I (20F) recently went through a medical abortion here in Singapore. I’m not going to specify my details here for confidentiality reasons but I’m just going to share about my experience and my emotions.
I found out I was pregnant. A week later I broke up with my boyfriend as he did not want to be part of this. He neglected me right after i brought up the break up and went on to clubbing,parties and gone back to his old ways while I’m still going through my pregnancy. I can’t deny that it hurts terribly but from that point I knew that I could never have him in my life anymore.
Obviously I’m too young to raise the child by myself and I had covid and even took emergency contraceptive weeks before confirming my pregnancy. With no partner around and a baby potentially growing unhealthily in me, it is best for me to abort.
The experience to those in Singapore who want to know:
During ultrasound, i was still under 10 weeks pregnant so I didn’t think I would be able to see the shape of the baby and the heartbeat. The guilt really hit me as I have to abort him/her.
Counselling is mandatory. It was a 15 minute talk with a councillor. She didn’t convince me to keep, she only went through the abortion process and advise me on the variety of contraceptive options they have such as IUD and hormonal injections.
The abortion is in two parts: Part one is having the mifepristone orally then going home after 30 mins of observation. Soon after taking the pill I experienced fever and fatigue. The second day I vomited for an hour and had diarrhoea.
The second part is a misoprostrol pill that will be inserted into the vagina 2 days after taking the first pill.
For KKH, it is mandatory to be admitted in the hospital until its confirmed that the baby is fully expelled while the rest of the hospitals allow you to go home after the insertion of the pill.
I was still vomiting in the morning and I was told to be admitted in the hospital at 5am(not real timing). I got a bed 30 mins after registration and changed into the gown provided. They provided pads, disposable underwear, pee pads for the bed and wipes. Before breakfast, medication is given. Anti gastric to be taken before breakfast, antibiotics and painkillers to be taken after.
They inserted the misoprostol pill before breakfast came so I was already experiencing cramps before I could even take the painkillers. Breakfast came and i took the pills with it but vomited out everything 30 mins after. I wasn’t allowed to take anymore painkillers as i could only have them every 4 hrs.
The pain was horrible, it was the worst I’ve ever gone through. The nurses said that it is similar to childbirth and the pain was necessary to expel the fetus. I couldn’t sleep or use my phone to distract myself so it was just pain for the next 4 hours. I vomited and had diarrhoea another 3 times.
Around 4 hrs later a huge blob came. Its a clear sac filled with purple blood (probably deoxygenated since i had the pill two days earlier). Called the nurses and they retrieved the fetus. There were a lot of mixed feelings. Relieved because its out but sad because my body lost a child.
I then bled most of the tissues out, going through 1 pad every two hours. I had my last ultrasound and its all good so I was discharged in the evening. The whole process was 11 hours.
That was my abortion experience in Singapore and I would never want anyone to go through that.
Right now, I’m still experiencing the grief of losing my partner and the guilt of terminating our child. I would like to know if there’s anyone that went through the same situation as me, how did you go through this without a partner?
