dilation and extraction

noun

: a surgical abortion that is typically performed during the third trimester or later part of the second trimester of pregnancy and in which the death of the fetus is induced after it has passed partway through the dilated cervix

A central question is whether the Court will accept the law's definition of "partial-birth" abortion, a term used by antiabortion forces to describe intact dilation and extraction (D&X).

—Alexi A. Wright and Ingrid T. Katz

called also D&X, partial-birth abortion

Examples of dilation and extraction in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In 2000, the Guttmacher Institute estimated that dilation and extraction accounted for 0.17 percent of the abortions in the United States. —Alex Thomas, The New Republic, 16 May 2022

The law uses a non-medical phrase to describe a late-term procedure that involves dilation and extraction of the fetus. —Cnn Editorial Research, CNN, 20 May 2021

Word History

First Known Use

1992, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

dilation and extraction

noun

: a surgical abortion that is typically performed during the third trimester or later part of the second trimester of pregnancy and in which the death of the fetus is induced after it has passed partway through the dilated cervix

called also D&X