A client shares her medical abortion story

A client shares her experience of accessing MSI medical abortion services.

“I am 25 and have been with my boyfriend for 5 years. We are both very early on in our careers and we have a lot more that we want to do before we are ready for children. This is something we had discussed previously.” 

Around six weeks ago, I had been feeling a little unwell at work and had been having stomach cramps for around a week. I thought this was just because I was due on my period. I didn’t think for a minute I could be pregnant.

I took a pregnancy test and it came back positive. I instantly felt a huge sense of shock and sadness. I rang my boyfriend who reassured me straight away, we already knew what we would do.

The next morning at work, I rang my GP who gave me the number for MSI. I was then booked in for a phone consultation, I was very emotional during this time and I just couldn’t seem to ‘pull it together’. I think this was both the shock and hormones more than anything.

The following Friday, I went to a clinic where they did an internal scan confirming I was roughly six weeks pregnant. Again, I was really upset during this but the staff couldn’t have been any more understanding and supportive. They also booked me in for counselling sessions which I am due to start tomorrow. After my scan, another nurse spoke to me and explained the medication and talked me through what would happen.

I took the first tablet on that Friday and felt no different, then on the Saturday afternoon I took the 4 tablets by dissolving them in my gums. I was terrified to do this but in my experience it really wasn’t as bad as I expected. I had very bad cramps for a few hours, worse than my usual period pains so I took painkillers and a hot water bottle which was really helpful. I took the extra two tablets after speaking to a nurse on the phone as there wasn’t much bleeding, and later I went to sleep.

The next morning I was still in a little pain and bleeding. I felt okay by Monday and continued to bleed for the next week but it wasn’t very heavy. I spoke to a nurse about this so they booked me in for a follow up scan which I went to the following week. This confirmed that I was no longer pregnant and that there were no issues internally. I have recently had my next normal period and have been feeling absolutely fine.

At the time of my abortion, I read every clients story on this website and I told myself I would have to write my own. For me, this was a comfort and reassurance from real people so I really hope that this will help others like me.

One day I really hope to be a mum but my overarching feeling after my abortion was relief and I think that says it all.

You can read more abortion stories at this link.