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Can Pregnancy Still Happen After A Medical Abortion?
I had a medical abortion on 11/24/11. I went to my follow up appt. on 12/8 where I still tested positive on a urine pregnancy test, but the ultrasound showed no pregnancy tissue remaining. The Dr. said to retest the following week at home. I did that and it was a very faint line showing up positive (I took 2 tests- both still showed a very faint positive line). It is now 4 1/2 weeks after the medical abortion and I am having a positive pregnancy test. It is showing up a very dark line, no longer faint line. I have also had brown bleeding for the last week. It started off spotting, but eventually went to quite a bit of brown blood when using the bathroom. It was on and off for a week, sometimes light, sometimes heavier with brown blood with small clots in the toilet. I am so confused if I could be pregnant again. I have had unprotected sex since the abortion and have acutally taken the morning after pill because I was worried about the chance of becoming pregnant again. I am unsure if I could be pregnant again, especially with all of the bleeding, but the test is still positive. Very confused.
posted on
Fri, 14 Mar 2014
Medically reviewed by
Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team
Tue, 11 Aug 2015
Answered on
Tue, 11 Aug 2015
Last reviewed on
Hello, and I hope I can answer your question.
Because you never had a negative pregnancy test after your medical termination I am concerned that not all the tissue came out of your uterus. Even if the uterus looked clean, even a speck of retained tissue can cause the test to stay positive and cause irregular bleeding. There is a rare but serious condition called gestational trophoblast in disease that can regrow pregnancy tissue in the uterus like a tumor. Or it could be a new pregnancy, but it would be unusual to ovulate so quickly.
But there is no way to know for sure unless you have a blood pregnancy test to check the level of your hormone and an ultrasound. I suggest you see your GYN for an evaluation.
I hope I answered your question and my advice was helpful.
Best wishes, Dr. Brown
Because you never had a negative pregnancy test after your medical termination I am concerned that not all the tissue came out of your uterus. Even if the uterus looked clean, even a speck of retained tissue can cause the test to stay positive and cause irregular bleeding. There is a rare but serious condition called gestational trophoblast in disease that can regrow pregnancy tissue in the uterus like a tumor. Or it could be a new pregnancy, but it would be unusual to ovulate so quickly.
But there is no way to know for sure unless you have a blood pregnancy test to check the level of your hormone and an ultrasound. I suggest you see your GYN for an evaluation.
I hope I answered your question and my advice was helpful.
Best wishes, Dr. Brown
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