Since therapeutic abortions are legal, they may be done openly; hence
the operation is performed in appropriate surroundings and with every
refinement of surgical technique. These fortunate conditions
materially alter the outlook; serious consequences of the operation
itself need not be feared. Competent surgeons, employing modern
methods, may perform hundreds of abortions without the loss of a
single patient. Moreover, pregnancy may be terminated safely and
expeditiously at any time; the lay view which regards abortion as
more serious after the second month than before it is a relic of days
gone by.

PREMATURE DELIVERY.--In the introduction to this chapter we noted
that the infant becomes viable after the twenty-eighth week, which
marks in a practical sense, the transition of the fetus from an
immature to a premature stage of development. In point of frequency,
premature delivery ranks far below either abortion or miscarriage.

Unlawful interference with pregnancy generally proceeds from a desire
to avoid offspring, and lacks incentive after the infant becomes
capable of living independently. Criminal operations, therefore, are
not a conspicuous cause of premature delivery. Occasionally
physicians resort to artificial means to end gestation during the
later months in order that organic complications may be relieved; but
most premature births occur spontaneously. Sometimes they are due to
ill-health, while in other instances no evidence of disease is found
in either mother or child. Careful study of the individual patient,
however, is generally helpful toward the prevention of repeated
premature delivery.

The course of premature labor closely resembles delivery at full