Understanding and Navigating Viability
The concept of viability of a fetus is frequently misrepresented or misinterpreted based on ideological principles. This perpetuates incorrect and unscientific understandings of medical terms and leads to interference in the practice of medicine. As people across the United States continue to navigate the developing post-Dobbs landscape, it’s critical that medical terminology be understood through the lens of science rather than the lens of political application and interpretation. Understanding viability is especially important as policy makers and those who interpret policy draw on the concept of viability in order to inform and create laws. As such, ACOG strongly discourages the inclusion of viability in legislation or regulation. This document will explain how the term “viability” is used in the context of medical practice during pregnancy and how viability relates to the provision of abortion care and affirm how using terminology inaccurately, including inaccurate use by policy makers, can prevent patients from receiving essential health care grounded in evidence and science.
“Viability” in Two Contexts
While there is no single formally recognized clinical definition of “viability,” the term is often used in medical practice in two distinct circumstances. In the first, “viability” addresses whether a pregnancy is expected to continue developing normally. In early pregnancy, a normally developing pregnancy would be deemed viable, whereas early pregnancy loss or miscarriage would not. In the second, “viability” addresses whether a fetus might survive outside of the uterus. Later in pregnancy, a clinician may use the term “viable” to indicate the chance f...