Late termination of pregnancy

Late termination of pregnancy, also referred to politically as third trimester abortion,^[2] describes the termination of pregnancy by inducing labor during a late stage of gestation.^[3] In this context, late is not precisely defined, and different medical publications use varying gestational age thresholds.^[3] As of 2015, in the United States, more than 90% of abortions occur before the 13th week, 1.3% take place after the 21st week,^[4] and less than 1% occur after 24 weeks.^[5][6]

Reasons for late terminations of pregnancy include circumstances where a pregnant woman's health is at risk or when birth defects, such as lethal fetal abnormalities, have been detected.^[7][8]

In the United States, the mortality rate for legal abortions overall is less than 1 in 100,000 procedures performed. The rate of mortality and morbidity increases with the gestational age of the fetus, so patients who have decided to have an abortion are strongly encouraged to get it early.^[9] Still, later abortion is not associated with any greater net negative physical or mental health outcomes (including mortality) than full-term pregnancy and childbirth in the United States.^[10][8][11]

Late termination of pregnancy is more controversial than abortion in general. All countries in Europe only permit abortion later in pregnancy (after 10-14 weeks in most countries, 18 weeks in Sweden and Iceland, and 24 weeks in the Netherlands and Great Britain) if specific circumstances are present, generally when the pregnancy represents a serious danger to the life, or to the physical or mental health of the woman, or when a serious malformation or anomaly of the fetus is diagnosed.^[12]