Basic Types of Abortion

Abortions later in pregnancy are safe, patient-centered, and done with thoughtful consideration and humanity. Generally speaking, most late abortions are done in an out-patient setting  using a combination of medication (mifeprex and misoprostol), feticidal injection depending on gestation, followed by D&E or Induction of Labor (IOL).  Before 24 weeks of pregnancy, D&E has been shown to be safer than IOL, though either may be enlisted depending on patient or provider preference (Pettit, Sweat, Zuber, Cotton-Caballero, Ferguson et al., 2017). Induced fetal demise by transabdominal or transcervical injection of digoxin/lidocaine/KCl is routinely done starting at periviability and beyond  (Diedrich, Goldfarb, Tattoo, Drey, Reeves et al., 2024) . “After-birth,”  “partial-birth,”  or “born-alive” abortions are not a practice done EVER - they are false narratives of the anti-abortion movement, meant to horrify and sway public sentiment, win political favor, and demonize pregnant people facing difficult life circumstances. All abortions are either “spontaneous” or “induced”, “medication” or “procedural” - referring to them otherwise, or in terms of  “viability” or “medical necessity” fuels stigma, hierarchies of deservedness, and perpetuates anti-abortion rhetoric and language ambiguities that are used to build restrictive abortion policy (Heuser, Sagaser, Christensen, Johnson, Lappen et al., 2023).  While abortion after 20 weeks carries more risk than that of 1st trimester care, most recent 2020 CDC findings report overall mortality related to abortion to be 0.45 deaths per 100,000 procedures - the lowest rate since 1973 (Kortsmit et al., 2023).  Again, when compared to induced abortion, the mortality risk of staying pregnant in the U.S. in 2020 is estimated to be 35-39 times higher, making a case for widespread abortion access across all stages of pregnancy.