How Having a Termination Can Affect You During Future Pregnancies

Getting pregnant can have a significant impact on you, whether it is planned or unplanned, and whether you decide to keep the baby or terminate the pregnancy. If you’ve had a termination before, then a new pregnancy can also bring up old emotions or make you rethink what happened in the past.

How Will Abortion Affect Future Pregnancies?

If you’ve had an abortion before, then it’s very common to worry what effects it could have on your fertility or one any future pregnancies. Although you might hear scare stories, the techniques that are used during the termination of pregnancy by doctors in the UK are very safe. A very small number of women will experience serious complications such as infections or injuries to the reproductive organs. If these problems aren’t treated promptly, then they could make it harder to get pregnant or increase the risk of pregnancy complications. However, most women won’t experience any long term effects after a termination of pregnancy. In fact, your fertility will return to normal right away.

How Will I Feel if I Get Pregnant After an Abortion?

Every woman feels differently about each abortion and pregnancy. If you get pregnant after having a termination in the past, then you might feel very differently about your current pregnancy than the previous one. Sometimes, another pregnancy can bring up old emotions or make you re-think your decision about the abortion.

Some common experiences during pregnancy after a termination include:

• Worrying that something could go wrong because of the termination. As long as you didn’t have any serious complications during the termination of pregnancy procedure, there shouldn’t be any impact on your fertility or future pregnancies.
• Feeling guilty about having a baby now after ending a pregnancy before. Remember why you made the decision then and how different your circumstances might be now.
• Sadness about the past termination of pregnancy and that your new baby could have had an older sibling. You might feel upset now even if you didn’t experience much grief at the time.

It’s important to allow yourself to feel these negative emotions rather than try to ignore them but seek help if they’re too much for you to handle. It’s also important to be aware that pregnancy hormones can affect your moods too, so your emotions can be stronger or more unstable because of this.

However, every woman is different, so you might experience very different emotions or not think much about the past at all. It’s important to be aware of how you feel and to get support if you need it, but don’t worry if you just want to focus on your current pregnancy. There’s no “right” way to feel when you’re pregnant, whether or not you’ve had a termination in the past.

Getting Support After Termination of Pregnancy

Talking to someone about how you feel is the best way to process your emotions during pregnancy. Sometimes it’s enough to simply chat with a friend or tell your partner what you’re thinking. However, the emotions we feel during pregnancy can be particularly strong, thanks to all of those hormones. Becoming a parent can also be a very emotional journey, especially if you have had a termination before.

If you need any additional support during pregnancy then you should talk to your doctor, midwife or a therapist. You can also find lots of advice online or use online forums to talk to other women who’ve been through similar experiences.