pregnancy tests post-abortion

[pvalov-rings.livejournal.com]

I just read that pregnancy hormones can be found in your body up to a year after an abortion. (from this site: http://afterabortion.com/physical.html)

What does this mean for pregnancy tests taken within the next year? Can it still show up positive even though I'm no longer pregnant?

Comments

[atalanta0jess.livejournal.com]

Can you point out exactly where it says that? I think you may be misreading - what I see that it says is that for the first 2-4 weeks, you may still test positive on a pregnancy test. It does say that for 6-24 months you may not feel like your hormonal systems are normal because the "pregnancy hormones" are still present - however I think they may be referring to hormonal changes OTHER than the presence of HCG, which is what pregnancy tests look for.

In short, no, you will not have positive tests for up to a year.

[pvalov-rings.livejournal.com]

Hi, I think I was misunderstanding a little bit, but the site also sortof contradicts itself. It says in the section "In the weeks that follow":

Depending on how far along in the pregnancy you were, and how sensitive you are to hormones, you may have pregnancy hormones still in your body for up to a year after an abortion

But then it also says that for 2-4 a woman may test "weakly" positive on a test. I think I skipped that part before, sorry! But to clarify--there will be lingering hormonal changes after an abortion that could last for a year, but only enough to make a test positive within the first month?

[atalanta0jess.livejournal.com]

this website: http://www.fertilityplus.org/faq/hpt.html says that you can get a positive test after miscarriage for a month or longer...but that if HCG falls to zero, any subsequently positive tests would be due to a new pregnancy. I imagine the same would be the case for an abortion.

So, I believe that yes, what you said is correct: There may be linger changes for quite some time, but you will likely only get a false-positive for up to a month, but possibly slightly longer. (If you wanted, you could test a month afterwards and see if it was negative - if it was, any test you take after that could be considered an accurate representation of whether or not you have a new pregnancy)