Abortion in the United States

==Unintended live birth==
Although it is uncommon,<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Wyldes|title=Termination of pregnancy for fetal anomaly: a population-based study 1995 to 2004.|journal=BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology|date=May 2007|volume=114|issue=5|pages=639–642|doi=10.1111/j.1471-0528.2007.01279.x|pmid=17355269|s2cid=9966493|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Hollander|first1=D.|title=For Second-Trimester Abortion, Women Given Misoprostol Vaginally Report the Greatest Satisfaction|quote=... Additionally, a significantly higher proportion of women in the vaginal misoprostol group, and a marginally higher proportion of those in the oral misoprostol group, than of those in the intra-amniotic prostaglandin group had a live birth (20%, 15% and 5%, respectively) ... .|journal=Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health|date=May 2004|volume=36|issue=3|page=133|url=https://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/3613304a.html|access-date=October 26, 2015|doi=10.1111/j.1931-2393.2004.tb00203.x}}</ref><ref>{{cite report|title=Termination of Pregnancy for Fetal Abnormality|publisher=Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists|quote=Live birth following medical termination of pregnancy before 21+6 weeks of gestation is very uncommon. Nevertheless, women and their partners should be counselled about this unlikely possibility and staff should be trained to deal with this eventuality. Instances of recorded live birth and survival increase as gestation at birth extends from 22 weeks. In accordance with prior RCOG guidance, feticide should be routinely offered from 21+6 weeks of gestation. Where the fetal abnormality is not compatible with survival, termination of pregnancy without prior feticide may be preferred by some women. In such cases, delivery management should be discussed and planned with the parents and all health professionals involved and a written care plan agreed before termination takes place. Where the fetal abnormality is not lethal and termination of pregnancy is being undertaken after 22 weeks of gestation, failure to perform feticide could result in live birth and survival, an outcome that contradicts the intention of the abortion. In such situations, the child should receive the neonatal support and intensive care that is in the child's best interest and its condition managed within published guidance for neonatal practice.|date=May 2010|page=30|url=https://www.rcog.org.uk/globalassets/documents/guidelines/terminationpregnancyreport18may2010.pdf|access-date=October 26, 2015}}</ref> women sometimes give birth in spite of an attempted abortion.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Jeffries|first1=Liz|title=Abortion|url=http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/GPO-CHRG-OCONNOR/pdf/GPO-CHRG-OCONNOR-5-5.pdf|access-date=October 26, 2015|work=The Philadelphia Inquirer|date=August 2, 1981|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151223032410/https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/GPO-CHRG-OCONNOR/pdf/GPO-CHRG-OCONNOR-5-5.pdf|archive-date=December 23, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Nelson|first=Miranda|date=January 31, 2013|url=https://www.straight.com/blogra/348316/three-conservative-mps-beg-rcmp-examine-late-term-abortions-homicides|title=Three Conservative MPs beg RCMP to examine late-term abortions as homicides|website=Straight.com|access-date=May 11, 2022}} For the letter, see {{cite web|last1=Vellacott|first1=Maurice|title=Letter to RCMP Commissioner Rob Paulson|url=http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/563648/jan-23-letter-to-rcmp-request-to-investigate.pdf|website=Straight.com|access-date=October 26, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130502120650/http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/563648/jan-23-letter-to-rcmp-request-to-investigate.pdf|archive-date=May 2, 2013|format=Letter|date=January 23, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Hopper|first1=Tristin|title=Birth of a legal quandry: Live-birth abortions a perilous grey zone in Canada's criminal code|url=http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/born-alive-dead-in-moments-grey-zone-of-live-birth-abortions-a-deep-divide-between-mps-and-physicians|access-date=October 26, 2015|work=National Post|date=February 1, 2013}}{{dead link|date=June 2022}}</ref> Reporting of live birth after attempted abortion may not be consistent from state to state, but 38 were recorded in one study in upstate New York in the two-and-a-half years before ''Roe v. Wade''.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Stroh|first1=G.|title=Reported live births following induced abortion: two and one-half years' experience in Upstate New York.|journal=American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology|date=September 1, 1976|volume=126|issue=1|pages=83–90|pmid=961751|doi=10.1016/0002-9378(76)90469-5}}</ref> Under the [[Born-Alive Infants Protection Act]] of 2002,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=107_cong_reports&docid=f:hr186.107|title=House Report 107-186 – Born-Alive Infants Protection Act of 2001|publisher=U.S. Government Publishing Office|date=2001|access-date=January 25, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Pear|first1=Robert|title=New Attention for 2002 Law on Survivors of Abortion|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/23/politics/new-attention-for-2002-law-on-survivors-of-abortions.html|access-date=October 26, 2015|work=The New York Times|date=April 23, 2005}}</ref> medical staff must report live birth if they observe any breathing, heartbeat, umbilical cord pulsation, or confirmed voluntary muscle movement, regardless of whether the born-alive is non-viable ''ex utero'' in the long term because of birth defects, and regardless of gestational age, including gestational ages which are too early for long-term viability ''ex utero''.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Jansen|first1=Robert|title=Unfinished Feticide|journal=Journal of Medical Ethics|date=1990|volume=16|issue=2|pages=61–65|doi=10.1136/jme.16.2.61|pmid=2195170|pmc=1375929}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Clinical Guidelines: Induction of fetal demise before abortion|journal=Contraception|date=January 2010|doi=10.1016/j.contraception.2010.01.018|pmid=20472112|url=http://www.societyfp.org/_documents/resources/InductionofFetalDemise.pdf|access-date=October 26, 2015|volume=81|issue=6|pages=462–473|last1=Diedrich|first1=J.|last2=Drey|first2=E.|s2cid=12555553 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Sfakianaki|first1=Anna K.|title=Potassium Chloride-Induced Fetal Demise: A Retrospective Cohort Study of Efficacy and Safety|journal=Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine|date=February 1, 2014|volume=33|issue=2|pages=337–341|doi=10.7863/ultra.33.2.337|pmid=24449738|s2cid=6060208|url=http://www.jultrasoundmed.org/content/33/2/337.long|access-date=October 26, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151028182952/http://www.jultrasoundmed.org/content/33/2/337.long|archive-date=October 28, 2015}}</ref>