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Definition: abortion from The Penguin Dictionary of Science

The expulsion or removal of the ➤foetus from the uterus before the foetus is viable, usually before the 24th week of pregnancy in humans.

Abortion

From Encyclopedia of Social Problems
Worldwide, some 46 million women have abortions every year. Of these abortions, only slightly more than half are legal, that is, take place under conditions that are medically safe and where neither the woman nor the provider is subject to criminal prosecution. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 13 percent of all pregnancy-related deaths, or 78,000, are linked to complications resulting from unsafe abortions. In the United States, the legalization of abortion occurred in 1973 with the Supreme Court decision R oe v. Wade. After an initial sharp increase in the number of abortions, the abortion rate steadily declined to approximately 21 abortions per 1,000 women age 15 to 44, which amounts to about 1.3 million abortions annually. This rate falls within the norm of developed nations but is higher than in most of Western Europe, where the Netherlands occupies the low end with an abortion rate of about 8 per 1,000 women. Contrary to popular belief, high abortion rates…
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Full text Article Abortion

From World of Criminal Justice, Gale
Anti- and Pro-Abortion protesters, marching in...
Abortion is the spontaneous or artificially induced expulsion of an embryo or fetus. As used in its legal context, it usually refers to induced abortions. In the United States between the 1880s and the early 1970s it was a crime for a person to perform an abortion. The U.S. Supreme Court decision in…
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Full text Article abortion

From Political Philosophy A-Z
The practice of deliberately ending a pregnancy is perhaps the most contentious issue in contemporary public culture, certainly in the US. Politically, the debate has become polarised between those who support ‘a woman’s right to choose’, sometimes resting this on an account of bodily ownership, and…
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Full text Article Abortion

From Cambridge Handbook of Psychology, Health and Medicine
Although induced and spontaneous abortion both involve the death of a fetus there are important differences in these experiences. In the former, pregnancy ends through an individual’s choice while the latter is not because of, but often in spite of, the woman’s and professionals’ best efforts to…
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Full text Article Abortion

From Encyclopedia of Women's Health
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1.18 million legal abortions were performed in the United States in 1997. The risk of death from legal abortion is 0.4 per 100,000 induced abortions. Most abortions are performed surgically by vacuum curettage. Medical abortion…
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Full text Article Abortion

From The SAGE Encyclopedia of the Sociology of Religion
Abortion denotes the termination of a pregnancy prior to birth for medical or nonmedical reasons. Saving the mother’s life, her physical and mental health, and fetal impairment count as medical reasons, whereas abortion in cases of rape, distress, or socioeconomic reasons is classified as nonmedical…
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Full text Article abortion

From Encyclopedia of Women and American Politics
A woman's right to decide whether or not to terminate her pregnancy has become one of the most controversial issues of contemporary gender politics. Pro-choice advocates argue that only a woman, often in consultation with her doctor and/or partner, can make such a difficult decision. Abortion…
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Full text Article Abortion

From Culture Wars in America: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints, and Voices
Abortion that is induced, specifically the willful termination of pregnancy by medical or surgical means, is perhaps the most contentious issue of the culture wars. From earliest times, families or individual women have sought to end certain pregnancies for a variety of reasons. Until modern times, …
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Full text Article Abortion

From Gale Encyclopedia of Public Health
Pro-choice supporters at a press conference at...
Abortion is the intentional termination of a pregnancy before the fetus can live independently. An abortion may be elective or therapeutic. It can be performed either medically by administration of drugs that cause the uterus to contract and expel the fetus, or surgically, in which the fetus is…
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Full text Article Abortion

From The International Encyclopedia of Human Sexuality
abortion pregnancy pro‐choice pro‐life reproductive rights Abortion is a medical procedure, performed through the administration of medication or surgery, which terminates a pregnancy. Historical texts and records show that humans have employed a variety of abortion methods to control fertility for…
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Full text Article Abortion

From Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology
Abortion is a medical procedure resulting in pregnancy termination and death of the fetus. Abortion is the final consequence of a woman's decision to terminate her pregnancy before the fetus or embryo is able to survive on its own. The U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM) states on its website…
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