[[Fasciculus:AngkorWatAbortionAD1150.JPG|thumb|In [[Caelamen|caelamine]] apud [[Angkor Wat]] Wat [[Cambodia]]e circa annum [[1150]] caelato, [[daemon]] abortum inducit<!-- by pounding the abdomen of a pregnant woman with a [[pestle]].--><ref>{{cite book |author=Potts M ''et al.'' |title=Thousand-year-old depictions of massage abortion |journal=Journal of Family Planning and Reproductive Health Care |volume=33 |pages=234 |year=2007 |quote=at Angkor, the operator is a demon.}} Vide etiam {{cite book |author=Mould R |title=Mould's Medical Anecdotes |pages=406 |publisher=[[CRC Press]] |year=1996}}</ref>]]
'''Abortus''' est finis [[graviditas (mammalia)|graviditatis]], ab amotione vel expulsione [[fetus]] vel [[embryo]]nis ex [[uterus|utero]] effectus, quod eius [[mors|mortem]] consequitur vel efficit.<ref>{{cite book |url=http://books.google.com/?id=KiRHpRl7TjsC&pg=PA173 |title=Gynaecology for Lawyers |author=Dutt T, Matthews MP |volume=14 |series-title=Medico-legal practitioner series |publisher=Routledge |year=1998 |isbn=9781859412152}}</ref> Abortus casu accidere potest propter [[complicatio (medicina)|complicationes]] per graviditatem, vel induci potest, in hominibus et aliis [[species (taxinomis)|speciebus]]. In graviditatibus humanis, abortus inductus ut sanitatem feminae gravidae conservetur ''abortum therapeuticum'' appellatur, dum ob omnes alias causas ''abortum electivum'' appellatur. In nonnullis [[lingua|linguis]], nomen sicut ''abortus'' saepissime ad abortum graviditatis inductum refert, dum abortus spontaneus aliis verbis aliquando appellatur, sicut ''malparto'' in [[lingua Hispanica]] et ''miscarriage'' in [[lingua Anglica]].
