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.

If you start bleeding before your appointment and think it’s your period or a miscarriage, we recommend coming in and receiving an ultrasound. This can let you know if you were pregnant, miscarrying, and if there is any fetal tissue in your uterus.

However, for your safety, we’re only able to perform an ultrasound if certain conditions are met. We cannot perform an ultrasound if you have current bleeding or pain, have taken the abortion pill in the past 30 days, are already receiving care from another doctor for this pregnancy, have an IUD in place, or have had a tubal ligation. We can also only perform the scan once the pregnancy is at least 5 weeks and 5 days along.

Health & Safety Checklist Before an Abortion

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 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.

At Pregnancy Help Clinics of East Tennessee, 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:

Confirm a viable pregnancy
- We offer a free scan so you can know if the pregnancy is developing or if a miscarriage is possibly beginning
- You would not want to take any kind of abortion pills if you’re having a miscarriage.
Determine how far along you are
- This can rule out certain pregnancy options, including pills, which are only approved through early pregnancy
- We often see women who are further along than they think. This is a crucial safety step.
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 STD testing? These should be answered before any type of abortion, and certain medical steps may need to be taken.

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.

Already ordered pills? Here are a few things to consider.

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. Some women have reported receiving:

Expired or counterfeit medication
Pills with incorrect ingredients or dosages
Medications labeled in foreign languages without instructions

In one study conducted by Gynuity Health Projects, even among vetted online sources, delays in delivery and inconsistent instructions were common. When women are left to navigate a chemical abortion on their own, the risks increase dramatically.

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

Talk to us at your appointment if you’ve already ordered pills and are not sure what to do next.

Possible Complications to Avoid

A self-managed abortion at home without medical oversight can lead to:

Hemorrhaging, blood clots, or ongoing bleeding requiring emergency care
Incomplete abortion, requiring a surgical procedure
Infection from retained tissue
Emotional trauma or regret, especially if unexpected complications arise alone at home, or you felt pressured into an abortion
Uterine rupture: extremely rare but more likely in later gestations

Other side effects can be fever, nausea, vomiting, cramping, contractions, and more.

We can discuss:

What to expect during and after an abortion (and what to do if there are complications)
Medications you are currently taking and how they may interact with mifepristone and misoprostol (drugs used in an abortion) or possible sedation during an abortion procedure
The location and type of pregnancy (if your ultrasound is on the same day) and what that means for you
Recovery after an abortion
Other pregnancy options, free resources and aid available
Options if you only take one abortion pill and change your mind

If you have other questions, we’re happy to talk through anything you need to at your upcoming appointment. We’re looking forward to seeing you soon!

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