partial-birth abortion. An abortion in which a viable fetus is partially delivered before being destroyed.
spontaneous abortion. See MISCARRIAGE.
therapeutic abortion. An abortion carried out to preserve the life or health of the mother. [Cases: Abortion and Birth Control
0. 5.]
“Until recently it was common to speak of ‘therapeutic abortion.’ The literal meaning of the term is an abortion induced for medical reasons, but it was commonly understood to mean one for the purpose of saving the mother’s life ….” Rollin M. Perkins & Ronald N. Boyce, Criminal Law 193 (3d ed. 1982).