Page 190 - Health, Population and Environment Education 10

the other hand, unsafe abortion may be risky for the pregnant woman. It may cause infection,
continuous bleeding, damage in the uterus, unconsciousness and death of the victim.
Therefore, unsafe abortion should be discouraged providing proper health education.

Types of Abortion
Abortions are mainly of two types. They are as follows:

1. Spontaneous abortion
2. Induced abortion

1. Spontaneous Abortion
Spontaneous abortion is defined as the unintentional expulsion of an embryo or foetus
before the 24th week of gestation. Pregnancy that ends before 37 weeks of gestation
resulting in a live born infant is called a premature birth or a preterm birth. When a foetus
dies in uterus after viability or during delivery, it is usually termed stillborn. Premature
births and stillbirths are generally not considered to be miscarriages.

2. Induced Abortion
The intentional termination of pregnancy by using medicine or with the help of skilled
health personnel is called induced abortion. Approximately, 205 million pregnancies
occur each year throughout the world. Over a third are intended and about a fifth end in
induced abortion. A pregnancy can be intentionally aborted in several ways. The manner
selected often depends upon the gestational age of the embryo or foetus, which increases
in size as the pregnancy progresses. Specific procedures may also be selected due to
legally, regional availability and a doctor or woman’s personal preference.
Reasons for procuring induced abortions are typically characterized as either therapeutic
or elective. An abortion is medically referred to as a therapeutic abortion when it is
performed to save the life of the pregnant woman, prevent harm to the woman’s physical
or mental health; terminate a pregnancy where indications are that the child will have
a significantly increased chance of premature morbidity or mortality or be otherwise
disabled or to selectively reduce the number of foetus to reduce health risks associated
with multiple pregnancy.

An abortion is referred to as an elective or voluntary abortion when it is preformed at the
request of the woman for non-medical reasons.

The main causes of induced abortion are as follows:
i. Unwanted pregnancy
ii. Pregnancy resulted by rape, incest sex or illegal relation, etc.
iii. Preference to son/daughter
iv. Deformity or abnormality of foetus
v. Premarital pregnancy
vi. Extramarital pregnancy
vii. Poor health conditions of the pregnant woman
190 GREEN Health, Population and Environment Education Book-10