In medical jargon, there are spontaneous abortions and induced abortions. Some induced abortions are induced after the fetus or embryo has already died, or because it’s in a place where it will kill the mother, or otherwise has no chance of surviving.
“Abortion” means the act of using, prescribing,
administering, procuring, or selling of any instrument, medicine,
drug, or any other substance, device, or means with the purpose to
terminate the pregnancy of a woman, with knowledge that the
termination by any of those means will with reasonable likelihood
cause the death of an unborn child. It does not include the use,
prescription, administration, procuring, or selling
of Plan B, morning-after pills, or any other type of contraception or emergency > contraception. An act is not an abortion if the act is performed
with the purpose to:
a. save the life or preserve the health of the unborn
child,
b. remove a dead unborn child caused by spontaneous
abortion, or
c. remove an ectopic pregnancy;
Issues with IUDs and Plan B always come up with these laws.
Also:
K. Notwithstanding any other law, a civil action under this
section may not be brought:
Against the woman upon whom an abortion was performed
So, even in this extreme case, they aren’t willing to cross that line.
That was my guess, too. There are some risky procedures sometimes done on fetuses. Like if a fetus has a malformed heart it can sometimes be surgically repaired before it’s born, so it doesn’t die shortly after delivery. But I’m sure that also carries a risk of killing the fetus.
One of my BFFs started bleeding heavily at 25 weeks and after a phone consult with an OB-GYN was told to get to the nearest hospital with a Level III NICU right away.
They did an emergency C-section and delivered a 1 lb 14 oz baby. They were saying 10% chance he’d make it. I imagine they’re trying to prevent the doctors/hospital from getting sued in the 90% chance that such a baby dies.
(Happily my friend’s son is now almost 22 years old, and doing fine. A few health challenges along the way, but nothing life threatening after his 4 month stay in the NICU.)