Early methods of abortion

In varying degree, the methods that prevent implantation, and therefore kill a baby at one week of life, include the intrauterine device (IUD), Norplant, Depo Provera, Progesterone Only pills, low-dose contraceptive combination pills, and the morning-after pills. Let's take them one at a time.

IUD

The intrauterine device, commonly referred to as an IUD or coil (in Europe), is a small plastic or metal device that is inserted through the vagina and into the cavity of the uterus. The purpose of this is to "prevent" pregnancy. The very young child is "expelled" from the womb.

An IUD can cause an early abortion

NORPLANT

This is an implant under the skin of the woman's forearm that lasts five years. In the first half of that time it's effect is to almost always suppress ovulation. In the last half of that time, break-through ovulation is the rule. However, very few pregnancies survive. Clearly, this second half is commonly effective through micro-abortions and prevention of implantation.

DEPO PROVERA

As with Norplant, there is some variance from woman to woman, but in a far higher percent of cases Depo Provera suppresses ovulation. Break-through ovulation, however, does occur as attested to by full-term pregnancies recorded with women who were receiving this shot every three months.

 DepoProvera

METHOTREXATE

The procedure with methotrexate is similar to the one using RU 486, though administered by an intramuscular injection instead of a pill. Originally designed to attack fast growing cells such as cancers by neutralizing the B vitamin folic acid necessary for cell division, methotrexate apparently attacks the fast growing cells of the trophoblast as well, the tissue surrounding the embryo that eventually gives rise to the placenta.

The trophoblast not only functions as the "life support system" for the developing child, drawing oxygen and nutrients from the mother's blood supply and disposing of carbon dioxide and waste products, but also produces the hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) hormone which signals the corpus luteum to continue the production of progesterone necessary to prevent breakdown of the uterine lining and loss of the pregnancy.

Methotrexate initiaties the disintengration of that sustaining, protective, and nourishing environment. Deprived of the food, oxygen, and fluids he or she needs to survive, the baby dies. Three to seven days later (depending on the protocol used), a suppository of misoprostol (the same prostaglandin used with RU 486) is inserted into a woman's vagina to trigger expulsion of the tiny body of the child from the woman's uterus.

Sometimes this occurs within the next few hours, but often a second dose of the prostaglandin is required, making the time lapse between the initial administration of methotrexate and the actual completion of the abortion as long as several weeks. A woman may bleed for weeks (42 days in one study), even heavily, and may abort anywhere - at home, on the bus, at work, etc. Those found to be still pregnant in later visits (at least 1 in 25) are given surgical abortions.

Even doctors who support abortion are reluctant to prescribe methotrexate for abortion because of its high toxicity and unpredictable side effects. Those side effects commonly include nausea, pain, diarrhoea, as well as less visible but more serious effects such as bone marrow depression, severe anaemia, liver damage and methotrexate-induced lung disease.

Though researchers performing methotrexate abortions have dismissed such concerns because of the low dosage used, other doctors in the abortion trade have disagreed, and the package insert clearly warns that "toxic effects may be related in frequency and severity to dose or frequency of administration but have been seen at all doses."

This also works to kill a baby after his or her heart has begun to beat. It works roughly within the same timeframe, but in a different fashion. The RU 486 essentially starves the baby which then dies and is lost. Methotrexate is a direct poison and kills the developing baby. It is definitely not safe. It is a cellular toxin and has been used for years to kill cancer cells. The object of cancer treatment is to kill cancer cells before the drug kills the patient.

PROSTAGLANDIN

A pill form, Cytotec or Misoprostol, has been used in concomitant oral and vaginal doses. Its "effectiveness" is in question. Used without medical supervision in Brazil, it has frequently failed to produce abortions and, in a number of documented cases, has caused foetal deformity.