With the advent or the flexible uterine curette, outpatient suction curettage is becoming the preferred method of elective abortion for pregnancy of 10 weeks' gestation and under. The present study reports on 1 year's experience using a simple water suction pump in conjunction with the 6 mm flexible uterine curette. The effectiveness of the water vacuum suction curettage (WVSC) unit is compared with that of the electric suction pump. Four-hundred patients who subsequently underwent WVSC experienced a postoperative morbidity rate of 3.0%.