A second trimester surgical abortion is a two-step process that takes two days to complete. The first step, and the time in between, is necessary to prepare the body for the second step, which is the procedure itself. The first step in the process is gradually dilating your cervix over the course of several hours. The abortion itself is performed by removing the contents of your uterus with a gentle suction and medical tools. As with a first trimester surgical abortion, twilight anesthesia is recommended.