NYSTCE Family and Consumer Science (072) Practice Exam

Miscarriage is the loss of a pregnancy before the fetus can survive outside the uterus. In medical terms, that same event is called spontaneous abortion. The word “spontaneous” means it happened naturally, without any medical procedure to end the pregnancy. Induced abortion refers to a deliberate termination, which is different. Stillbirth describes fetal death after viability (often later in pregnancy and the baby is born), and an ectopic pregnancy is when the embryo implants outside the uterus. So the term that matches miscarriage directly is spontaneous abortion.