Table of Contents
- Overview
- Symptoms
- Treatment
- Prevention
- Images
Elective or therapeutic abortion is the deliberate termination of a pregnancy.
Alternative Names
Therapeutic abortion; Elective abortion
Causes, incidence, and risk factors
Elective abortions are those initiated by personal choice. Roughly 20% of all pregnancies (excluding miscarriages) end in elective abortion. It has been reported that since abortion was legalized in 1973 through 2002, over 42 million legal abortions have been performed.
Review Date: 09/19/2006
Reviewed By: Audra Robertson, MD, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology,
Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA. Review provided by
VeriMed Healthcare Network.
A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org)
