What happens in an Abortion Part 4

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Part 4: Induction Abortion

By Eric Stare

Parts 1 through 3 of this series examined the abortion pill, suction aspiration, and dilation and evacuation (D&E).  Now we come to another method used later in pregnancy: medical or induction abortion.  Unlike D&E, this method does not primarily depend on forceps and suction to remove the unborn human being.

Instead, medications are given to cause the uterus to contract and expel the pregnancy.  In plain English, drugs are used to induce a process similar to labor, but the intended outcome is an abortion.

How Is an Induction Abortion Performed?

The World Health Organization (WHO) provides specific recommendations for medical abortion at 12 weeks of pregnancy or later.  One recommended regimen begins with mifepristone.  As discussed in Part 1, mifepristone blocks the action of progesterone, a hormone needed to maintain pregnancy.

WHO then recommends waiting at least 24 hours before administering misoprostol.  But there is an important difference from the early abortion-pill regimen.  At 12 weeks or later, WHO recommends repeated doses of misoprostol every three hours as needed to complete the abortion process.

Misoprostol causes uterine contractions and cervical changes.  The uterus contracts.  The cervix opens.  Eventually, the unborn human being and placenta are expelled.

This Is Not the Same as an Early Abortion Pill

Someone reading Part 1 might reasonably ask:   Isn't this just another medication abortion? Technically, yes. Both use medications.  But the physical circumstances can be dramatically different because the unborn human being is considerably larger and more developed later in pregnancy.  That is why WHO separates its recommendations into medical abortion before 12 weeks and medical abortion at or after 12 weeks.  The drugs may be familiar.

The stage of human development is not the same.

What Happens After the Drugs Are Given?

Misoprostol stimulates contractions of the uterus.  Those contractions cause the cervix to dilate and the uterus to expel its contents.  At later gestational ages, this process can resemble labor.  There may be repeated contractions, bleeding, passage of amniotic fluid, and eventually expulsion of the fetus and placenta.

This is why describing the process merely as taking abortion medication tells the reader very little about what physically happens.  The woman is not simply swallowing pills and walking away from the biological consequences. 

Her uterus is being medically stimulated to contract until the pregnancy is expelled.

What Happens to the Unborn Human Being?

This is the question that should never disappear behind medical terminology.

At 12 weeks and beyond, fetal development is well underway.  As pregnancy progresses, the fetus continues growing and developing recognizable human anatomy.  The medical process does not erase that reality.  The medications are administered for the purpose of ending the pregnancy, and the abortion process results in expulsion of the fetus and placenta.  WHO's own guidance refers to what is expelled as “pregnancy tissue.” I believe those words are medically incomplete when used alone.  The expelled material may include blood, placenta and other tissue.  It also includes the body of the unborn human being whose life has been ended.  That is the reality this series refuses to hide.

What If Everything Is Not Expelled?

An induction abortion does not always end with complete expulsion.  WHO's recommendations specifically recognize the need for appropriate surgical backup when medical abortion is performed at 12 weeks or later.  Why?  Because incomplete abortion and other complications can require additional medical attention.  If tissue remains inside the uterus, further medication or a surgical procedure may be necessary.  The abortion may therefore begin with medication and end with instruments.

The Language Changes. The Human Being Does Not

Throughout this series, we have encountered an entire vocabulary surrounding abortion:

• Medication abortion
• Vacuum aspiration
• Products of conception
• Uterine evacuation
• Dilation and evacuation
• Pregnancy tissue
• Medical management

Now add Induction abortion. Every term has a clinical meaning.

But clinical terminology should never prevent ordinary people from asking the most basic question:

What is actually happening to the unborn human being?

During an induction abortion, medications cause the uterus to contract and the cervix to open until the pregnancy is expelled.  At later gestational ages, that means the woman's body goes through a process resembling labor.  But instead of labor being undertaken to deliver and protect the life developing inside her, the medications have been administered as part of an induced abortion.

Do Not Take My Word for It

As with the previous articles, you do not have to accept my moral conclusions to verify the medical facts.  Read the World Health Organization's own abortion guidelines.  WHO recommends mifepristone followed by repeated misoprostol at 12 weeks or later.  WHO says the misoprostol can be repeated at the recommended interval as needed to achieve completion of the abortion process.  WHO also says surgical backup and appropriate infrastructure should be available for certain providers because incomplete abortion or complications may require intervention.  Those are not descriptions written by the pro-life movement.  They come from the World Health Organization.  I am simply asking readers to understand what those clinical descriptions mean in plain English.

What Do I Call It?

I have been clear throughout this series about my position.

I believe the unborn child is a human being created by God.

I believe intentionally ending that innocent human life is morally evil.

Calling the process medical management does not change that.

Calling the expelled body pregnancy tissue does not change that.

Calling the procedure an induction abortion does not change that.

The terminology may sound clinical.

The underlying reality remains:  An unborn human being was alive. An abortion was deliberately induced. That human life was ended.

That is why these procedures deserve to be understood rather than hidden behind terminology most Americans will never encounter unless someone explains it.

Sources

World Health Organization (WHO): Abortion Care Guideline, Second Edition (2025). WHO's Recommendation 29 addresses medical abortion at 12 weeks or later and recommends mifepristone followed by repeated misoprostol, or repeated misoprostol alone.

World Health Organization (WHO): Clinical Practice Handbook for Quality Abortion Care. The handbook provides clinical guidance for medical abortion and management of the abortion process.

Merck Manual: Abortion. Merck explains how mifepristone and prostaglandins such as misoprostol are used to induce abortion and how prostaglandins stimulate uterine contractions.

https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240104204?utm_source

https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240075207?utm_source

Next: Part 5, What Abortion Terminology Doesn't Tell You. After examining four abortion methods, we will put the language and the physical reality side by side.