[x] Quick Exit
Book Online Now
[x] Quick Exit
(312) 707-8988

Merrillville Abortion Information

Quality Compassionate Health Care

Merrillville , Indiana – OB/GYN Clinic’s Services

Family Planning Associates Medical Group (FPA Chicago Abortion Clinics) offers compassionate, confidential, and affordable family planning and reproductive health services in a private, professional setting. Since 1988, FPA has been proud to serve patients from the Merrillville, Indiana community and surrounding areas.

Facing an unplanned pregnancy can be difficult, but you don’t have to make decisions alone. Residents of Merrillville can turn to Family Planning Associates Medical Group for clear information, understanding support, and high-quality medical care. We provide guidance on all pregnancy options as well as comprehensive reproductive and gynecological services.

Get Help

Book Online
Pregnancy Calculator
Contact Us

Chicago | Downtown

312-707-8988
659 W. Washington Blvd.
Chicago IL  60661
Fax (312) 707-9223

We accept most PPO / HMO Insurances.

We are able to accept Illinois Medicaid for abortion services – with no out of pocket expense for patients

Registration Forms

You can complete your registration forms online before you arrive. Simply fill out the forms and print to bring in on the day of the appointment

Merrillville, IN Abortion Clinics – Confidential Abortion Options

Our experienced OB/GYN clinic provides comprehensive reproductive health services, including:

Resources & Links Around the Town of Merrillville, Indiana

https://www.merrillville.in.gov/

Health Insurance Marketplace: https://www.healthcare.gov/ 

Union Wellness Centers: https://unionwellnesscenters.com/locations/union-wellness-center-merrillville/ 

Midwest Express Clinic: https://midwestexpressclinic.com/locations/merrillville-in-urgent-care/ 

CoAction: https://coaction.care/ 

Haven House: https://www.havenhousedvs.org/ 

Humane Society of Northwest Indiana: http://humanesocietynorthwestindiana.org/ 

Discover Merrillville: https://www.southshorecva.com/the-region/merrillville/ 

Lake County Public Library: https://www.lcplin.org/merrillville 

Gary Public Transportation Corp.: https://gptcbus.com/routes/ 

How does the Abortion Pill work?

More than half of all abortions in the United States are performed using medication, commonly referred to as the
abortion pill. This option is highly effective, extremely safe, and has been used by millions of people worldwide.
In fact, it’s considered safer than many everyday medications such as penicillin or Tylenol.

The medication abortion process involves taking two FDA-approved medications — mifepristone and
misoprostol — to safely and privately end an early pregnancy at home.
This non-surgical method offers patients a comfortable and discreet way to manage early pregnancy.

Day 1 – Office Visit

During your initial visit, our team will perform an ultrasound, basic lab work, and a medical evaluation.
After reviewing and signing consent forms, you’ll take the first medication, mifepristone, in our office.
You’ll then receive detailed instructions on how to complete the process at home.

Day 2–3 – At Home

Between 24 and 48 hours later, you’ll take the second medication, misoprostol, at home.
It’s best to choose a time when you can rest comfortably, as you’ll likely experience cramping and bleeding
as your body passes the pregnancy. Some patients may also have mild nausea, fatigue, or diarrhea.
We’ll provide medication to help manage any discomfort or nausea if needed.

Follow-Up Plan

A few days after your visit, you’ll receive a text message reminding you to complete a short self-assessment.
If you notice light bleeding or suspect the medication hasn’t worked, contact us immediately.
About five weeks after your visit, you’ll take a home pregnancy test (provided at your appointment) to confirm completion.

Our medical staff is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to answer questions or handle any concerns.
You’ll always have access to professional support — every step of the way.

First Trimester Abortion Services Near Merrillville, Indiana

If you live in Merrillville or the surrounding area, help is only a phone call away. A first trimester abortion (D&C) is performed within the first 13 weeks of pregnancy and is one of the safest and most common medical procedures available today.

The procedure involves two simple steps: the physician gently opens the cervix and then uses light suction to remove the pregnancy tissue. The entire process typically takes just 5–7 minutes and can be performed with either sedation or local anesthesia, depending on your comfort and medical needs.

What’s Included

Your procedure fee includes all necessary services for complete, safe care:

  • Pregnancy testing and confirmation
  • Pre-operative evaluation, ultrasound, and lab work
  • The D&C procedure itself
  • RhoGAM or MicRhoGAM (if needed)
  • All medications administered during and after the procedure
  • Comprehensive post-operative checkup and follow-up care

Important Preparation Guidelines

  • Do not eat, drink, or smoke after midnight before your appointment — including gum, candy, or water.
  • Plan to be in the clinic for approximately 3–5 hours to allow for check-in, procedure, and recovery time.
  • Please arrange for a reliable ride home. Patients who receive sedation cannot drive or take public transportation after the procedure.
  • All facial and body piercings must be removed before surgery. Piercings in or around the nose and mouth are not permitted during sedation.
  • For safety and privacy reasons, children and guests are not allowed in the office. Companions may wait in their vehicle or nearby public areas.

Call to Schedule a Same Day Appointment

At FPA Chicago, we are committed to providing safe, confidential, and compassionate abortion and reproductive health care for patients traveling from Merrillville, IN and surrounding communities.
Our experienced team is ready to support you every step of the way.

Appointments are available Monday through Saturday and can be scheduled online 24/7. Click here to book your confidential appointment now or call (312) 707-8988.

Schedule an Appointment

Frequently Asked Questions

Call us today to speak with our staff or schedule your appointment.

The abortion pill uses two medicines to cause a miscarriage and end a pregnancy. The medication abortion is a safe and effective way to end a pregnancy up to 13 weeks in the privacy of your home.

This is a non-invasive procedure that feels more natural for some people. You can be with a spouse, partner, family member or trusted friend, for support with the medical abortion, in the comfort of your own home. Patients who want a less invasive procedure prefer the medication abortion.

The first step involves an office visit, including an ultrasound, lab work and exam. Mifepristone ends the pregnancy. Pregnancies need a hormone called progesterone to grow and mifepristone stops your body from making this hormone.

Misoprostol helps your body pass the pregnancy and causes bleeding and strong cramping. 24-48 hours after your office visit you will take misoprostol, and you must stay home for 12-24 hours after taking this medication. During this time, you should rest until your bleeding and cramping is light.

A few days later, we will ask you to think about your body’s response to the medications and do a self-assessment. This assessment is a series of four questions about your experience. If you answer ‘NO’ to any of these questions, it is very important that you call us as soon as possible. You may need to return to the office to confirm that you are no longer pregnant.

Lastly, you will take a pregnancy test at home about five weeks later. We will give you a test to take home with you on your first visit in our office. If the test is negative, you will know the medication abortion worked, and you are no longer pregnant. If your pregnancy test is positive five weeks after the abortion, you may still be pregnant, or you may have become pregnant again. Call us immediately if this happens so we can schedule you for an office visit and additional treatment if needed.

The pain will be the worst after you take the second medication, the misoprostol, at home. Cramps similar to heavy period cramps are common, and for some people the cramping and pressure can be very severe.

We will give you pain medication to help reduce your discomfort.

If you want to feel less cramping, you can take one of the pain medications 30 minutes before taking the misoprostol. Take your pain medications on a regular schedule until your pain is gone or light. If you are not taking pain medication regularly, it will not help with your pain because it only works for 4-6 hours.

If you wait until you are in pain to take medications, you will be in pain longer, because the pain medication takes time to start working.

Do not use any aspirin medications like Bayer, Excedrin, BC, or Goody’s. These medications can cause heavier bleeding sometimes.

Milder cramps, like period cramps or less, may last for a few weeks after you pass the pregnancy.

You could have heavy bleeding and cramping and pass clots after taking the abortion pill but still be pregnant. Sometimes the pregnancy will keep growing after you take the abortion pill. Sometimes the pregnancy will end but not pass out of the body. If you do not have any bleeding within 24 hours of taking misoprostol at home, please call us. You know your body best, if you do not think the medication worked, call us so we can schedule you for a follow-up visit in our office.

3-4 days later, we will ask you to think about your body’s response to the medications and do a self-assessment. This assessment is a set of four questions about your experience. If you answer ‘NO’ to any of these questions, it is very important for you to call us. You may have to return to the office to make sure that you are no longer pregnant.

5 weeks later, you will take a pregnancy test at home. We will give you a test to take home with you when we give you your medications. If the test is negative, you will know the medication abortion worked, and you are no longer pregnant. If your pregnancy test is positive five weeks after the abortion, you may still be pregnant, your hormone levels may be falling slowly, or you may be pregnant again. Call us immediately if this happens so we can schedule you for an office visit and additional treatment if needed.

The medication abortion does not work 100% of the time. After you take the abortion pill, we will ask you to do a few things to make sure that you are no longer pregnant.

3-4 days after you take the medication, we will text you a reminder to think about your body’s response to the medications. This self-assessment is four questions about your experience. If you answer ‘NO’ to any of these questions, it is important that you call us as soon as possible. You may need to come back to our office to make sure that you are no longer pregnant.

You will also take a pregnancy test at home about five weeks later. We will give you a test to take home with you at your first visit when we give you the medications. If the test is negative, no more follow up is needed. If your pregnancy test is positive five weeks after the abortion, you may still be pregnant, your hormone levels may be going down slowly, or you may be pregnant again. Call us immediately if this happens so we can schedule you for an office visit and more treatment if needed.

If you are still pregnant after you take the abortion pill, you have two options usually. You can take more medicine sometimes or have an in-office abortion procedure at FPA as long as you are less than 24.0 weeks pregnant.

Occasionally, only some of the pregnancy tissue will pass. If this happens, you could have heavy bleeding, develop an infection, or both. An in-office suction procedure (D&C), more medications, more tests or treatments could help to prevent these complications.

Sometimes, clots in the uterus can cause cramping and pain in the belly and/or lower back. If this happens, you may need a suction procedure (D&C) or more medication to help pass the clots.

If the medication abortion does not work, you will not be asked to make any extra payments to FPA. You must return to our office if you think that you are still pregnant or if our staff ask you to come back because we think you may still be pregnant. If you need to go to another clinic or hospital to complete the abortion for medical reasons or because you are more than 24 weeks pregnant, you will be responsible for the cost of that care. For this reason, we encourage you to come back to our office as soon as possible if you have any concerns that the medication may not have worked.

If you know that it will be hard or impossible for you to come back to our office, the medication abortion may not be the best choice for you.

You can exercise the day after you take the second medication at home. Strenuous exercise can sometimes increase the amount of bleeding and cramping that you experience. You should not exercise if you feel like you have not passed the pregnancy.

After you exercise, if your bleeding and/or cramping increases, stop exercising. If this happens, you should be less active and do not exercise again until your bleeding has been light for 24 hours.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or concerns. If at any point you fully soak a maxi-pad in one hour or less, you should call us right away. A 24-hour on-call service is available after hours in case of an emergency.

Your bleeding will be heaviest after you take the misoprostol at home on the second day. Your bleeding will change throughout the abortion process.

Until the pregnancy passes, the bleeding will usually be heavier than your normal period. You may see blood clots and pregnancy tissue pass.

Once the pregnancy has passed, the bleeding will start to slow down. You may bleed or spot for 4 to 6 weeks after the abortion. The bleeding can stop and start again many times.

When your bleeding has been light for 24 hours, you can use a tampon instead of a pad.

Approximately 1.75 million people in the U.S. and millions more worldwide have chosen the Abortion Pill to end a pregnancy. It is effective approximately 92-98% of the time. How well the medication works can depend on how far along you are in the pregnancy.

Less than 7 weeks — Works about 98 out of 100 times the medication is taken

7 weeks — Works about 97 out of 100 times the medication is taken

8 weeks — Works about 95 out of 100 times the medication is taken

9 weeks — Works about 97 – 99 out of 100 times the medication is taken with two doses of misoprostol

10 weeks — Works about 97 – 98 out of 100 times the medication is taken with two doses of misoprostol

11 weeks — Works about 95 out of 100 times the medication is taken with two to three doses of misoprostol

13 weeks or more — Works about 92 out of 100 times the medication is taken with two to three doses of misoprostol

Misoprostol (or Cytotec) is a prostaglandin drug. It had previously received FDA approval for use in the prevention of ulcers in high-risk patients taking non-steroidal, anti-inflammatory drugs.

You will take the first medication, mifepristone, in our office on ‘day one’ after having an exam, ultrasound, lab work and signing consents. You can go to work, school, or make other plans for the rest of that day. It is rare that you would start to bleed heavily or pass the pregnancy after taking the first medicine.

You should plan to be at home on ‘day two’ for at least 24 hours after taking the misoprostol (the second medication). Misoprostol helps your body pass the pregnancy by softening the cervix and causing the uterus to contract. You will have heavy bleeding, usually heavier than a period, and strong cramping. Because the bleeding and cramping is moderate to heavy for most women, you should not be at school or work while you are passing the pregnancy. In most cases you can return to work, school and your regular activities the next day.

In person follow-up visits are rarely needed, but can be very important.

3-4 days after you take the medication, we will ask you to think about your body’s response to the medications and do a self-assessment. This assessment is a set of four questions about your experience. If you answer ‘NO’ to any of these questions, it is very important for you to call us. You may have to return to the office to make sure that you are no longer pregnant. You know your body best, if you do not think the medication worked, call us so we can schedule you for a follow-up visit.

5 weeks later, you will take a pregnancy test at home. We will give you a test to take home with you when we give you your medications. If the test is negative, you will know the medication abortion worked, and you are no longer pregnant. If your pregnancy test is positive five weeks after the abortion, you may still be pregnant, your hormone levels may be falling slowly, or you may be pregnant again. Call us immediately if this happens so we can schedule you for an office visit and additional treatment if needed.

If the medication abortion does not work, you will not be asked to make any extra payments to FPA. If you go to another clinic or hospital for evaluation or to complete the abortion, you will be responsible for the cost of that care. For this reason, we encourage you to come back to our office as soon as possible if you have any concerns that the medication may not have worked.

If you know that it will be hard or impossible for you to come back to our office, the medication abortion may not be the best choice for you.

Book Online
Call Now Button