A Woman’s Place Medical Clinic, formerly Pregnancy Center of Pinellas County, offers free limited obstetrical ultrasound exams performed by a Registered Diagnostic Medical Sonographer (RDMS) or an appropriately trained Registered nurse (RN) to women with a confirmed pregnancy. An ultrasound exam may answer these important questions:
 

Is the pregnancy viable?

A non-viable pregnancy will end in natural miscarriage. One in five pregnancies end naturally in the first trimester without an abortion procedure.
 

How far along are you?

Pregnancy is measured using the “gestational age,” beginning from the first day of a woman’s last menstrual period (LMP). Only an ultrasound exam can accurately determine the gestational. See the stages of fetal development.
 

Is the pregnancy in your uterus?

An embryo will occasionally implant somewhere else, called an ectopic pregnancy. This can be life-threatening if undetected, and an abortion won’t resolve this complication.

Florida law requires an ultrasound exam prior to having an abortion procedure. The gestational age of the fetus impacts the cost and type of abortion procedures you may be eligible for so it is vital to know how far advanced a pregnancy is. Many women do not remember the exact date of their last menstrual period, so an ultrasound is the surest way to determine gestational age, especially early in the pregnancy.

Sources:

• National Institutes of Health. Miscarriage. Retrieved from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001488.htm; Wilcox AJ, Weinberg CR, O’Connor JF, Baird DD, Schlatterer JP, Canfield RE (1988). Incidence of early loss of pregnancy. N Eng J Med; 319: 89-94