When a woman goes for an abortion but is unknowingly pregnant with twins, she may remain pregnant afterwards if both babies have not been removed. Some women in this situation may attempt a claim for compensation to cover the cost of bringing up the remaining unexpected child. One such claim was successful. Kim Nicholls, from Staffordshire in England, successfully claimed £10,000 compensation when she was given an injection to abort her pregnancy yet remained pregnant and delivered a healthy daughter some months later. As a result of successful claims such as these, doctors are now advised to take particular care.
A 28-year-old Yugoslav immigrant, simply called J.B. in court documents, sought an abortion in October 1997. Sadly and tragically, neither J.B. nor the clinic personnel knew that J.B. was pregnant with twins and that only one of the fetuses was aborted. J.B. returned to the clinic two weeks later and made subsequent calls complaining of pregnancy-like symptoms. Told her symptoms were normal, J.B. finally demanded a urine sample in February 1998. The very same nurse who told J.B. her condition was normal came back horrified with the news that she was still pregnant. By that point, the fetus was nearly six months old so Planned Parenthood apologized and rushed her out the door to a provider who was licensed to do second trimester abortions. An ultrasound revealed that the remaining fetus had only one arm and one leg; the second abortion took three days.
Stories such as these have been useful to those who would prefer that abortions were not carried out at all ( see here) but it would seem that little or no thought has been given to the sole survivors.
It has been suggested that being womb twin survivor and also the survivor of an abortion causes separation anxiety ( the fear of abandonment) plus annihilation anxiety ( fear of being extinguished altogether).
The abortion does not have to be violent, such as with a suction tube or a knife. It can be a miscarriage, induced by a herb, or a drug.
There are many people who survived abortion because they were once twins (see this page)
Many people contact me via my web site and tell me a story of a "failed" abortion. The dead twin may not be delivered, but remain inside the womb as a dead body.
For example, Carrie said
"My mother took the herb ergot to induce contractions and abort the pregnancy at 4 months - my twin died at between 4-5 months but the pregnancy continued - I survived and held myself still in the womb next to my dead twin - afraid to move. Until 28 years old after my mother had died, I had thought that my twin's death was my fault.
I have tried to understand why a woman (my mother) would feel able to abort the pregnancy. On one level of course I understand her and even thought it a brave thing to do as my parents didn't get on although they stayed together, and they were quite poor so it could have been for those reasons. On another level I am very hurt and angry by all this - after all she tried to kill me and my twin did die as a consequence. What am I supposed to do with that?"
The after effects can be subtle: for instance one woman whose twin was aborted but who was never told, discovered the issue of abortion at the age of 33 and became obsessed with it, thinking of it all day every day, and talking of little else. She then decided that more attention should be given to the dead babies that are miscarried or stillborn and spent another 10 years thinking of little else but how to honour their precious little lives. Then she realised, aged 55 years old, that she was the survivor of an abortion attempt and that this was why she had been so obsessed with abortion and the rights of the unborn child. She then launched into another project, trying to learn more about sole surviving twins. She is of course the author of this blog.....
