Miscarriage & abortion

See also: Miscarriage and Abortion

A complete spontaneous abortion at about 6 weeks from conception, i.e. 8 weeks from LMP

Some embryos do not survive to the next stage of development. When this happens naturally, it is called spontaneous abortion or miscarriage.^[11] There are many reasons why this may occur. The most common natural cause of miscarriage is chromosomal abnormality in animals^[12] or genetic load in plants.^[13]
In species which produce multiple embryos at the same time, miscarriage or abortion of some embryos can provide the remaining embryos with a greater share of maternal resources. This can also disturb the pregnancy, causing harm to the second embryo. Genetic strains which miscarry their embryos are the source of commercial seedless fruits.
Abortion is the process of artificially (non-naturally) removing the embryo through deliberate pharmaceutical or surgical methods.