Yes, Elective Abortions Are Sought In The Late Second Trimester
(This post originally appeared here)
When I originally started compiling this list, the outrage over the Houseâs passage of a 20-week abortion ban had been subsumed by the fresher outrage of their proposed 6-week abortion ban. Â I let it languish in my drafts, only to find the issue renewed now that the Senate is planning a vote today.
Then and now, though, Iâve became increasingly frustrated by the discussions I see- enraged in equal measure by the ignorant comments (âYou shouldnât wait until 5 months to decide!â) and well-meaning ones (âAll abortions at that stage are on wanted pregnancies that had problems they couldnât detect until thenâ).
Hereâs what we know: the vast majority of abortions (98.7%) take place before 21 weeks (and of those, again, the vast majority-95%-take place before 16 weeks). Â Fetal anomalies are often undetectable until later on in a pregnancy (and sometimes will simply be monitored at the first signs to watch and see if things turn [further] south). Â Thanks in part to the various state and federal bills that have been proposed and passed, many, many brave women and couples have come forward to share their personal stories of difficult decisions to terminate pregnancies they desperately wanted. Â In fact, as my research has shown me, these inundate the Internet- itâs tough to weed through all the doomed pregnancy stories to find those of late-term abortions performed on healthy pregnancies. Â Whether thatâs because the former outnubmers the latter or because one is far less likely to get backlash sharing tragic tales, itâs hard to say. Â Jennifer Lincoln, M.D., states that elective abortions at or after 20 weeks make up 0.3% of all abortions, but itâs unclear where that statistic is coming from. Â A 1999 U.S. News article (indeed, so old it can only be found online in an archived version) titled âWhen Abortions Come Late In A Pregnancyâ by Marianne Lavelle purports to have done in-depth interviews at 18 late-term clinics (out of the 79 available, 31 to whom they reached out), stating that only 9.4% were done for medical reasons and that some 90% were nonmedical. Â Those numbers remains incredibly frustrating, however, given it articleâs nature as a survey and not a published study. Â One of the few published studies we do have, Diana Greene Foster and Katrina Kimportâs âWho Seeks Abortions at or After 20 Weeks?â, notes in its conclusion that âBut data suggest that most women seeking later terminations are not doing so for reasons of fetal anomaly or life endangerment.â Â (Indeed, in the Turnaway Study, from which Foster and Kimport culled their data, âWomen who were seeking abortion care for a fetal abnormality or demise were not eligible for the study.â).
Given the glaring lack of research on the topic, I wanted to create a collection of stories shared online by women who have considered, sought, or undergone late second-trimester abortions.  These stories are scattered on various websites and  occasionally reported on by major publications (using pseuonyms for the women in question).  Although this list was sparked by the 20-week ban, Iâve included stories all the way down to 16 weeks precisely because delays in access can easily turn a pregnancy discovered at 16 or 18 weeks into an abortion at or beyond 20 weeks.  Of course, the list compiled is hampered by my own Google search abilities (and whether the content uses easily searchable phrases like âX-week abortionâ)- itâs by no means meant to be exhaustive (though I will gladly update with additional links should they be provided to me).  Due to the anonymous nature of most of the postings, I cannot guarantee if two or more stories might be from the same woman, shared across multiple online platforms.  And a warning: they can be tough to read.  In the best cases, itâs a pregnancy discovered quite late and immediately terminated.  In others, thereâs pain and complications, regret, abuse, rape, pressure and coercion-by-ultimatum.
A final note: regardless of how you feel about late(r)-term abortion, Iâd suggest reading these stories. Â They are not meant to to prove anything other than the fact that they do, indeed, happen, and to fill the void with a richer and fuller context surrounding those abortions which receive either dismissal or hyper-focus (depending on what point is being made). Â It never hurts to learn more about the situations, motivations, thoughts, and feelings of women getting abortions.
âą I Was Fourteen When I Had My Abortion . . . by anonymous on My Abortion, My Life
âą Learning To Forgive Myself by Louise Smith on Exhale Pro-Voice
âą 2nd Trimester Abortion . . . My Story (Long) by lana_x on BabyCenter.comâs Community Forums
âą I've Always Known That I Don't Want Children by Anonymous on My Abortion, My Life
17 Weeks and Going To Clinic in an Hour by JessicaTheFirst on Redditâs Abortion Subreddit
âą I Had a Late Term Abortion by prochoicechick on Redditâs TwoXChromosomes
âą I'm 23 Years Old and Have Had 5 Abortions . . . by jamie on My Abortion, My Life
âą A Medical Abortion At 18 Weeks on Pregnancy Choices Directory
âą Terminating Next Week At 18 Weeks by deanna_g on BabyCenter.comâs Community Forums
âą 18 Weeks Pregnant - Need Abortion by Cookiesandcream123 on Mums Net
âą Abortion At 18 Weeks: Sharing My Experience by t-hrowaway9298450 on Redditâs TwoXChromosomes
âą 18 Weeks And 6 Days: A True Story By A Pregnant Teen by StillAlive on Mind Your Mind
âą Wanting To Have An Abortion At 18 Weeks by Klarisa on Experience Project
âą I Had An Abortion at 18 Weeks And I Donât Regret It by Therealsupermum on Paper Blog
âą I Couldnât Tell Anyone by Reia anonymous on Exhale Pro-Voice
âą Ayah Fae by moon beam on Exhale Pro-Voice
âą My Surgical Abortion At 18 Weeks (Long Positive Story) by rekt-mist on Redditâs Abortion Subreddit
âą Growing Up I Was Never The Girl Who Played House . . . by Brooklyn on My Abortion, My Life
âą A Surgical Abortion At 19 Weeks And 6 Days on Pregnancy Choices Directory
âą I Was Almost 19 Weeks Pregnant on Pregnancy Choices Directory
âą A Medical Abortion At 19 Weeks on Pregnancy Choices Directory
âą 19 Weeks by prettycityy on Experience Project
âą Having a late term abortion next week. I am terrified and would appreciate any advice or insight on Redditâs Abortion Subreddit
âą I Had An Abortion At 20 Weeks Yesterday by chibnit on Redditâs Abortion Subreddit
âą The 20-Week Abortion Ban Is Designed To Hurt Poor Women by Jennifer Wright for Harperâs Bazaar
âą So I am 20-22 weeks by BaddyVelvet on Redditâs Abortion Subreddit
âą The Doctor Said To Me: 'Couldn't You Just Go Through With The Pregnancy?' by Zoe Gillard for The Guardian
âą Need An Abortion In Texas? Donât Be Poor as reported by Carolyn Jones in The Texas Observer
âą I Had One - My Story by AnnMarie C on Exhale Pro-Voice
âą Need Support- Appointment tomorrow, later term by neverhavetoo on Redditâs Abortion SubredditÂ
⹠The truth about later abortions, according to someone who actually had one as reported by Amanda Michelle Gomez for Think Progress
âą A Surgical Abortion At 22 Weeks on Pregnancy Choices Directory
âą Considering Abortion At 22 Weeks . . . Please Do Not Judge! by Anon (1562411) on Net Mums
âą My Abortion Experience (22W) by Violet337 on BabyCenter.comâs Community Forums
âą Abortion At 22 Weeks by Soon2B2 on eHealthâs Forum
âą My Experience With A Very Late Term Surgical Abortion by shameissues on Redditâs TwoXChromosomes
âą I Never Thought Iâd Regret My Abortion At 23 Weeks So Much on Whisper
âą My Abortion Experience At 23 Weeks 6 Days by NICKELâźPOLIS on BabyGaga.comâs Community Forum
âą I Had A Second Trimester Abortion At 23 Weeks And 5 Days by sadpandam8 on Redditâs TwoXChromosomes
âą Surgical abortion at 23 weeks; 21 F by TigerlilyFawn on Redditâs Abortion Subreddit
âą My Easy Way Out: A Guest Post by Mel Walters on Abortion Gang
âą An Abortion at Nearly 24 Weeks published by Chris Bodenner in The Atlantic
⹠What It Was Like to Get a Later Abortion by Beth Vial for Teen Vogue
âą Later Abortions and Reproductive Justice by Steph Harold for Abortion Gang
âą Â After Tiller* (at the 51-minute mark, the receptionist fields a call from a 19 year-old woman who is 28 weeks along. Â The woman explains that she has a 3-year old son and is currently in college but canât afford daycare for two kids and would have to quit school if the pregnancy continues, and that adoption is not a feasible option for her).
* Two other women also appear in the video but without specifying how far along they are; at the 50-minute mark, the doctor decides against providing an abortion to a French woman named Michelle who has called in. Â At around the 58-minute mark, a patient with two existing children describes being delayed multiple times due to trying to raise the money and getting the money, only to realize she was then at the point where the price had risen again (not to mention another delay due to someone close going into the hospital); she explained that she hadnât done any prenatal care and had been drinking.