Late terminations of pregnancy – an obstetrician's perspective

Abstract

THE RECENTLY REIGNITED DEBATE on abortion has raised many questions, including the number performed, the age of the women and indications for the procedure. Those on the ?pro-life? side of the highly polarised participants have also focused attention on ?late abortions?. There have been suggestions that there may be large numbers of late terminations of pregnancy being performed, in some cases close to full term, with no medical indication other than a woman?s choice not to continue the pregnancy. Indeed, the phrase ?partial-birth abortion? which is sometimes used by political activists on the pro-life side may lead the uninformed listener to conclude that this is something close to infanticide, being performed at a time when survival for the infant is a realistic possibility. What then is the real situation with late terminations in Australia? The term ?late termination? is understood by most obstetricians to mean one that is carried out at or above 20 weeks? gestation. This legal watershed, beyond which the fetus attains a legal identity, often triggers a change in the decisionmaking process when a request for termination is made. This depends on the practice and laws that apply in various jurisdictions.