Gynecology |
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Abortion - Surgical First Trimester
 Preparation
Procedure
Recovery
Procedure When you are fully relaxed, the doctor, health educator and/or doctor-in-training will ask you to undress from the waist down and put on a patient gown. Your support person can be right next to you for the whole procedure. The doctor will:
- Use a speculum to view inside your vagina
- Clean your vagina and cervix with gauze soaked in soap
- Apply numbing medication to your cervix
- Dilate your cervix, the tight opening to your uterus, with thin metal rods
- Insert a narrow flexible tube into your uterus
- Apply gentle suction to the other end of the tube to remove all of the pregnancy tissue
Toward the end of the procedure, you may feel a cramp that feels similar to a menstrual cramp in your uterus as it is shrinking down to its usual size. Most of the procedure time is spent preparing your body for the procedure. The suction portion only takes about a minute and the entire procedure takes around 15 to 20 minutes.
Reviewed by health care specialists at UCSF Medical Center.
Last updated February 28, 2008
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