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abortion
(ә-bor´shәn)
termination of pregnancy before the fetus is viable. In the medical sense, this term and the term miscarriage are synonyms; both refer to the termination of pregnancy before the fetus is capable of survival outside the uterus. The
term abortion is popularly used as a synonym for induced abortion, the deliberate interruption of pregnancy, with miscarriage being used for spontaneous or natural loss of the fetus.
Copyright 2007. An Elsevier publication. All rights reserved.
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