Abortion procedures can be frightening for any young girl, but when self-administered the horror seems threefold.
Crystal (last name withheld) has done a self-administered abortion.

"I went into my bathroom after finding out that I was pregnant," said the 14-year-old girl who claims to have just completed studies on The Reproductive System in Biology class.

Internet searches reveal that an abortion is the removal or expulsion of an embryo or foetus from the uterus, resulting in or caused by its death. This can occur spontaneously as a miscarriage, or be artificially induced by chemical, surgical or other means.

"I used a mirror and stuck a [metal] hanger inside," she said, adding that it was an effort to pull down the 10-week-old foetus from her uterus.

"After that, I felt a gush of blood and watched everything run out," she said. This writer met the dark-skinned, petite child while on internship at a local hospital, where the young girl was being treated for her self inflicted injury.

She told TEENage that she conducted the 'exercise' at about noon, when she would have the house all to herself.
"After I did it, I just went to bathe, put on a pad and went to lie down," she said. Moments after, she began to feel the effects of what she had just done.

"I began to feel sick.cold sweat start wash me", she said, "the whole bed jus' full of blood". It was at this point she decided to check into the hospital-her mom was not yet home.

She came into the hospital screaming, clothes bloodied and bearing 108-degree fever.

She told the officials what she had done and they performed an emergency D and C-dilatation and curettage-that basically means they used chemicals to flush out the rest of the foetus from her uterus.

The hospital called her mother, who rushed over and publicly cursed her, outraged that her daughter until now had hidden that she was having sex. Hospital officials counselled the mother before allowing her to see her child.

"I never know she would have done that.I am frighten that she would do something like that to herself," said the mother, who was encouraged to seek further counselling for both her daughter and herself.

The fact is, Crystal was sexually active since last year and her story is one of thousands. Some medical officials believe that girls conduct self-administered abortions because they understand that the procedure is illegal and so, they think, most doctors are unwilling to perform it, worse if the girls are underage.

Though there are no official statistics or records, one doctor who spoke under anonymity, estimates that some 200 Jamaican girls engage in self-administered abortion. The truth is, most of these girls who decide to go through with an abortion, often do it by themselves and without the knowledge of any professional guidelines, so instead of one life being lost, the prospective mother puts her life at risk too.
Complications such as infection, haemorrhaging or the possibility of having to do a total hysterectomy to remove her uterus may arise.

According to the free online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, "the incidence of and reasons for induced abortion vary regionally. It has been estimated that yearly, approximately 46 million abortions are performed. Of these, 26 million are said to occur in places where abortion is legal; the other 20 million happen where the procedure is illegal".
Abortion is outlawed in Jamaica.

However, the debate on whether this act should be legalised in Jamaica is still controversial.

So while abortion laws are still on the books, it seems, far too many young girls are going to the (Biology) books to find out how they can rid themselves of their 'mistakes'.

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