However, 'late-term abortion' is not a recognized medical term. According to the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology , "the term 'late-term abortion' has no medical definition and is not used in a clinical setting or to describe the delivery of abortion care later in pregnancy.
Adds Gillian Dean, M. To be clear: There is no such thing as an abortion up until birth, and 'late-term abortion' is not a term used by reputable health care providers. Still, we often hear these terms in the news—and you may have even mistakenly used them yourself. We chatted with experts to clear up the confusion.
Keeping abortion terminology by gestation period is the proper way to define it. Since , when abortion was legalized nationally, around 11 percent of abortions have occurred at or after 13 weeks gestation. According to the Guttmacher Institute, here is when women have abortions percentage-wise:.
While most abortions occur before 8 weeks, second or third trimester abortions are also options women may have. These are the most common reasons an abortion may occur during the second or third trimester:. These include: anencephaly, the absence of the brain and cranium above the base of the skull, or limb-body wall complex, when the organs develop outside of the body cavity, according to the ACOG. Other medical complications include: premature rupture of membranes and infection, placental abruption, and placenta accreta, which may risk extensive blood loss, stroke, and septic shock that could lead to maternal death, according to the ACOG.
Second and third trimester abortions may also be more common in places with more strict abortion laws. Adds Souder, "These restrictions have forced many clinics to close, in turn creating waiting lists, sometimes two to three weeks out. Unnecessary waiting periods, gestational bans, and lack of providers in rural areas force people in some states to travel hundreds of miles to get care.
Thirty-five states currently ban state Medicaid from covering abortion care, which affects the most marginalized people. As a result, this term may encompass different abortion procedures depending on who is using the term. In this method, the fetus is moved into a breech position, the brain is removed from the cranium of the fetus, and then the cranium is sometimes crushed in order to move the fetus through the cervix more easily.
Due to the manner in which the Connecticut Department of Health records abortion procedures, there is no way to determine for sure whether this particular abortion procedure is being used in this state. A close look at the types of abortion that the Department of Health records and the gestation periods in which abortions are performed indicates that if this procedure is being used, it is extremely uncommon.
Women have a right to have an abortion up to viability and also after viability if the procedure is necessary to protect a woman ' s life or health. Section 19a requires that physicians provide counseling to women seeking abortion but does not mandate parental notification or parental consent. There is currently no law directly addressing partial birth abortion in the state of Connecticut.
However, last year HB No. The bill died in the Judiciary Committee. There is no sure way to determine whether partial birth abortions are being performed in Connecticut.
There are two reasons for this. In , Roe v. Wade legalized abortion in the U. The Supreme court made clear in Roe v. Wade Given viability is case dependent and is only a possibility or probability of survival, rather than a guarantee of survival, the decision in Roe v. Wade left the right to an abortion after viability up to individual states to determine.
In a subsequent Supreme Court case on abortion , the court defined viability as follows:. Viability depends on many factors, including gestational age, fetal weight and sex, and medical interventions available. Infants born in resource-rich settings have a higher likelihood of survival than those born in resource-poor settings. If time allows and if the pregnant individual is clinically stable, they may be transferred to a facility better equipped for neonatal resuscitation before delivery, however this is not always possible.
Further, insurance coverage and reimbursement for transfers in care varies by state and insurance plan. At the time of Roe v. The question we come up against is this: with viability possible at lower gestational ages, will abortions be prohibited at lower gestational ages as well? Many favor leaving that decision up to the patient and their provider, given viability depends on the individual pregnancy.
Others, including some policymakers, desire early gestational age limits on abortion, well before the possibility of viability. In subsequent sections, we outline policies that regulate the provision of abortions later in pregnancy, including gestational age restrictions. Abortions occurring at or after 21 weeks gestation are rare. This amounts to approximately 5, abortions per year occurring at or after 21 weeks, however this is an underestimate as only 33 reporting areas report abortions to the CDC by gestational age.
This is likely in part due to the greater availability of medication abortions over the last two decades. The CDC does not elaborate on the breakdown by gestational age for abortions occurring past 21 weeks, but it is likely that the vast majority occur soon after 21 weeks rather than in the later in the pregnancy.
While very limited data exists on this issue, a study from estimated 0. This may overestimate current day numbers, given the abortion rate is currently at a historic low , and restrictions on abortions later in pregnancy have increased.
Non-Medical Reasons: Individuals seek abortions later in pregnancy for a number of reasons. As part of the Turnaway study out of the University of California San Francisco, from over women were asked about why they experienced delays in obtaining abortion care, if any Figure 2. Almost half of individuals who obtained an abortion after 20 weeks did not suspect they were pregnant until later in pregnancy, and other barriers to care included lack of information about where to access an abortion, transportation difficulties, lack of insurance coverage and inability to pay for the procedure.
Additionally, of all the abortion-providing facilities in the U. Abortions at this stage also typically require two days to complete with inpatient care, as opposed to outpatient or at-home management that is possible earlier in pregnancy.
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