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Late Term Abortion Facts

Pregnancy typically lasts for approximately 40 weeks, and a birth resulting in a nonliving fetus is referred to an abortion. Occasionally there are such things as spontaneous abortion in which the woman's body will abort the fetus growing inside of her for various reasons, ranging from a natural process to a medical emergency, and this is generally called a miscarriage. Elective abortions can either be a personal preference or performed for medical risks to either the mother or the fetus.

  1. About Abortion

    • Abortions are typically performed by a health-care provider, and different states require different levels of training and certification for health-care providers to perform abortions. An abortion is a medical procedure that terminates a pregnancy at a stage prior to natural delivery of a fetus and is typically performed in a doctor's office, barring complications. During the third trimester in pregnancy, the procedure must be done surgically.

    Abortion Procedures

    • Early term abortions are typically much less invasive, complicated and much quicker than late term abortions, which require different procedures and can be more risky to the mother. Abortion procedures performed before the 21st week of pregnancy include a variety of methods, from medication-based processes to suction, dilation and curettage, and dilation and evacuation. Late term abortions performed after 21 weeks of pregnancy include two procedures. The first is an induction abortion in which a cocktail of medications and saline solutions are injected intravenously and vaginally to put the woman into labor to deliver the fetus before it is viable. The second procedure is a dilation and extraction in which the cervix is dilated and the air is removed from the fetus' skull, causing decompression of the body, which is then extracted through the vaginal canal with tools.

    Physical Risks

    • Precautions are taken to keep the mother safe during an abortion, and complications are rare. However, abortions still carry risks, especially late term abortions, due to the physical changes the mother has undergone in the months prior to the abortion. Heavy bleeding, infection, incomplete extractions, internal organ damage, uterine scarring and cervical damage are just a few of the many complications that may arise following an abortion. Difficulty becoming pregnant and preterm birth can also manifest as complications long after an abortion procedure.

    Mental Risks

    • Whether or not the abortion is the woman's choice, abortion is often followed with mental distress and anxiety. Depression may follow an abortion, and women should be monitored closely by health-care providers, family and friends for signs of depression and continued regret following the procedure. If a late term abortion is performed for medical reasons, the woman may be even more inclined to develop depression issues, as it can be as devastating as a miscarriage.

    Legal Issues

    • Late term abortion continues to be a battle in the legal sense, and the laws surrounding it change from time to time and are often dependent upon political views. The argument often surrounds the fact of whether or not a fetus is viable at the time of abortion, as some consider abortion a murderous act. Others will claim that fetuses are viable only after a certain point, and thus late term abortions become more of a controversial issue than early term abortions.

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