abortion

/əˈbɔrʃən/

/əˈbɔʃən/

Other forms: abortions

Abortion is a medical procedure that ends a pregnancy. In the United States, the public debate over a women's right to have an abortion is a complex and heated political issue.

The words abort and abortion can also apply to non-pregnancy related topics. If you are in the middle of a jewel-heist and the alarm on the vault is tripped, you and your partners in crime might opt to abort the plan and run while you can, debating whether the plan's abortion was a good decision or not later.

Definitions of abortion

1. noun

   termination of pregnancy
   types:

   miscarriage, spontaneous abortion, stillbirth

   a natural loss of the products of conception

   induced abortion

   a deliberate termination of pregnancy

   habitual abortion

   repeated spontaneous abortion (often for no known reason)

   imminent abortion, threatened abortion

   the appearance of symptoms that signal the impending loss of the products of conception

   incomplete abortion, partial abortion

   termination of pregnancy without expulsion of all of the products of conception

   aborticide, feticide

   the act of destroying a fetus

   therapeutic abortion

   a legally induced abortion for medical reasons (as when the mother's life is threatened)

   suction curettage, vacuum aspiration

   a method of induced abortion; prior to the 14th week of gestation the embryo and placenta are removed by applying suction to the dilated cervix

   type of:

   conclusion, ending, termination

   the act of ending something
2. noun

   failure of a plan
   synonyms: miscarriage

   type of:

   failure

   an event that does not accomplish its intended purpose