Abortion

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Basics

• Summary
• Start Here

Learn More

• Related Issues
• Specifics

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Research

• Journal Articles

Resources

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For You

• Patient Handouts

Summary

An abortion is a procedure to end a pregnancy. It uses medicine or surgery to remove the embryo or fetus and placenta from the uterus. The procedure is done by a licensed health care professional.

The decision to end a pregnancy is very personal. If you are thinking of having an abortion, most health care providers advise counseling.

Start Here

• Ending a Pregnancy (American Academy of Family Physicians) Also in Spanish
• Induced Abortion (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists) Also in Spanish

Related Issues

• Abortion, Miscarriage, and Breast Cancer Risk (National Cancer Institute)
• Abortions: Does It Affect Subsequent Pregnancies? (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish
• Pregnancy Choices: Raising the Baby, Adoption, and Abortion (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists) - PDF Also in Spanish
• What to Do When Your Pregnancy Is Unexpected (American Academy of Family Physicians) Also in Spanish

Specifics

• Medical Abortion (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)
• Mifeprex (Mifepristone) Questions and Answers (Food and Drug Administration)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

• Article: Protections From Civil Liability in State Abortion Conscience Laws.
• Article: Surgical Management of Incomplete Abortion by Manual Vacuum Aspiration (MVA).
• Article: Clinical application of low-dose misoprostol in the induced labor of 16...
• Abortion -- see more articles

Patient Handouts

• Abortion - medical (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Abortion - surgical (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Abortion - surgical - aftercare (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Ending pregnancy with medications (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish