NEWS

Ripped from the womb? Late-term abortion explained

Kim Painter
Special for USA TODAY
US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during the final presidential debate in Las Vegas.

In this week’s presidential debate, Donald Trump described late-term, “partial birth” abortion as a procedure in which “in the ninth month, you can take the baby and rip the baby out of the womb of the mother just prior to the birth of the baby.”

He said it could happen "as late as one or two or three or four days prior to birth."

Reproductive health experts quickly called the comments inaccurate.

Here’s what you need to know about the procedure:

Q: How common are late-term abortions?

A: Of the more than 1 million abortions performed in the United States in 2011, about 12,000, or 1.3% happened after 21 weeks, more than half-way through a 40-week pregnancy, according the Guttmacher Institute, a non-profit research group that supports abortion rights.

Just 16% of all doctors who perform abortions perform any after 24 weeks, Guttmacher reported. Most abortions, more than 90%, occur in the first 13 weeks, the group said.

Q: Why would anyone get a late-term abortion?

A: While data are sparse, women who have shared their stories during legislative debates and the current campaign often cite severe fetal abnormalities, discovered late by ultrasound or genetic tests, or a health crisis for the woman.

Virtually all abortions past 24 weeks are performed for “very severe” birth defects, Jen Gunter, a San Francisco obstetrician and gynecologist, wrote in a blog post.

Other factors, including late discovery of a pregnancy and trouble finding a provider or money for the procedure, may also play roles in delaying some abortions past 20 weeks, one study found. 

Q: Is the procedure really performed up until the last days of pregnancy?

A: “That is not happening in the United States,” Dr. Aaron B. Caughey, chairman of obstetrics and gynecology at Oregon Health and Science University, told The New York Times following Trump's comments this week.

“There are no nine-month abortions,” Gunter said. There are situations in which labor is induced because of problems in the last month of pregnancy, but “at 38 or 39 weeks it’s always an induction and is simply called a delivery," she said.

Q: How are late-term abortions performed? 

A: Doctors either induce labor or perform a surgery called a dilation and evacuation, in which the cervix is dilated and the fetus is removed in pieces. Abortion opponents coined the term partial-birth abortion to describe a rare variation in which the fetus is removed intact.

Q: What does the law say about such abortions?

A: A federal law has banned partial-birth abortions since 2003, allowing exceptions when a woman’s life, but not health, is in danger. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the law in 2007.

In addition, 43 states prohibit some abortions, with limited exceptions, after a certain point in pregnancy, Guttmacher said. That includes 19 states that consider fetal viability and 22 that impose cut-offs at a certain number of weeks, most often around 22 weeks.