What Really Happens During an Abortion?

It is difficult to talk about abortion without hearing an opinion about it. Before we choose sides, it is important to actually understand what happens when a person decides to get an abortion. I found a lot of information on different types of abortions and decided to format this post in bullet points in order to organize my thoughts.

Before we get into the types of abortions, let’s look at some general abortion statistics. 

• In 2013, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recorded 664,435 legal abortions within the United States. The ratio of abortions for women 15 to 44 years old was about 200 abortions for every 1000 live births. (CDC). 
• Of the abortions performed, 91.6% of medical abortions were performed earlier than 13 weeks gestation. (CDC). At 13 weeks, most fetuses are around 3 inches long and weigh one ounce. (ACOG). 
• Reasons for ending a pregnancy vary from person to person, but here are some common reasons why someone may choose to get an abortion: 
• The mother* may not feel ready for parenthood. 
• Compromised health of the baby or mother. 
• Not enough money to follow through with a pregnancy or to take care of a baby. 

Here are some of the most common** types of legal abortions, when they happen during a pregnancy, where and how they are performed.

• The Mifepristone Pill 
• The pill is a popular abortion method in pregnancies under 7 weeks, but can be used up to 10 weeks. (FDA). The abortion pill contains a synthetic steroid known as mifepristone, which terminates a pregnancy by acting as an antagonist and blocking the hormone progesterone. When progesterone is absent during a pregnancy, the lining of the uterus breaks down and can no longer nourish and protect the embryo. (Drugs.com). Progesterone also promotes the relaxation of uterine muscles. When it is blocked, the uterus cramps and can expel the pregnancy as it would a normal period. (FDA). 
• The abortion pill is normally followed by a misoprostol tablet, which is inserted into the vagina and causes heavy bleeding and cramps. Most women begin bleeding about 2 hours after, and pass the pregnancy within 4-5 hours of inserting the misoprostol tablet. 
• Passing the pregnancy should feel like a heavy period with lots of cramping. During this stage, most doctors will administer pain medication to ease discomfort from cramps. (BPAS). 
• Vacuum aspiration 
• Vacuum aspiration or ‘suction abortion’ is a surgical procedure which removes uterine contents by sucking them out through the cervix, either manually or using a machine. Manual vacuum uses a syringe to apply suction and may be used up to 12 weeks since the last menstrual period. Machine vacuum is a more common method within the first 12 weeks of a pregnancy and uses a thin tube called a cannula (which is attached to a pump) to gently vacuum out the pregnancy. (WebMD). 
• Before aspiration, a cervical dilator is often placed in the cervix to slowly open it and make the procedure easier. misoprostol may be given to soften the cervical lining and make it easier to expel the pregnancy. Antibiotics are also given after the procedure to prevent infection. (University of Miami Health). 
• The procedure is quick, (about 15 minutes), and local anesthetic and sedation are often used to make it easier and less painful- suction pain will feel like heavy cramps but pain will lessen when the tube is removed. (WebMD). 
• Dilation and Curettage 
• Dilation and curettage (D&C) is a surgical abortion performed up to 16 weeks, and is also used to treat uterine conditions, remove miscarriages and to remove uterine growths. (Hopkins Medicine). 
• A D&C can be done in a health care provider’s center, hospital or surgery center. The patient will likely receive anesthesia or a local anesthetic to ease pain from the procedure. 
• During a D&C, the cervix is dilated using a series of rods that start small and get larger. Once the cervix is dilated, the uterine tissue and pregnancy is removed using a curette, which is a long tool with a loop on the end used for scraping. Most tissue is sent to a lab for testing, and the patient will receive antibiotics to prevent infection from the procedure. (ACOG). 
• The recovery may include spotting and mild cramping, but the patient will be able to go home when the surgery is over and resume regular life the following days (Hopkins Medicine) 
• Dilation and Evacuation 
• Dilation and evacuation is a surgical procedure that is performed within the second 12 weeks of pregnancy. it is similar to D&C, but is performed within up to 24 weeks of the pregnancy. 
• It takes about half an hour and is normally performed at a hospital or specialized abortion clinic, (not planned parenthood), 
• In a D&E, the patient is given an ultrasound and antibiotic to prevent infection. The patient will then have pain medicine injected around the cervical area and may receive a spinal anesthesia injection or general anesthesia. (WebMD). 
• The cervix is dilated and the contents of the uterus are scraped out using a curette or pumped out with a gentle vacuum 
• Forceps are used to remove larger pieces of tissue if a curette is being used 
• While recovering from the surgery, the patient may experience cramping, irregular bleeding and strong emotional reactions. The patient will be able to return to normal activities the day after the procedure, but should rest on the first day. (WebMD). 

I am going to link an ASAP Science video below about the science behind abortions. It is a great general overview of different types of abortions and is a helpful introductory to this small portion of women’s health services. It is actually what inspired me to do a bit more research on this topic, so check it out!! Feel free to have a political discussion on abortion in the comments also. I believe that women’s health is about freedom to choose and safety. What do you think?





* I am using the terms like women, mother and she/her pronouns in this post to refer to people who can get pregnant, but I want to clarify that not everyone who has traditionally “female” genitalia will identify as female. That being said, I thought using the traditional terms would help to clarify the information I found.

** This post will not cover every method of abortion, and I will only be discussing the details of abortions that are legal and safe. For more information about anti abortion laws, illegal abortions and women’s health, check out some of the following links:

• On unsafe abortion: 
• https://web.archive.org/web/20110716212405/http://www.sogc.org/jogc/abstracts/full/200912_WomensHealth_1.pdf
• http://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/publications/general/lancet_4.pdf 
• More info on misoprostol: 
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11814515
• General abortion stats from the CDC:
• https://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/data_stats/abortion.htm

Works Cited

"CDCs Abortion Surveillance System FAQs." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 06 Jan. 2017. Web. 27 Mar. 2017.

Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. "Drug Safety and Availability - Mifeprex (mifepristone) Information." U S Food and Drug Administration Home Page. Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, 30 Mar. 2016. Web. 28 Mar. 2017.

"Dilation and Curettage (D and C)." Dilation and Curettage (D and C) | Johns Hopkins Medicine Health Library. Johns Hopkins Health System, n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2017.

"Dilation and Evacuation (D&E) for Abortion." WebMD. WebMD, 22 Oct. 2015. Web. 29 Mar. 2017.

"Medical Abortion:." BPAS - British Pregnancy Advisory Service. British Pregnancy Advisory Service, 2015. Web. 28 Mar. 2017.

"Mifepristone: Indications, Side Effects, Warnings." Drugs.com. Drugs.com, 2 Mar. 2017. Web. 28 Mar. 2017.

"Reproductive Health Services." Manual Vacuum Aspiration | Reproductive Health Services at Miller School of Medicine. University of Miami Health System, n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2017.

"Vacuum Aspiration for Abortion." WebMD. WebMD, 22 May 2015. Web. 29 Mar. 2017.

"Women's Health Care Physicians." Dilation and Curettage (D&C) - ACOG. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Feb. 2016. Web. 29 Mar. 2017.

"Women's Health Care Physicians." Prenatal Development: How Your Baby Grows During Pregnancy - ACOG. The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, June 2015. Web. 27 Mar. 2017.

Rwandan Hotel

Recently in class we have been watching the movie hotel Rwanda. I cant help but draw big parallels to this movie and Schindler's list. In both movies there is a protagonist who is safe from the violence, Schindler is german nazi, and Paul is a Hutu. They both start out as bystanders but soon become up-standers after seeing the atrocities that developed before them. They both had people they wanted to protect. Actually a similar amount of people were both saved by the hotel and the factory, around 1200 each. They both used a landmark to shelter people and protect them. The hotel and the factory. They both also bribed many higher ups in an attempt to help the people they were protecting. Almost anywhere you look you can see the similarities between the two stories. Two entirely different events but two similar stories. Very interesting how genocide made these events happen.

First ISIS Attack For Trump

Last night, an attack in London killed three people, including one unarmed officer. This attack has been claimed by ISIS, making this one of the nearly 150 attacks that they have done. Though this is similar to what has happened before, with Donald Trump just coming into office, I wonder if this strategies will differ from Obama. Trump has made many bold claims about immigration, terrorist attacks, and other such events that Obama had much different views on. This could affect the way that he goes about helping this situation. This attack wasn't nearly as big as some of the other attacks have been, but being the largest London has experienced in nearly a decade, there is a huge impact for the people there. I have not seen any statements made by Trump yet, but I am interested to see how he ends up reacting to the whole situation.

Embedded on Police Shootings

NPR's podcast Embedded is doing an ongoing investigation into videos of police shootings: why the shootings happen, how peoples biases affect how they see them, etc. Thus far it's been remarkably even-handed. The first episode, "Police Videos: Charlotte," is about the shooting of Jonathan Ferrell and why Officer Randall Kerrick's trial ended in a hung jury. The second episode, "Police Videos: Flagstaff," is about the shooting of police officer Tyler Stewart during a routine call and the footage changed policing. This series has been updating once weekly.

2017 mvp- westbrook

This isn't related to what we are learning in global but I think with all the depressing things we've seen and are learning about this can be something to take us away from the sad things we're learning about. Without a doubt Russell Westbrook deserves the MVP award. Many people will say no because his team isn't as good as the teams of other mvp candidates, but tell me who else is averaging a triple-double. No one. He does everything on the court and he is carrying his team to the playoffs with no help. Lebron, Harden, and Kawhi all have way better teams than Westbrook but no one is playing harder every night than Russell. He has the killer instinct and does whatever he needs to win a game. You don't see him complaining that he needs a playmaker. That's because he is the playmaker on the team. He is putting up numbers that haven't been seen since Oscar Robertson back in the 60s! If he isn't MVP then I probably won't even watch the playoffs this year. Jk I'll still watch the playoffs but I'll be pretty mad if he doesn't win mvp tbh.

Tax Returns - The Downfall of One Liberal Argument

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Last night (3/14/17), MSNBC's Rachel Maddow aired a news special on her show after one journalist received a "client copy" of Donald Trump's 2005 tax returns and gave the highly sought-after documents to her. Aside from the fact that Trump himself likely mailed his own copy of his taxes to the press which got many in the mainstream media riled up, many anti-Trump protesters and liberals believed that they had finally found the smoking gun in these newly obtained tax returns that Donald Trump didn't want to (more like didn't feel the need) give out and publicize.

So the questions and speculation began to pour in..

Did these tax returns show that Donald Trump dodged paying federal taxes for 20 years?

Did these returns suggest Donald Trump had monetary ties to Russia? (according to Democrats)

Did Donald Trump abuse the tax system, not pay any taxes and steal money from the government?

The short and simple answer to answer all of these delusional liberal questions is no.

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The tax return forms actually showed that Donald Trump had definitely paid federal taxes. In fact in 2005 alone, he paid in upwards of $38 million dollars in income taxes alone while he paid over tens of millions in other taxes such as sales, excise, and employment taxes that year. 

A statement delivered from the White House shortly after the airing of Maddow's segment helps clear up any doubt of Trump not paying federal taxes.

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While questions regarding Trump's payment of federal taxes had been resolved (and quite humiliatingly too), the question remained. Did Donald Trump's tax returns show that he had any monetary ties to Russia?

A brief analysis into the forms show that is also a lie.

In other news, Trump paid a higher tax rate (25%) than Bernie Sanders (13.5%), Barack Obama (19%), and MSNBC's parent company Comcast (24%).

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For further reading on this subject (if it wasn't easy enough to comprehend):

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-trump-tax-returns-show-he-did-not-avoid-taxes-20170314-story.html

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-03-14/msnbcs-non-story-trump-made-150-million-paid-25-effective-tax-rate

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/christinerousselle/2017/03/14/ha-trump-paid-a-higher-percentage-of-income-tax-than-bernie-sanders-and-mitt-romney-n2299022

Genocide: dangers of today

Genocide, also known as the mass killing of a specific group of people, has been en event with a more and more frequent occurrence over the past century. Most notably, the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust provide many people the devastation that came with the slaughter of millions of innocent people. However, with more modern concepts and technology, the difficulty of committing a genocide has decreased. While the internet now exists and any large event can immediately be shared worldwide within seconds, the speed and efficiency that a genocide can theoretically happen at today is equally as fast. The germans were able to eliminate around 6,000,000 jews in 6 years while the Rwandan genocide featured nearly 1,000,000 deaths within a couple of months. In the 21st century most countries now possess nuclear power as well and simply have the threat of dropping a nuclear bomb and immediately killing hundreds of thousands of people. Because of this it is vital that each group employs a regulated government that doesn't allow any radical dictatorships which could possibly lead to another massive genocide. Furthermore it is necessary that open minded behavior and acceptance is practiced worldwide in order to avoid discrimination between groups and avoid any such extreme violent behavior in the future.

All talk

Trump keeps saying how much he hates Obama care and how it is not helping americans, But after the white house created a new health care plan many conservative in the house and senate have shot it down. This plan would increase the price of insurance and decrease the number of people insured. Trump keeps talking about all these things that are going to help americans but in reality some of the things he is doing are not helping most people. Im glad to see after the Democrats lost the majority in all three branches of government that there are still some good people trying to help americans.

Siblings are NOT the Same

After watching the documentary on inheritance, it really made me think about this whole concept of legacy, and how Monica felt like she had to suffer for her fathers crimes and actions, even though she had NOTHING to do with it. Obviously most likely none of us can relate to her situation, but I'm sure all of you who have older siblings can relate to something similar. Whenever we have relatives over or I have to talk to old family friends I always get asked, "So your sister is a great singer, do you sing too? Are you going to sing in college?" And every time I explain that I'm not a singer and not going to pursue a singing career. But recently when I got asked this question again, instead I responded with a question for them, "Do you and your sibling do the same things? Do you both share the same talents? No? Well then theirs your answer." I suppose it's a common mistake, but siblings are NOT THE SAME PERSON. So I suppose I can relate to Monica on a certain level.

Slow Genocide

While the U.N. legal definition defines genocide as trying to destroy a culture by either killing them, sterilizing them, taking away children, or creating conditions meant to destroy them, can say the Jim Crow laws from the U.S. or apartheid in South Africa be considered an economic condition meant to slowly destroy them. Now we have to keep in mind that genocide is usually a conspiracy, has to have intent, and doesn't necessarily have to be successful. In both cases Jim Crow and apartheid were codified and created by many people, although intent is hard to prove and a matter of opinion. So what is your opinion.

Hearing everyone talk about only having 2 months left...

Sitting in 4th period today and hearing Ms. B talk about how now that we have finished our literature reviews its time to start the interviews and get more into our research, really painted the picture of ending school clear. Its been clear that in order to be able to walk the stage and graduate that we have to submit and pass on our senior projects. It wasn't so clear how fast time was gonna fly and how fast the dates of checking things of our list were gonna come. We all gotta push each other to finish, and be there for each other if one needs an interview or if one needs help answering a few questions about their projects!

Making France Great Again

After watching a 60 Minutes episode on the current election going on in France, I decided to do more research on Marine Le Pen, one of the current candidates. Being a part of the National Front party, Le Pen is opposed to all immigration into France. What I found interesting was that it seemed as though she and Donald Trump have closely related views on immigration and what to do about it. She made a comment in the interview about how Muslims should not be allowed to wear headscarves in public, and this truly shocked me. Le Pen goes on to say that those such actions are "not France". This is something that directly correlates to the ideas that Trump has about wanting immigrants out of the US.

Some of our nation was shocked by the fact that Trump was able to get so popular from his ideas of immigration and wanting to build a wall, but this is actually a concept that is starting to be brought up worldwide. I am not fully familiar to the National Front Party of France, but wanting no immigration is not a new idea to this party. The terror attacks in France have most likely amplified the fear of immigrants, but this is still not a new thing. Though Trump's ideas were shocking, he was able to see other groups feel the same way and mirror that.

"There's something I just don't understand: the people who come to France, why would they want to change France, to live in France the same way they lived back home?" (Le Pen). You could input United States into France in that quote and that is one of the ideas that Trump stands by. He wanted to "Make America Great Again" because he believes that America has changed into an immigration place to live.

I had not followed the political race in France until now, but seeing how it mirrors a lot of what has just happened in the US, I think that it is an important race to follow.

Witness and Host

Playing witness and host was one of the biggest issues of the lead up to the holocaust. By putting Hitler into office, the Germans knew the direction that they were going towards. The hate that Hitler and his party had for the Jews was undeniable, and would undoubtedly cause issues in the future. From Episode 1 of "A Warning from History", it was clear that there was a lot of unrest and struggle for the people of Germany, and that then made them desperate for a huge change. That need for change made Hitler seem like the perfect fit because he knew exactly what he wanted. The lead up to the Holocaust also was made possible by the amount of support and dedication that the German people grew to have for Hitler. He was such an influential man that by having so many people support him, he was able to manipulate concepts that would otherwise be seen as cruel. Because of the love that people felt for him, he was able to get people to do things like swear an oath to him rather than the country, and create propaganda that made everything seem perfect. People didn’t see Hitler’s actions as cruel any longer; they saw them as a step to freedom. As the war continued, the Nazis were gaining land and power, things that the Germans loved. Seeing that Hitler could be so successful made them continue to follow his lead without question. Though the Jews were being transported to ghettos and then the camps, the people of Germany were more intrigued by the fact that they were winning a war that they didn’t necessarily ask questions about what was going on. This support also continued when Hitler took over the rest of Poland. This much land with that many Jews was a huge success for him and Germany. By this time, the people of Germany were being so influenced by propaganda and Hitler himself that the “deportation” of Jews was okay to them. They knew generally what was going on in the camps but because it wasn’t happening to them, it was not a huge deal. Once the Nazis were losing control of the war and began to answer the Jewish Question, it became clear of the intentions of Hitler and that is when people were so much more aware of the extent of the horror. But, even with that, most still did not do anything about it. It is interesting how distant the German people were throughout this whole thing, but because the non Jews were not affected, it does make sense why most would try to stay away from the events.

Highlighting the Absurdity of Racial Classifications

Last semester we talked a lot about how race is a social construct. I've been catching up on my inbox, and Al Jazeera sent me this article. Not only is it an interesting fact, it shows how absurd our racial classifications can be in reality. Apparently, the US Census Bureau classifies all native Arabic speakers as white, which has been interesting for Sudanese Americans, given that they're often native Arabic speakers, yet most people would say, "Yeah, they're black."

Overall, an interesting callback to some of our earlier work.

Focus

Forget about everything else and just focus on what makes you happy. Don't worry about what people say or what they think, just focus on yourself and do whatever makes you feel happy. Focus on your 24 hours in a day and how you can make those hours useful. We can all be successful but not everyone wants to put in the work. The difference between those who succeed and those who don't is how they use their 24 hours. We only have a couple of months left in school and we have to keep working hard if we want to be successful. We can do this.

Spring Sports Already Here....

They say time flies when you are having fun, but i'm not sure if submitting college apps is always so fun. I am sure though especially for myself fun has come when I have been accepted to many of the colleges that I have applied too. Its crazy how focusing on getting into college has made things fly by so fast. It felt like yesterday that the boys and I were padding up to go play ball, and now I am already starting lacrosse the last sport of my high school career. It crazy because every other year of high school I was like oh yea here comes lacrosse season all pumped up and ready and now this year I want it to go by so slow. We all talk about wanting to leave high school, but when our old friends who are now in college come back and say "you will never relive   again" it makes you really realize that after this year everything is going to change. Senior year has gone by faster than expected and with that being said its already March 1st. There ain't no more February or January. 3 more months and we hit June and thats the month we will all be practicing for graduation and getting ready to say bye bye.

It's going to be okay

Hey guys, I know that we are coming towards the end of Senior Year, and that a lot of us are kind of stressing over it. Some of that stress may come from this Senior Project, or if you got into a college or not, or maybe even something in your personal life. But know this, we are almost there, we just have to keep pushing through. I know for myself this Senior Project is killing me. Yeah its difficult but, I know that its worth doing because I'd much rather be walking on stage with my diploma along all of you than to not be there for one of the most important days of my life.  Keep it up guys!

Why I never watch the news anymore?

I never watch the news anymore, why because I really can't stand how ugly our president looks, but on the real the news now a days is nothing but Donald Trump. It is either him saying something people don't like and there will be a big debate about the situation on CNN, FOX, etc. I would see him on the TV with him in his meetings, and I actually try to listen, but jesus christ his vocabulary is as good as a 5th grader. The words that he uses in his speeches are so simple, I swear I heard him use the word "bad" about 20 times in his 2 minute speeches. You really can't another word to use for bad, and I think its kinda funny that Obama could have speeches for about 20 minutes to 30 minutes and every speech that Trump ever spoke was at least 5 minutes, so it is either Trump can't find anything to say in speech because he doesn't know what he is talking about or this dude just cant read. Also I would like to say that Donald Trump is the most sensitive president that I have had in my lifetime at least. He always crying about the news not liking him, no one likes you and you crying, you already knew that from the beginning . Trump is the softest president that we have ever had, and I have declared that.