Abortion Procedures, Risks Associated with Abortion, and Risks Associated with Pregnancy

If a woman has decided to have an abortion, she and her doctor must first determine how far her pregnancy has progressed.  The stage of a woman’s pregnancy will directly affect the appropriateness or method of abortion.  The doctor will use a different method for women at different stages of pregnancy.  In order to determine the gestational age of the embryo or fetus, the doctor will perform a pelvic exam and/or an ultrasound. 

Definition Of Induced Abortion

Abortion is ending the pregnancy by using medicine or a surgical procedure.  In Oklahoma, the legal definition of an abortion (Title 63 O.S. §1-730) is “the purposeful termination of a human pregnancy, by any person with an intention other than to produce a live birth or to remove a dead unborn child.”  “Abortion shall terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being.” (Title 63 O.S. §1-738.3)

According to Oklahoma law (Title 63 O.S. §1-745.5), “an abortion cannot be performed on a woman who is twenty (20) or more weeks pregnant unless, in reasonable medical judgment, she has a condition which so complicates her medical condition as to necessitate the abortion of her pregnancy to avert her death or to avert serious risk of substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function.”