Early abortions a trend: Doctors

With more and more women popping the pill to avoid pregnancies, early terminations are now on the rise

With more and more women popping the pill to avoid pregnancies, early terminations are now on the rise

While babies may be known as gifts from the Gods, many young women in the city are taking to terminating these gifts in the early stages of pregnancy. With oral contraceptives being regularly advertised on television, doctors in the city say that more women are now becoming masters of their choices thus reducing a late termination.

Gynaecologist Ritu Naresh from Belle Vues Cambridge Hospital, said, "A lot of women now know they have more choices. Many of them blindly take emergency contraceptive pills, which is dangerous. I help abort about 10 fetuses a month -- about 90 per cent of the patients are unmarried women."

Chill pill? City doctors say about 90 per cent of the women who come for abortion are unmarried. Representation pic

She added, "Because so many women abort their pregnancies in the first few weeks the number of late abortions has come down drastically." Pradha Singal, head of gynaecology at Epmcs Women's Clinic, said, "The use of emergency contraceptives is on the rise compared to last year. It's turning into a trend, and unlike before many women know how to use an oral contraceptive before it's too late." She added, "Last month, I aborted about 10 fetuses. Women both married and unmarried are becoming more responsible now when it comes to intercourse."

Punyavathi Nagaraj, a gynaecologist with Gynaecology and Surgical Clinic, said, "There has been an overall increase in early abortions. The women who come to my clinic take emergency contraceptives before coming in with excess bleeding. Because of this late terminations are down. I hardly see those cases that require invasive procedures. Of the eight women I see every month four are unmarried." With emergency contraceptives pills readily available for over-the-counter use, doctors agree that not everyone knows how the pill works and still recommend regular oral contraceptives.

Padmini Prasad, head of gynaecology at the Institute of Sexual Medicine, said, "Termination of late pregnancies (third trimester) are down 20 per cent. About 10 per cent make up for the number of women who go to private clinics for an abortion. It is okay to use emergency contraceptives during an actual emergency -- you can't always rely on the man during intercourse. But their regular use may cause trouble in the long run."