Abortion is commonly understood induced abortion and it is defined in medical terms as miscarriage or induced termination of an embryo during pregnancy and thus causing its death.

Definitions of abortion in Medical Terms:

Miscarriage or spontaneous abortion - When miscarriage happens due to natural causes or accident.

Therapeutic Abortion - Abortion carried out with the aim to protect woman's life, physical or mental health. Abortion was performed, as there was a possibility of a child born with severe health risk or congenital disorders.

Elective Abortion - Abortion was carried out for any other reason not mentioned above.

Types of Abortion

Threatened abortion is bleeding from the vagina during the first 24 weeks of pregnancy and is not usually accompanied by any pain.

Inevitable abortion is a threatened abortion becomes an inevitable abortion when the woman experiences pain due to uterine contractions or when, on examination, the cervix, or neck of the uterus, is found to be opening so that abortion must inevitably occur sooner or later.

A complete abortion has occurred when all the products of conception have been passed from the uterus.

An incomplete abortion is a condition in which part of the products of conception have been passed but some remain within the uterus. A missed abortion is said to occur when the pregnancy has died with-in the uterus but the uterus has failed to expel it. The dead pregnancy will be aborted sooner or later. This diagnosis is often made with ultrasound scanning.

Recurrent abortion is miscarriage on three or more occasions. The cause may vary on each occasion so the abortion may occur at different stages during different pregnancies.

Habitual abortion is the term usually reserved for miscarriage on three or more occasions at approximately the same stage of pregnancy and there-fore assumed to be for the same reason each time.

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