Many women in this country constantly argue that the government has no place in the affairs of women's bodies, reproductive organs, and right to choose. Okay, but you also have the right to be informed. Before you choose to have an abortion, you should have adequate information to make such a decision. All other medical procedures receive informed consent. Ergo, abortion patients should as well. Here are a few things you may not have known about this procedure, and why you should definitely be told before you go ahead with an abortion.

At Four Weeks Post-Gestation, the Embryo Has a Heart

Before you decide that abortion is the only solution, ask to listen to the embryo's heartbeat. A handheld Doppler sonogram picks up the steady and very rapid heartbeat of the embryo. Within another four weeks, which is usually about the time that a woman figures out that she IS pregnant, you can monitor the embryo's brain waves. The beginnings of the nervous system and major organs are also present.

At Eight Weeks, the Embryo Becomes a Male or Stays Female

All embryos at the very start are female. Science still has not been able to figure out why, but they do know how and what transforms the female embryos into males. A sudden overproduction of testosterone in the mother's bloodstream, and its subsequent flooding of the embryo's brain, completely and permanently alter's the embryo's brain chemistry and hormones. The embryo immediately begins to grow a penis and transform labia into a scrotal sack to prepare for the testes to descend. All of this happens at only eight weeks' gestation.

In Women Who Have Had a D&C (Dilation and Curettage), the Scar Tissue Left Behind Creates Fertility Issues

A "dilation and curettage" procedure, also known as a D&C, is commonly performed as the main abortion procedure. Your cervix is dilated with intense contraction-inducing drugs, the likes which most women have not yet felt when they have a first-time abortion. This is followed by inserting sharp, scraping instruments into your uterus to scrape "the products of conception" out of your body. The scraping leaves behind scar tissue.

The scar tissue can cause some major issues later on when you actually want to conceive and have a child. A fertilized egg cannot properly find a spot to implant in the uterine wall. Even if implantation occurs, there may be other issues with carrying the embryo/fetus to term. Still, you do have the right to choose. To learn more about pregnancy and pregnancy counseling, contact a clinic like All Women's Clinic.