Family Planning Centre
Carlton 3053
Melbourne Australia
Phone: 61 3 9347 7036

Abortion is the most common surgical procedure in the world. When done by a qualified doctor early in the pregnancy it is 8-10 times safer than child birth. Abortions at the clinic are done in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy (12 weeks from the first day of your last period). They can be done under local anaesthetic - you are awake - or general anaesthetic - you are asleep. The abortions are done by suction curettage. The cervix - neck of the womb - is stretched gradually with curved instruments called dilators. A slender plastic tube (diameter of 7-9 mm) is passed through the cervical canal into the uterus. Using a vacuum pump, the contents of the uterus are evacuated. The doctor then scrapes the inside of the uterus with a curette - a small sharp instrument with a loop shaped end - to check that the uterus is empty. The operation takes about 5-10 minutes. If you are more than 12 weeks pregnant it is still possible to have an abortion, you can be referred to a doctor who does midtrimester abortions for assessment.