A newly pregnant person has three options from which to choose: Parenting, Adoption, Abortion. They are all equally valid and only the pregnant person can make the final call on what is the right one for them. For more information on all your choices, please check out Planned Parenthood’s Pregnancy Options page. If you’re overwhelmed at the potential that you might be pregnant and you don’t even know where to start, Scarleteen’s here for you with their article “Pregnancy Scared?”
Of course there is so much more to learn about abortion than we had room to fit in one brief comic. I very heartily encourage you to do some more research on your own! Some excellent resources are:
If you need some after-abortion support, Exhale is the nation’s premiere organization addressing the emotional health and wellbeing of people after abortion.
Comic Updated 3/25/15:
Medical abortion is administered up to 9 weeks of pregnancy, not 10, and at 8-9 weeks it is possible to see the embryo pass out of the body, although earlier than that and it is much more unlikely. I apologize for these initial mistakes.
Comic Updated 12/19/23:
Corrected some language on page 2, to reflect the current understanding that the embryo would have developed cardiac activity, but not a fully formed heart/heart-beat.
I footnoted a bunch of URLs in the comic, here they are in clickable form:
The 13th-century manuscript of Pseudo-Apuleius’s Herbarium from Wikipedia’s article on Abortifacient
* PROTECT SAFE AND LEGAL ABORTION fact sheet from Planned Parenthood and The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
** The comparative safety of legal induced abortion and childbirth in the United States from the National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health
† Miscarriage on Planned Parenthood
‡ Induced Abortion in the United States by The Guttmacher Institute
§ Thinking About Abortion on Planned Parenthood
We’ve also done two previous comics on Pregnancy and Emergency Contraception
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Meanwhile, In Seattle…
Heeeey!!! This weekend, March 27-29th, Matthew and I’ll be at the Emerald City Comicon! Here’s the deets:
Emerald City Comicon
March 27-29, Booth 1318
Panels:
♥ Strip Tease: Adult Comics and the Perverts Who Draw Them with Spike, Leia Weathington & Blue Delliquanti. Friday, March 27th at 6:50PM in Hall E (TCC 303).♥ Being Non-Compliant moderated by Patrick Reed. Friday, March 27th at 5pm in Hall E (TCC 303)
♥ ComiXology Submit: The Future of Self-Publishing Saturday, March 28 at 2:50pm.
↓ Comic Transcript
PAGE 1
A person is holding a pregnancy test and looking surprised/alarmed, exclaiming, "Oh! Oh... oh jeez."
Erika pops up behind them, asking, "What's up?"
"I'm... I'm pregnant!" the person responds, holding their head in their hands. "What do I do???"
Erika holds up her hands reassuringly, saying, "Stay calm and tke a breath, it's time to research all your options! As a newly pregnant person you have three possibilities to choose from:" Erika gestures at an icon of a person holding a swaddled baby which is labeled "Parenting", an icon of a person passing a swaddled baby to another person which is labeled "Adoption", and an icon of a uterus labeled the same. Erika continues, "They are all completely valid and it is up to you to decide which is right for you."
"Well I CAN'T have a baby, so what exactly does abortion entail?" The person asks. "I just tune out when politicians start yelling about it on TV."
"Ok!" Erika leads them towards a blackboard that is full of medical diagrams of a sperm and egg turning into a zygote. "To talk about abortion we'll need to start at the beginning. Let's cover some basics!"
PAGE 2
This page is illustrated with diagrams of the egg developing into a baby.
CONCEPTION. When your egg meets sperm in one of your fallopian tubes, we have conception!
IMPLANTATION & EMBRYO DEVELOPMENT (1-5 weeks). That fertilized egg (the blastocyst) will slowly travel to your uterus and implant itself, becoming an embryo and making you officially pregnant!
FETUS (8 weeks - 40ish weeks). Around the 5-7 weeks marks, there's enough there for the embryo to have a detectable heartbeat, tiny buds (future hands and legs), and the beginning of a neural tube (future brain and spinal cord). Eight weeks in and your embryo will develop into a fetus with organs, fingers, toes, and genitalia that will continue to grow through all the next stages until birth.
The timeline of a pregnancy is tracked through "Trimesters".
First Trimester: Weeks 1-12
Second Trimester: Weeks 13-27
Third Trimester: Weeks 28-40ish.
PAGE 3
While Erika is still gesturing at the blackboard with all the aforementioned information on it, the person asks, "Uh, that's super interesting and all, but tell me plainly: What IS abortion?"
"Nice and simple," Erika now points at a uterus with a big X in its center. "Abortion is the removal of an embryo or fetus before it can survive outside of the uterus."
"Ah-ha!" exclaims the pregnant person.
"As someone considering abortion," Erika continues, "you've got two options! Surgical or medical, which are both administered by a trained doctor or clinician. Since I only have room to cover one of these today, I'm going to go over medical abortion. But you should definitely research surgical abortion on your own at scarletee.com or PlannedParenthood.com."
Accompanying the title MEDICAL ABORTION on an information card is an illustration of various pills and a syringe. The card reads, "It's a combination of medications (typically mifepristone and misoprostol) that creates a reaction that is indistinguishable from a miscarriage. One dose is administered at the clinic (injection or orally) and a few days later another dose is taken orally or vaginally at home." Running down the left-hand side of the slide is a list reading, "AKA RU486, M&M, The Abortion Pill. (It is NOT Emergency Contraception.) Taken before 9 weeks of pregnancy. 95-98% effective.
PAGE 4
Above an icon of a doctor consulting with a patient reads the text "After the treatments, you have a follow-up appointment with your abortion provider to make sure the procedure completed and that you're healthy."
The pregnant person holds their tummy and asks Erika, "Indistinguishable from a miscarriage? Geez, I've never had one, what'll it feel like?"
Gesturing towards an icon of a person with lightning bolts exploding from their stomach area, Erika answers, "Well, there will be heavy cramping and bleeding. You'll also expel some large blood clots and/or the embryo's tiny grayish gestational sac from your vagina. At nine weeks the embryo is still so small that it is unlikely to be seen when it passes out of you. You might suffer some side effects like: nausea, headaches, barfing or bowel troubles, along with a week or two of spotting. But it shouldn't be more horribly painful than a bad period and your provider will most likely supply you with some pain medication to keep it manageable."
The text continues, "You won't be bedridden but you really should have somebody on call for you, just like any time you have a medical procedure done." An icon shows a person resting on a plump chair, reaching out to receive the steaming mug that another person is handing them. "Whether it's for emotional support or to be your aid for anything you may need, it's nice to have someone around."
PAGE 5
The original pregnant person asks, "So... How am I going to feel afterwards?"
With an icon of a sunglasses-wearing, smiling sun floating over her left hand and an icon of a frowning, raining cloud hovering of her right, Erika responds, "It's different for everyone and there's a wide spectrum of feelings you might experience. From relief and happiness to sadness and grief, there's no one universal way you SHOULD feel."
The narration goes on to explain, "Pregnancy hormones not only cause big changes in your body but can also create giant mood swings, and it's normal to feel some depression or intense emotions when you're no longer pregnant-"
Two basically identical icons appear, each one showing a generic person holding a baby next to a person holding their tummy. On the lefthand side of the page, both people are ecstatic. On the righthand side of the page, both people are distraught. In between them reads the text, "-REGARDLESS if it's because you just gave birth or terminated it." There are circular arrows pointing from one set of figures to the other, showing that these two extreme emotions can fluctuate from one to the other.
Now an icon shows a person in between two other people who wrap their arms around them with the accompanying text, "Going through a life event is always better when you have supportive, loving, nonjudgmental people in your life that you can share your feelings with."
An icon displays two people facing each other while talking on their phones with a portal in between them. The person on the right is reaching through the portal to touch the shoulder of the person on the left. The text beneath it reads, "If you don't have someone like that near you, you can also turn to exhaleprovoice.org for some after-abortion support.
PAGE 6
The narration continues, "Take care of yourself physically and emotionally by doing things you enjoy afterwards, like spending time with friends, sleeping, eating, going to the movies, or whatever!"
A medieval illustration shows a peasant reclining while holding their stomach, another person kneels next to them while grinding something with a mortar and pestle in one hand and holding a leafy branch in the other. The text reads, "For as long as people have been getting pregnant, people have also been inducing abortions. Fortunately, medical practices have come a long way!"
"Abortion is one of the safest medical procedures performed in the USA with over a 99% safety record.*" reads the text next to the medical insignia of two snakes twining up a staff with wings.
*http://www.plannedparenthood.org/files/6014/2194/2001/Protect_Safe_and_Legal_Abortion.pdf
A triangle road sign with an exclamation point sits over the text, "You're actually 14 ties more likely to die during childbirth than by terminating your pregnancy.**"
**http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22270271
"It has NO impact on your mental health, NO links to breast cancer, and DOES NOT affect your fertility for later pregnancies.*" States the text over an icon of a person standing confidently with checkmarks by their head, chest, and stomach.
*http://www.plannedparenthood.org/files/6014/2194/2001/Protect_Safe_and_Legal_Abortion.pdf
Erika points at more statistics, saying, "Today in the USA..."
The statistics state, "50% of pregnancies are unplanned. 10-20% of pregnancies experience spontaneous abortions (miscarriages) within the first 20 weeks because the body cannot sustain the embryo or fetus till birth †"
† http://www.plannedparenthood.org/health-info/pregnancy/miscarriage
PAGE 7
The statistics continue, "21% of all pregnancies (excluding miscarriages) end in abortion.‡ 30% of abortions take place before six weeks of pregnancy.‡ 30% of people with uteruses will have had an abortion by the time they're 45 years old§"
‡ https://www.guttmacher.org/fact-sheet/induced-abortion-united-states
§ http://www.plannedparenthood.org/health-info/pregnancy/pregnant-now-what/thinking-about-abortion
The pregnant person exclaims, "Wait, 30%? You mean a THIRD of all the adult uterus'd people in my life have had one? Pretty much! People may not feel like bringing it up at dinner, but yes, everyone definitely knows at least a few people who have done it, even if they don't KNOW they know them."
The pregnant person marvels at a wall of people icons that is colored to show that one third have had abortions, while Erika continues, saying, "If you decide to have an abortion, remember YOU ARE NOT ALONE. Abortion is safe, legal, and each year over a million people in the USA have one performed."
Erika concludes by directing people to several URLS, saying, "For comprehensive information on abortion, please check out: http://www.scarleteen.com/article/bodies/all_about_abortion , http://www.plannedparenthood.org/health-info/pregnancy/pregnant-now-what/thinking-about-abortion , https://exhaleprovoice.org/ "
Transcribed by Erika Moen on December 14, 2023
A person is holding a pregnancy test and looking surprised/alarmed, exclaiming, "Oh! Oh... oh jeez."
Erika pops up behind them, asking, "What's up?"
"I'm... I'm pregnant!" the person responds, holding their head in their hands. "What do I do???"
Erika holds up her hands reassuringly, saying, "Stay calm and tke a breath, it's time to research all your options! As a newly pregnant person you have three possibilities to choose from:" Erika gestures at an icon of a person holding a swaddled baby which is labeled "Parenting", an icon of a person passing a swaddled baby to another person which is labeled "Adoption", and an icon of a uterus labeled the same. Erika continues, "They are all completely valid and it is up to you to decide which is right for you."
"Well I CAN'T have a baby, so what exactly does abortion entail?" The person asks. "I just tune out when politicians start yelling about it on TV."
"Ok!" Erika leads them towards a blackboard that is full of medical diagrams of a sperm and egg turning into a zygote. "To talk about abortion we'll need to start at the beginning. Let's cover some basics!"
PAGE 2
This page is illustrated with diagrams of the egg developing into a baby.
CONCEPTION. When your egg meets sperm in one of your fallopian tubes, we have conception!
IMPLANTATION & EMBRYO DEVELOPMENT (1-5 weeks). That fertilized egg (the blastocyst) will slowly travel to your uterus and implant itself, becoming an embryo and making you officially pregnant!
FETUS (8 weeks - 40ish weeks). Around the 5-7 weeks marks, there's enough there for the embryo to have a detectable heartbeat, tiny buds (future hands and legs), and the beginning of a neural tube (future brain and spinal cord). Eight weeks in and your embryo will develop into a fetus with organs, fingers, toes, and genitalia that will continue to grow through all the next stages until birth.
The timeline of a pregnancy is tracked through "Trimesters".
First Trimester: Weeks 1-12
Second Trimester: Weeks 13-27
Third Trimester: Weeks 28-40ish.
PAGE 3
While Erika is still gesturing at the blackboard with all the aforementioned information on it, the person asks, "Uh, that's super interesting and all, but tell me plainly: What IS abortion?"
"Nice and simple," Erika now points at a uterus with a big X in its center. "Abortion is the removal of an embryo or fetus before it can survive outside of the uterus."
"Ah-ha!" exclaims the pregnant person.
"As someone considering abortion," Erika continues, "you've got two options! Surgical or medical, which are both administered by a trained doctor or clinician. Since I only have room to cover one of these today, I'm going to go over medical abortion. But you should definitely research surgical abortion on your own at scarletee.com or PlannedParenthood.com."
Accompanying the title MEDICAL ABORTION on an information card is an illustration of various pills and a syringe. The card reads, "It's a combination of medications (typically mifepristone and misoprostol) that creates a reaction that is indistinguishable from a miscarriage. One dose is administered at the clinic (injection or orally) and a few days later another dose is taken orally or vaginally at home." Running down the left-hand side of the slide is a list reading, "AKA RU486, M&M, The Abortion Pill. (It is NOT Emergency Contraception.) Taken before 9 weeks of pregnancy. 95-98% effective.
PAGE 4
Above an icon of a doctor consulting with a patient reads the text "After the treatments, you have a follow-up appointment with your abortion provider to make sure the procedure completed and that you're healthy."
The pregnant person holds their tummy and asks Erika, "Indistinguishable from a miscarriage? Geez, I've never had one, what'll it feel like?"
Gesturing towards an icon of a person with lightning bolts exploding from their stomach area, Erika answers, "Well, there will be heavy cramping and bleeding. You'll also expel some large blood clots and/or the embryo's tiny grayish gestational sac from your vagina. At nine weeks the embryo is still so small that it is unlikely to be seen when it passes out of you. You might suffer some side effects like: nausea, headaches, barfing or bowel troubles, along with a week or two of spotting. But it shouldn't be more horribly painful than a bad period and your provider will most likely supply you with some pain medication to keep it manageable."
The text continues, "You won't be bedridden but you really should have somebody on call for you, just like any time you have a medical procedure done." An icon shows a person resting on a plump chair, reaching out to receive the steaming mug that another person is handing them. "Whether it's for emotional support or to be your aid for anything you may need, it's nice to have someone around."
PAGE 5
The original pregnant person asks, "So... How am I going to feel afterwards?"
With an icon of a sunglasses-wearing, smiling sun floating over her left hand and an icon of a frowning, raining cloud hovering of her right, Erika responds, "It's different for everyone and there's a wide spectrum of feelings you might experience. From relief and happiness to sadness and grief, there's no one universal way you SHOULD feel."
The narration goes on to explain, "Pregnancy hormones not only cause big changes in your body but can also create giant mood swings, and it's normal to feel some depression or intense emotions when you're no longer pregnant-"
Two basically identical icons appear, each one showing a generic person holding a baby next to a person holding their tummy. On the lefthand side of the page, both people are ecstatic. On the righthand side of the page, both people are distraught. In between them reads the text, "-REGARDLESS if it's because you just gave birth or terminated it." There are circular arrows pointing from one set of figures to the other, showing that these two extreme emotions can fluctuate from one to the other.
Now an icon shows a person in between two other people who wrap their arms around them with the accompanying text, "Going through a life event is always better when you have supportive, loving, nonjudgmental people in your life that you can share your feelings with."
An icon displays two people facing each other while talking on their phones with a portal in between them. The person on the right is reaching through the portal to touch the shoulder of the person on the left. The text beneath it reads, "If you don't have someone like that near you, you can also turn to exhaleprovoice.org for some after-abortion support.
PAGE 6
The narration continues, "Take care of yourself physically and emotionally by doing things you enjoy afterwards, like spending time with friends, sleeping, eating, going to the movies, or whatever!"
A medieval illustration shows a peasant reclining while holding their stomach, another person kneels next to them while grinding something with a mortar and pestle in one hand and holding a leafy branch in the other. The text reads, "For as long as people have been getting pregnant, people have also been inducing abortions. Fortunately, medical practices have come a long way!"
"Abortion is one of the safest medical procedures performed in the USA with over a 99% safety record.*" reads the text next to the medical insignia of two snakes twining up a staff with wings.
*http://www.plannedparenthood.org/files/6014/2194/2001/Protect_Safe_and_Legal_Abortion.pdf
A triangle road sign with an exclamation point sits over the text, "You're actually 14 ties more likely to die during childbirth than by terminating your pregnancy.**"
**http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22270271
"It has NO impact on your mental health, NO links to breast cancer, and DOES NOT affect your fertility for later pregnancies.*" States the text over an icon of a person standing confidently with checkmarks by their head, chest, and stomach.
*http://www.plannedparenthood.org/files/6014/2194/2001/Protect_Safe_and_Legal_Abortion.pdf
Erika points at more statistics, saying, "Today in the USA..."
The statistics state, "50% of pregnancies are unplanned. 10-20% of pregnancies experience spontaneous abortions (miscarriages) within the first 20 weeks because the body cannot sustain the embryo or fetus till birth †"
† http://www.plannedparenthood.org/health-info/pregnancy/miscarriage
PAGE 7
The statistics continue, "21% of all pregnancies (excluding miscarriages) end in abortion.‡ 30% of abortions take place before six weeks of pregnancy.‡ 30% of people with uteruses will have had an abortion by the time they're 45 years old§"
‡ https://www.guttmacher.org/fact-sheet/induced-abortion-united-states
§ http://www.plannedparenthood.org/health-info/pregnancy/pregnant-now-what/thinking-about-abortion
The pregnant person exclaims, "Wait, 30%? You mean a THIRD of all the adult uterus'd people in my life have had one? Pretty much! People may not feel like bringing it up at dinner, but yes, everyone definitely knows at least a few people who have done it, even if they don't KNOW they know them."
The pregnant person marvels at a wall of people icons that is colored to show that one third have had abortions, while Erika continues, saying, "If you decide to have an abortion, remember YOU ARE NOT ALONE. Abortion is safe, legal, and each year over a million people in the USA have one performed."
Erika concludes by directing people to several URLS, saying, "For comprehensive information on abortion, please check out: http://www.scarleteen.com/article/bodies/all_about_abortion , http://www.plannedparenthood.org/health-info/pregnancy/pregnant-now-what/thinking-about-abortion , https://exhaleprovoice.org/ "
Transcribed by Erika Moen on December 14, 2023
