=3. Complete.= A complete abortion, as the term suggests, is one in which all the products of conception are expelled. The treatment and care are exactly the same as are given after a normal delivery. This point cannot be stressed too strongly, for it is because so many women fail to appreciate the necessity for adequate post-partum care, that abortions are so often followed by ill health and invalidism. Many doctors follow these various remedial measures with a search for the cause of the abortion just past, in order that it may be corrected if possible and recurrent abortions prevented. =A missed abortion= occurs but rarely, and is one in which the embryo, or fetus dies, and is retained within the uterine cavity for months, or even years, sometimes without any unfavorable results to the mother. In these cases, symptoms of abortion sometimes appear and then subside without any part of the uterine contents being expelled. In other cases there are no signs except that the abdomen stops growing. There are cases on record in which the fetus has become mummified and others in which it has been partly absorbed by the maternal organism. In addition to abortions which occur spontaneously there are also induced abortions, and these are designated as therapeutic or criminal, according to the motive for the induction. =Therapeutic abortions= are resorted to when the patient’s condition is so grave that it is apparently necessary to empty the uterus in order to save her life. Such a condition may exist, for example, when pregnancy is complicated by pulmonary tuberculosis, heart disease, toxemia, hemorrhage or some condition which is inherent to pregnancy. An abortion induced under these circumstances is countenanced by law, as it is performed to prevent the loss of life from disease; but an abortion is not legal if brought on to save the woman from suicide, because of her unwillingness to become a mother. The Catholic Church, however, teaches that it is never permissible to take the life of the child in order to save the life of the mother. It teaches that, even according to natural law, the child is not an unjust aggressor: and that both child and mother have an equal right to life. There is apparently no reason why a therapeutic abortion should be followed by ill health, for, since it is performed openly, it is done under clean, and otherwise favorable conditions, and the patient is given adequate after-care. It is only because the reverse conditions frequently prevail: the unclean delivery and subsequent neglect which go hand in hand with the secrecy of illegal performance that abortions are followed so often by disaster. As to the legal aspect of the matter, the laws relating to therapeutic abortion vary in the different states. But they are fairly uniform in their intent, and make quite clear the difference between this procedure and the induction of abortion for any reason other than medical necessity.