Before Your Appointment

We’re looking forward to meeting you! Before your appointment, we would like to share a few common questions and some health and safety tips from our medical team.

Health & Safety Checklist Before an Abortion

You are not a transaction and your health shouldn’t be either.

Abortion pill

While online ordering or drive-by pickups seem fast and easy, the FDA and DEA do not recommend ordering online or getting pills from unsafe providers.

There has been a large increase in long-term side effects and emergency complications in recent years. Emergency complications and taking unknown drugs of any kind can put your health at risk.

The Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC) issued a groundbreaking report that shows 1 in 10 women experienced serious adverse events from a chemical abortion (the abortion pill). That’s 22 times higher than the rate reported in clinical trials cited by the FDA. These events include serious complications like sepsis, hemorrhaging, infection, hospitalization, and even surgery.

View our abortion safety checklist here.

Your First Steps

At Blue Ridge Pregnancy Center, we’ve also heard so many stories from our patients that we’re now making sure women know more before their appointment with us. Your health and safety steps include:

free ultrasounds

Confirm a viable pregnancy

  • At your appointment, we will do an ultrasound to determine if the pregnancy is occurring within your uterus, if it is a viable pregnancy (baby has a heartbeat), and how far along you are.
  • This is important because abortion pills do not resolve a miscarriage or a pregnancy that is located outside of the uterus (ectopic pregnancy).
Schedule

Determine how far along you are

  • This can rule out certain pregnancy options, including abortion pills, which are only FDA approved through 10 weeks.
  • We often see women who are further along than they think. This is a crucial safety step.
options consultations

Talk through your health history

  • With any drug, side effects can vary greatly. We’ll talk through the risks and complications, what to expect, and if there are any likely allergic reactions you can avoid. 
  • Are you Rh negative? Do you have an IUD? Do you need STI testing? These all should be answered before any type of abortion and certain medical steps may need to be taken.
Abortion pill

Already ordered pills? Can you trust what's in the package?

  • When abortion pills are obtained through unverified online sources, there is no guarantee of what you’re actually receiving and no doctor to oversee your care.
  • Due to the large increase in long-term side effects and emergency complications, the FDA and DEA do not recommend ordering abortion pills online. The EPPC’s latest study shows 1 in 10 women experienced serious adverse events after the abortion pill.
  • One of the biggest benefits of starting with us is that you can ask questions and get answers without any pressure or cost involved! We’re here to put you first.
  • If you have questions in the meantime, call us.

We prioritize your health and safety.

They really touched base on everything I was concerned about and made me feel at peace. I got a lot of insight and information that I needed.

I was well taken care of. The nurse was so kind and gentle, and she made me feel safe.

They gave me a lot of information and made sure I was okay along the way. I felt respected by everyone I spoke with. They looked at me, not my situation.