Aradia Women's Health Center has been providing health care services to women from all over the Northwest since 1972. Women come to us from many different places for safe abortion care. With over one million women annually in the U.S. alone choosing abortion, the stigma of abortion remains. Viability is usually believed to begin anywhere from 24 to 28 weeks of pregnancy. Very few premature infants born at 24 weeks of pregnancy actually survive.
Women can choose to have abortions before viability for any reason.
This is not the same thing as saying that women choose abortions at this or any other point in the pregnancy for reasons that are frivolous or trivial. In the third trimester, most often the fetus would ultimately die in the uterus because of severe malformations, or very shortly after birth if the pregnancy goes full-term. It is important for the public to understand that the practice of medicine is not always exactly the same with all health care providers. Indeed, the primary concern of any medical procedure, including abortion, is to keep the woman alive and healthy. But for us, the issue is not, and never has been about the numbers.