Someone asked us:

Hi, I haven’t had my period for about two months so I’m going to get a test either today or tomorrow - if I am pregnant, I would want to get an abortion. I heard about the option of taking an abortion pill. Is there a certain number of weeks you must be under in order to be able to take the pill? I heard you have to be under 11 weeks but I thought I would just ask you guys to make sure.

You’re right that the abortion pill can only be used very early in pregnancy. The cut-off is only 63 days, or nine weeks, after the first day of your last period, so it sounds like you might be right around the limit. To know for sure you can ask your health care provider or go to your local Planned Parenthood. If you need an abortion and are more than nine weeks pregnant, you can still have an in-clinic abortion.

An in-clinic abortion is performed in a clinic by a health care provider and can be performed later on in pregnancy. There are a couple different kinds of in-clinic abortions, which you can learn more about on our website.

Both medication abortions and in-clinic abortions are safe and effective ways to end a pregnancy. If you’re pregnant and you want to get an abortion, you and your health care provider can talk about which abortion method would be right for you.

- Nina at Planned Parenthood