Failure of first trimester pregnancy termination is an uncommon, although potentially serious complication of attempted therapeutic abortion. We report our experience in four patients with unsuspected congenital uterine anomalies in whom attempted pregnancy termination procedures failed to completely ablate the products of conception. When dilatation and curettage fails to produce embryonic tis...

The use of human fetal tissue for scientific research has enormous potential but is subject to government legislation. In the United Kingdom the Polkinghorne Committee's guidelines were accepted by the Department of Health in 1990. These guidelines set out to protect women undergoing termination of pregnancy from exploitation but in so doing may significantly restrict potential research. Althou...

In the 2002 case Simat Corp v. Arizona Health Care Containment System, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that the Arizona Health Care Containment System must pay for abortions when they are necessary to preserve the health of pregnant women in the system. In the case, the Court ruled that the Arizona Revised Statutes 35-196.02 and the Arizona Health Care Containment System (AHCCCS) policies, whic...

A method for determining fetal sex by identification of Barr-Body in amniotic fluid by staining with aceto-orcein 120 patients pregnant for 20-40 weeks (Group 1) and 50 patients pregnant for 14-20 weeks (Group 2). The results were confirmed at birth or abortion. The accuracy of fetal sex diagnosis was 98.33% in Group 1 and 100% in Group 2. The method is extremely rapid, requiring no more tha...

Out of 177 Rh(D)-negative patients studied, 96 were successfully followed-up after spontaneous or therapeutic abortion. Rh antibodies were detected by the indirect Coombs test in two patients and by an enzyme technique only in a further seven, an overall incidence of 9.4%.The prophylactic use of anti-D immunoglobulin is now recommended for Rh-negative non-immunized patients undergoing abortion,...

In many developing countries like Cameroon, unsafe abortion is a major public health problem. It can be responsible for severe complications including damage to the digestive and/or urinary tract, sepsis, and uterine perforation. Uterine perforation could be caused by most of the instruments that are used to evacuate the uterus. We report a case of apparent uterine perforation and subsequent mi...

maternal infection with toxoplasma gondii acquired during pregnancy may result in congenital infection of developing fetuses. up to now, decision on informed therapeutic abortion of fetuses suspected of having t. gondii infection in iran has been made based on serological findings in mothers. this might have led to unnecessary abortion of many uninfected children. we evaluated the polymerase ch...

In the case of Beal v. Doe, decided in 1977, the US Supreme Court ruled that states could constitutionally restrict money from Medicaid from funding elective abortions. After the 1973 case Roe v. Wade [2], in which the US Supreme Court had ruled that women have rights to terminate pregnancies within the first trimester [3], the state of Pennsylvania passed legislation that restricted the use of...

The course of proliferative diabetic retinopathy involving the optic disc was followed, and the response to peripheral retinal photocoagulation monitored by argon laser in 11 patients during and after 13 pregnancies. Traditional obstetric practice assumes that pregnancy is a stimulus to irreversible progression of proliferative diabetic retinopathy, and that timely abortion and sterilisation ar...