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All rhesus negative women having a surgical abortion or medical abortion over 10 weeks’ gestation are offered an anti-D injection.
As well as the main blood groups (A, B, AB or O) there is a second factor called rhesus (RhD). People who are RhD positive have a substance called D antigen on their red blood cells. People who are RhD negative do not have the D antigen on their red blood cells.
Whether someone is RhD positive or negative is inherited from both parents. If the father of the pregnancy is RhD positive, then there is a chance that the fetus will also be RhD positive even if you are RhD negative.
If at any stage of pregnancy there is mixing of your RhD negative blood with that of the fetus which may be RhD positive, your body’s defence mechanism, called the immune system, may form antibodies against the D antigen. These ‘anti-D’ antibodies attack red blood cells with the D antigen on them.
This mixing of blood can happen at various stages of pregnancy, including abortion. Because the antibodies stay in your system, this could harm future babies if they are RhD
positive.
