Abortion, according to an encyclopedia, is the termination of a pregnancy. This also ends up in killing the embryo or fetus. When a pregnancy is ended early and the child is born alive, it is called “premature birth”, not abortion. When during a birthing process, the baby comes out dead, it is called a “stillbirth”.

From the medical point of view, there are two major kinds of abortion: spontaneous abortion and induced abortion. A spontaneous abortion is also called a miscarriage. It may be due to an accidental trauma or several other causes. There may be an error during the early embryonic development or there may be genetic deformities or the womb simply cannot support the developing fetus. There may also be an infection, or fatal immune responses, or a serious systemic disease. All these reasons lead to spontaneous abortion. Women older than 35 years old are more prone to miscarriages than younger ones.

An induced abortion is an abortion that has been caused deliberately. There are two subcategories of induced abortion: therapeutic abortion and elective abortion. A therapeutic abortion is carried out when the pregnancy endangers the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman. Only about six percent of all induced abortion is considered therapeutic abortion. The remaining 94% is elective abortion, or abortion performed for reasons other than the health and safety of the pregnant woman.

Some of the reasons for elective induced abortion are wanting to postpone child bearing, being unable to afford a baby, having relationship problems with the partner, being too young, not wanting to disrupt education or job, not planning to have another child, and becoming pregnant due to rape or incest. When the average person uses the word “abortion”, he is referring to the elective induced abortion.

There is an ongoing debate regarding abortion. When a woman is trying to decide whether she will have an abortion or not there are many issues involved from moral, ethical, biological, philosophical, and even legal issues involved. Those who are in favor of abortion argue that having a child is the sole right of the pregnant woman. They are called “pro-choice”. Those against abortion insist that a fetus is already a human being that has the right to life. They are described as “pro-life”.

In some countries, abortion is considered legal, while in other countries, the elective induced abortion is illegal. In the latter, women who wanted to get rid of their unborn child perform the abortion themselves. These self-induced abortions are dangerous and put the life and health of the pregnant woman at risk.

The World Health Organization warns that performing self-induced abortion often ends up in the death of the woman.