Stillbirth

The usual result of pregnancy is the birth of a living child. Some pregnancies, however, end prematurely. This may variously be termed pregnancy loss, miscarriage, spontaneous abortion, pregnancy termination, surgical abortion, or stillbirth.

Miscarriage is commonly used to describe the loss of a fetus, usually before the age of gestation of 20 weeks. Stillbirth is the delivery of an infant which is dead at birth, regardless of the stage of development.