The pills
What the abortion pill can do to you
Bleeding and cramping are expected. Some of what follows is an emergency. You can tell the difference — and you don’t have to sort it alone.
What you may feel
After both medicines, bleeding is common — often heavier than a heavy period. Cramping can be severe. Nausea, tiredness, and chills can happen too. Cramping that is worse than a period is still not labor as a medical term. It does not cancel the emergency list below.
You may pass clots. You may not be able to tell a clot from tissue from the pregnancy. Do not try to diagnose that in a bathroom.
Go to an ER, or call 911, if
- You soak two thick full-size pads per hour for two hours in a row.
- You are crashing before that second hour. Do not wait.
- You faint, or you cannot stay upright.
- You have pain on one side, or pain in the tip of your shoulder.
- You have a fever of 100.4°F or higher that lasts more than four hours.
- You have abdominal pain, or you feel generally unwell — weakness, nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea — more than 24 hours after taking misoprostol.
- Call 911. Chat is not an emergency room.
If you may harm yourself, call or text 988. That line is not the nurse chat.
A clinician usually wants a check 7 to 14 days after the medicines. A listed pregnancy center or medical office may help with follow-up at their location.
What to tell an ER
Tell them you took the abortion pill. Say mifepristone, misoprostol, or both, if you know. Say when. Say how heavy the bleeding is. Under that Act (Ala. Code § 26-23H-5), no woman upon whom an abortion is performed or attempted shall be criminally or civilly liable. Still tell them so they can treat you. That is not a general pass for anyone else, and it is not legal advice.
Serious and sometimes fatal infections and bleeding occur very rarely. No causal relationship between these medicines and those events has been established.
If it is not finished
The medicines can fail. The pregnancy can continue. There is no lawful in-state clinic path to finish what pills started. If you took only the first medicine and you want to stay pregnant, that conversation is Can I change my mind? — not an ER substitute.
Ask a nurse to follow up
Would you rather chat with a nurse now, or send the form and have someone write back? Free and private. You choose.