Questionmy friend just had a medical (pill)abortion one week ago. she started bleeding and everything they told her would happen did and she does not believe she is pregnant anymore. however, she made the decision to have sex with her boyfriend last night (6 days after abortion) and the condom broke. she is wondering what the chances are that she may be pregnant or get pregnant from this incident. and what she should do to take care of it if there is a chance. thank you!
AnswerDear Leslie,
Your friend can rest assured that she did not get pregnant one week after a medical abortion. However, after one week, there is some risk, so she should be careful going forward. In general, she should know about Plan B emergency contraception. These are pills that you can take after you have unprotected sex, and they prevent pregnancy. The sooner you take them the better they work (>90%), but they still have some effectiveness up to 5 days after the incident (around 80%). In this situation, she doesn't need to take them given that she should not have been fertile that soon after medical abortion. If this would have happened in the second week, however, I would have advised taking Plan B as soon as possible.
For our readers in New York City, we sell Plan B at our Early Options offices for only $20 (it usually sells for $60 in pharmacies).
There is more information on medical abortion, pregnancy after abortion and Plan B on our website: http://www.earlyabortionoptions.com
I hope this is helpful to you and your friend,
Doctor Joan
New York City
