The story of a medical abortion in Italy: "I thought I was dying. No one prepared me for that hemorrhage. I was alone and helpless."
The right to abortion has been law in Italy for almost half a century, thanks to Law 194. For several years now, women have been able to choose, up to the ninth week, to opt for a medical abortion using the RU486 pill . This is on paper. In reality, this right is often severely challenged, if not opposed. And not infrequently, women find themselves facing an ordeal at a time when, among other things, the public health system should be at its most supportive and welcoming. Yet, with conscientious objector doctors , limited information, and a lack of facilities, the abortion experience continues to be traumatic in many cases . The interview we offer you was conducted with Ludovica (not her real name), thirty-five, a woman—already a mother—residing in Tuscany.
Why did you decide to have a medical abortion?
I was just a few weeks pregnant, a week late, and I took the test. For me, it was a bolt from the blue. Unfortunately, my family situation wouldn't have allowed me to continue with the pregnancy peacefully. With great pain, I decided I couldn't continue with it. I knew that medical abortion was possible within the first few weeks, without the discomfort of surgery, so I opted for that option.
What kind of expectations did he have?
I thought it would be easier and more painless than it actually turned out to be. Physically, of course, because psychologically it wouldn't have been easy in either case.
Was the application submitted by your gynecologist?
No, the first person I called when I found out I was pregnant was her, but she told me over the phone that she was a conscientious objector, so she wouldn't examine me and that I should go to the clinic.
Did you have all the information you needed when you accepted?
Once I received the doctor's certification requesting to avail myself of Law 194, I went to my local clinic. After a brief ultrasound, they confirmed that I was eligible for medical termination of pregnancy and explained what it entailed: a first pill that same morning, to interrupt the embryo's development; a second pill, 48 hours later, at the same clinic, to expel the embryo.
Were you offered the option of taking the drug in a day hospital setting?
No, I wasn't given this option (even though it's possible in Tuscany, ed. ). Five minutes after taking the second pill, you're discharged, with the recommendation to rest at home during the day, taking ibuprofen as needed. When I asked what to expect, I was told it would be nothing more or less than a very heavy period.
Can you tell us what happened to you after you took the second pill?
When I got home, about five hours after taking the pill, I suddenly found myself in the midst of a full-blown hemorrhage. There were two episodes, lasting about forty minutes in total, during which I was helpless and frightened, losing a huge amount of blood. I had been completely unprepared for the event, having expected nothing more or less than a menstrual flow, however heavy. It was a devastating experience. Thank goodness I had placed the children with their grandparents. What would they have thought seeing their mother in that condition? Perhaps that she was about to die?
Did the emergency numbers you were given work?
No, the number provided by the emergency clinic had an answering machine. My partner and I then called an ambulance: the fear of a real hemorrhage was too great, and we were frightened and unprepared. The ambulance staff checked my basic parameters (pulse, blood pressure, oxygen saturation), but everything had returned to normal by the time the ambulance arrived (about half an hour): the bleeding had stopped and the blood flow had stabilized at a regular menstrual flow.
How would you sum up your experience?
The option of medical abortion instead of surgical abortion is certainly an innovation that better protects the health and physiological recovery of the woman who decides to resort to this extremely painful choice, the reasons for which she and she alone can know and which can never be questioned. However, I believe that the procedures for medical abortion are incorrect. In fact, I believe that day hospitalization is necessary so that the woman can feel protected and her vital signs are monitored. I believe that the information about medical abortion is incomplete. to are lacking and describe it as simpler than it actually is.
How did you and your partner feel?
In fact, my partner and I found ourselves alone and helpless in the face of a sudden and violent miscarriage, which also raised serious concerns for my health. If we had been in a protected environment, such as a hospital, where the medication and the subsequent miscarriage had been monitored, we probably wouldn't have experienced this shock. Or at least, we should have been given a choice: being admitted to a day hospital, with all the necessary checks, or returning home immediately after taking the medication, but with more adequate training and more detailed and complete instructions on the medications to be taken and the method of expulsion of the embryo. I imagine that hospitalization is ruled out primarily for cost reasons, but I dream of a public health system where a patient isn't just a number, and a woman, already deeply psychologically distressed by the pain of having to make that excruciating choice, isn't left to abort, alone, at home.
Luce
