Inquirer Article/Is this abortion?

[SJBX]

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/front/8244749.htm\

3/22/04
By Josh Goldstein and Virginia A. Smith

Inquirer Staff Writers

"Twenty-one weeks into her pregnancy, Ceri Galati learned that the baby she was carrying had too many serious problems to survive.

So Ceri Galati and her husband, Stephen Galati, made the agonizing decision to terminate the pregnancy. One week later, on Jan. 26, 2001, Shayla Everest Galati was induced from her mother's womb, stillborn at less than one pound."

Is this considered to be an abortion? When I saw terminate, I figured that's what they meant, but then it says Shayla was "induced."

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[pikachu]

induction of labor is used to terminate late 2nd trimester pregnancies (which is what a 21-weeker would be). the fetus is too large at that point for a D&C which is what most people think of when they hear "abortion."

 

[irlandesa]

what an awful story; I hope those people get more than just an apology letter..

but to answer your question, abortion refers to the termination of a pregnancy, either spontaneous or induced. A miscarriage is considered to be an abortion b/c clearly, the pregnancy ends. An incomplete abortion, for example, is a miscarriage where there are retained products of conception that often have to be removed by D+C. If you haven't had your Ob/Gyn rotation already, you'll learn all about this. As for induced abortion, suction D+C is used in the first trimester, D+E (Dilation and Evacuation) is used in the second trimester to 20-21 weeks (<10% of all abortion procedures performed in the US). Induction of labor with prostaglandins in the late second trimester (prior to viability defined as 24 weeks LMP) is more often used to terminate "wanted" pregnancies when the fetus is terminally ill, so that the parents can see their baby intact and grieve, as in the article you posted. Either D+E or labor induction could also be used to remove POC in cases of IUFD (Intrauterine Fetal Demise), depending on the parents' wishes and the gestational age of the fetus. My apologies if I offended anyone by dispersing this information, no pro-choice or pro-life rhetoric intended, just textbook stuff.

 

[marakah2]

the article states the baby was stillborn, but she was induced to deliver.

i assume the baby had died prior to induction. that the induction was just to get the baby out more quickly. i think that this happens often when the baby dies in utero.