You may be thinking that ultrasounds are only necessary when you intend to carry a pregnancy to term or that you just don’t have any interest in having one, because you are planning on having an abortion. Did you know, however, that ultrasounds are primarily a tool to check the viability of a pregnancy? That’s right: since 10%-25% of pregnancies end in miscarriage*, an ultrasound can be critical to giving you all the information you need to know before making the decision to terminate your pregnancy.
A friend of mine actually wrote her story after experiencing a miscarriage that was detected by ultrasound. You see, she found out through over the counter pregnancy tests that she was pregnant and her boyfriend immediately insisted that she use an abortion pill to “just take care of it”. Terrified that he’d leave her if she didn’t find the RU-486 pill, she reached out to a local non-profit women’s clinic, like us.
During my friend’s appointment, the clinic staff explained her options, including the abortion pill, and offered an ultrasound performed to evaluate viability. She accepted, and it was during that procedure that she learned that the gestational sac was empty – the pregnancy was not viable. Had she not undergone the ultrasound procedure, she might have paid for an abortion and gone through a procedure when she wasn’t even truly pregnant.
If you find yourself facing the decision to terminate, do yourself a favor and get an ultrasound. We offer the procedure for free and can give you the information that you need – that you deserve – in an unplanned pregnancy situation.
* Source: miscarriage percent: National Library of Medicine