time of conception

Which can be pretty well pin-pointed. Roe v. Wade allows abortions in the first trimester, and states are free to impose restrictions in the 2nd and 3rd trimesters so long as they do not constitute an undue burden for the woman--regulations designed simply to harass or intimidate the woman. States are also free to require parental notification or consent for minors, or to require that women be informed of any risks associated with abortion. Nor are states obligated to provide funding for abortion.

[Yuffi]

10. I see

Thank you for the info. Just wasn't sure how they derived weeks.

[Yuffi]

13. Well here is why I was confused

http://www.plannedparenthood.org/ABORTION/030213_ab1trimester.html

At one point here it says "from the last period" which is confusing because at other places it doesn't say from that point. The last period was contradictory to what I read elsewhere. (conception)

[blondeatlast]

16. Suggestion: DU is not a board of medical professionals.

There ARE MDs and RNs on this board, but I doubt they would touch this question with a ten foot pole (liability issues).

Where you've gone wrong:

1)Your subject, plus your very low post count, makes us a tad nervous.

2)You posted in the wrong DU forum; it should have been in the Meeting Room.

3)It doesn't belong on a POLITICAL message board at all.

There are PLENTY of places on the net where this question could have been answered; why the hell would one of your first posts be THIS?

Welcome to DU.

See you tomorrow, perhaps, though I'm doubtful.

[Yuffi]

17. Well I'm not asking for

medical reasons more so than to be at least somewhat informed on the issue whenever it comes up politically.

Sorry about the wrong forum too. This one looked like it was for misc topics.

[blondeatlast]

18. Have you not heard of GOOGLE?

This is a message board; and this is the social forum on said message board.

This is too twisted for words...

[Yuffi]

20. Have you tried google?

Believe it or not I did - and I got tons of right wing dis-info sites. That's why I tried to stick to PP. At this site I didn't have to worry about right wing dis-info.

[slinkerwink]

24. try http://www.now.org or http://www.naral.org

[JVS]

14. The fetus is not to exceed a velocity of 55 mph, unless otherwise posted

[ant]

19. an answer, though it probably doesn't matter

http://www2.hu-berlin.de/sexology/ECE2/html/beginning.html

A woman's pregnancy begins with the implantation of a blastocyst (i.e. the fertilized egg in a certain stage of development) in her uterus and, under normal conditions, ends about nine months later with the birth of a baby. However, for certain purposes of medical calculation the beginning of pregnancy is not dated from the time of implantation, but from the first day of the last menstruation. (The reason for this is that a woman is not aware of an implantation, but usually can recall the date of her last menstruation.)

I believe pregnancy time measured according to Last Menstrual Period (LMP) is usually noted as "X weeks LMP." I would also guess that these days doctors can better pinpoint the time of implantation based on fetal development.

In any case, the law actually doesn't kick in until "viability," which is up to the discretion of the individual doctor. If I remember correctly most abortions actually take place in the first 8-9 weeks of pregnancy. Since that's so early in the pregnancy, I would think the difference between time of last period and time of implantation is probably not enough to make a difference in terms of distinguishing a first trimester abortion from a second trimester one.

Edited to point out that since implantion will always take place after your last period, the error will be one that overestimates the pregnancy's progression. It seems the LMP calculation makes the pregnancy "older" than it really is.

[slappypan]

22. Are you pregnant?

Perhaps you should consult your physician.

[Bridget Burke]

25. Ask your gynecologist.

I'm sure she'll give you the info you need.