Assuming you had your follow-up exam after your abortion to make sure it was fully completed; you may be wondering if you are pregnant again. Familiar pregnancy symptoms may make you consider taking a pregnancy test, but how soon after an abortion can you get pregnant?  This is a common question. Some literature says a woman can ovulate as soon as 5 days after an abortion, which means that if you have unprotected sex, you can get pregnant right away.

However, many women do not want to even think about having sex that soon after an abortion. It is not uncommon to have a range of emotions after an abortion — relief, loss, sadness, or guilt, so sex probably won’t be a priority; but it is not unreasonable to think you may want to have sex a few weeks later. In fact, it is recommended by many providers that a woman waits to have sex for 2-3 weeks, particularly after a medical abortion, to prevent the risk of infection. 

Most women see the normal return of their menstrual cycle 4-8 weeks after their abortion. It is not at all uncommon for us to see women here in our clinic who are pregnant again within a few months after their abortion. This is not a situation most women want to be in.

After an abortion, either medical or surgical, it is common for a woman to have spotting for about 2 weeks. The amount and length of time spotting continues varies depending on how early or late in the pregnancy the abortion was performed, what type of abortion was done, and if the abortion procedure was fully completed. 

Because the bleeding can last 2 weeks or more, many women think they are “safe” from getting pregnant again. I often hear, “I thought it would take time for my body to get back to normal” or, “I hadn’t gotten my period back yet so I thought I could not get pregnant so soon after an abortion.” Unfortunately, that is not always the case.

It could happen like this:

• Your cycle reset the day of your abortion
• You ovulate 14 days BEFORE your period
• You had unprotected sex during ovulation
• You get pregnant and may or may not have even “seen” the return of your period