Frequently Asked Questions

Most women living in the UK (excluding Northern Ireland) can have their treatment paid for by the NHS or another government department (97% of BPAS clients in 2018). Check if this applies to you when you call 03457 30 40 30 to book.

If you are a European national currently in the UK but do not have access to NHS funding and are more than 10 weeks pregnant, please contact the Abortion Support Network for advice on funding: www.asn.org.uk/

If you need to fund your own treatment click here for prices

Very – we understand the need for confidentiality and have a legal duty to protect your privacy. We keep information about you safe and secure. It’s usual for healthcare providers to inform GPs that we have treated their patients - we will ask you if it is OK to contact your GP. Click here for more information about your health records.

To avoid waiting in our call queue, please email us from the email address you provided us at the time of your booking to info@bpas.org with your reference number and password. There is no need to call us as we will cancel your appointment for you.

You can change your mind at any time - we want you to be totally sure. Call 03457304030 to rearrange your appointment so your appointment isn’t wasted. You can also call if you want to book some or more pregnancy options counselling.

Abortion treatment is very safe, especially in the early weeks of pregnancy. No clinical procedure is without risk and these are fully explained to you before treatment.

The best treatment for you depends how many weeks pregnant you are, the results of your medical assessment and your preference. The abortion treatment type we offer you will be based on clinical opinion and best practice guidelines. We’ll discuss this with you fully before treatment.

This depends on the type of abortion you choose, and your own pain tolerance limit. We will make you as comfortable as possible. 

• Vacuum aspiration (local anaesthetic) up to 12 or 14 weeks - you will feel cramping similar to period pain. You are given pain relief tablets and a numbing injection to the neck of your womb (cervix). 
• Vacuum aspiration with conscious sedation up to 14 weeks – you are relaxed and sleepy and will feel little or no pain.  You will be given a numbing injection to the neck of your womb and sedative medication is given through a cannula (thin plastic tube) placed into a vein in your hand
• Dilatation and evacuation from 15 to under 24 weeks - over 18 weeks this is done under general anaesthetic so you will  be unconscious and  feel no pain during the procedure. Anaesthetic or sedative medication is given through a cannula (thin plastic tube) placed into a vein in your hand.  From 15 to 18 weeks treatment is usually done with conscious sedation so you will be relaxed and sleepy and will feel little or no pain.
• Early medical abortion up to 10 weeks (70 days) - you will have lower abdominal pain, which can be severe in some cases. We recommend the use of ibuprofen, but we can also prescribe codeine to help manage the pain. If you cannot take ibuprofen, you can use paracetamol instead.  
• Medical abortion over 10 weeks (70+ days) - gas and air and painkillers are given as needed for the contractions experienced during labour and delivery. Over 22 weeks gestation you will need feticide which involves mild discomfort during the injection to your tummy.

Yes, although the chances of getting pregnant at the beginning or end of your cycle are very low. The problem is, if you don't want to be pregnant, you can't take chances.

While it will vary from woman to woman, you are usually most fertile around 2 weeks before your next period is due. This is when an egg is released from your ovaries (ovulation).

Sperm can live for up to 5 days inside you, so even if you have sex early on in your cycle there is a possibility sperm will still be there when you ovulate and the egg will be fertilised. If you ovulate early, it would be possible to get pregnant shortly after your period finishes.

Some women think if they've had unprotected sex a few times and not become pregnant that they may be infertile, but all this suggests is they probably weren't having sex at their fertile time.

If you've had unprotected sex and don't want to be pregnant, use emergency contraception as soon as possible after it's happened.

Most women who have had chlamydia won't have any difficulties conceiving that are related to the infection.

There may be a greater chance of chlamydia affecting fertility if you have repeated infections or if it goes untreated and causes a condition called Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID). However many women who have had a diagnosis of PID will go on to have babies. It's always best to identify chlamydia infection early, and testing and treatment is straightforward and painless.

If you are under 25, the NHS recommends you are tested every year or when you change partners. You can also request a free postal self-test kit on line in your local area. Find out more information online from NHS Choices

Yes it does, although not as hard as you may think. Despite the scare stories, getting pregnant is not a problem for most women in their 30s.

The best available evidence shows that among couples having regular unprotected sex:

• Aged 19-26: 92% will conceive after 1 year
• Aged 27-34: 86% will conceive after 1 year
• Aged 35-39: 82% will conceive after 1 year
• More than 90% in all groups will have conceived after 2 years.

While fertility does decline with age, plenty of women get pregnant over the age of 40, with around 1 in 25 births and abortions to women in this older age group. However the risk of miscarriage also increases with age, and around half of pregnancies among women in their 40s end in miscarriage. Older women also have a higher chance of having a baby affected by Down's Syndrome  - although the overall risk at 40 is still only 1 in 100 (meaning the vast majority of pregnancies are not affected).

If you want to avoid unplanned pregnancy, contraception needs to be used until you have gone through the menopause, or are 55 or older.  If you are having difficulties conceiving a wanted pregnancy at any age, you should seek medical advice.

No, although it is something that those opposed to abortion may say. There is absolutely no evidence that safe, legal abortion will lead to infertility. In fact, after an abortion, fertility returns almost immediately.

There is a myth that it takes some time for the hormones to leave your body before your fertility kicks in again.

The truth is you can get pregnant very soon after you stop using most hormonal contraception (which is why women can conceive when they miss pills or have had a tummy bug), so you need to use another method of contraception if you want to avoid pregnancy. The same is also true of a copper IUD (the coil) - once removed, your fertility quickly returns to normal.

With the Depo-Provera injection, it can take up to a year for fertility to return once you stop the injection, but there is no guarantee. So again, if you want to avoid pregnancy, you need to use contraception straight away.

There is no evidence to show that taking the emergency contraceptive pill, even repeatedly, will affect your future fertility. The most widely used emergency contraceptive pill is Levonelle®. It's very safe and contains less than half the active hormone contained in a monthly cycle of normal contraceptive pills. It can be used more than once in one cycle if needed. The hormone leaves your body within days, so you need to use another form of contraception to protect against pregnancy if you have sex again during that cycle.

The other emergency contraceptive pill is EllaOne®, which appears to be more effective than Levonelle® in women who weigh around 12 stone or more (75kg), and provides very high protection against unwanted pregnancy for up to 5 days after unprotected sex. It should not be used more than once per cycle, and if you've taken it because you missed your regular contraceptive pill you need to use condoms as well as your usual pills for the next 14 days.

If it's been 3 weeks or more since the birth of your baby, you need to use contraception if you don't want to get pregnant again straightaway. Exclusively breastfeeding can be an extremely effective method of contraception but you need to be feeding very regularly (at least every 4 hours during the day and every 6 hours at night), your baby must be less than 6 months old, and your periods must not have returned. Soothers and expressing milk also make it less effective.

There are many safe methods of contraception you can use while breastfeeding that won't harm your baby or milk supply, so talk to your doctor or midwife to help you find one that's right for you ... more 

Yes. PCOS doesn't necessarily mean you cannot to get pregnant, and women who have been diagnosed can still conceive naturally, even if they are not having normal periods. So if you wish to avoid pregnancy, you should still use contraception.

Endometriosis is a common gynaecological condition and it does not always cause infertility. In fact, the vast majority of women with mild endometriosis will have no problem conceiving naturally. While severe endometriosis may make it more difficult to conceive, it is estimated that half of all women with the condition will have no difficulties at all.

Not if you don't want to be pregnant. Women often assume fertility problems are down to them, but in fact a third of all cases where couples are having difficulty conceiving are due to the male partner. These can include having a low sperm count or unusually shaped sperm, which makes it harder for them to swim and fertilise an egg. You could get pregnant very quickly with a new partner even if you didn't with your last.

Being overweight, with a BMI of 30 or above, may mean it takes a bit longer to conceive a wanted pregnancy but few obese women are infertile.  It's recommended if you are actively seeking to become pregnant that you try to lose some weight before becoming pregnant, as some of the risks associated with pregnancy increase with greater BMI. These risks need to be kept in perspective - for example, the overall risk of early miscarriage is one in 5, and if your BMI is over 30 the risk is one in 4. If you don't want to become pregnant, it's important to find a contraceptive method that suits you. You should not be denied the vast majority of contraceptive methods on the basis of your BMI alone.

Information about COVID-19 vaccines for women of reproductive age

BPAS is aware that there is misinformation about Covid-19 vaccines circulating – and some women have been concerned that vaccination may put their future fertility at risk. This is not the case. We have put the following factsheet together to address some of the concerns and misconceptions about the vaccines.

• Getting the COVID-19 vaccination as soon as you are eligible will protect you and help to protect your friends, family and loved ones. The COVID-19 vaccine should also help reduce the rates of serious illness, therefore reducing pressure on the NHS.
• The vaccines approved for use in the UK have met strict standards of safety, quality and effectiveness set out by the independent Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
• Any coronavirus vaccine that is approved must go through all the clinical trials and safety checks all other licensed medicines go through. Safety data has been gathered from trials involving participants from diverse racial, ethnic and geographic groups.
• Other vaccines are being developed. They will only be available on the NHS once they have been thoroughly tested to make sure they are safe and effective.
• So far, millions of people have been given a COVID-19 vaccine and reports of serious side effects, such as allergic reactions, have been very rare. No long-term complications have been reported.
• There is no evidence to suggest that Covid-19 vaccines will affect fertility, and no biologically plausible mechanism by which current vaccines would impact upon your fertility. 
• COVID vaccines are now recommended for pregnant women, please speak to your midwife or GP for more information
• Evidence so far reviewed by the MHRA has raised no concerns about safety in pregnancy. Women who were vaccinated before they knew they were pregnant should not be alarmed. 
• If an unplanned pregnancy is otherwise wanted, there is no reason to consider termination due to vaccination before a pregnancy was recognised.
• The vaccines do not contain any meat derivatives or porcine products or material of foetal or animal origin. 

If you need further information or have any concerns about the vaccine, talk to your GP as soon as you can.