Dilation and evacuation

Dilation and evacuation (D&E) or dilatation and evacuation (British English) is the dilation of the cervix and surgical evacuation of the uterus (potentially including the fetus, placenta and other tissue) after the first trimester of pregnancy. It is the most common method and procedure for abortions in the second trimester of pregnancy. The procedure can also be used to remove a miscarried fetus from the womb.

In various health care centers it may be called by different names:

• D&E (dilation and evacuation)
• ERPOC (evacuation of retained products of conception)
• TOP or STOP ((surgical) termination of pregnancy)

D&E normally refers to a specific second trimester procedure. However, some sources use the term D&E to refer more generally to any procedure that involves the processes of dilation and evacuation, which includes the first trimester procedures of manual and electric vacuum aspiration. Intact dilation and extraction (D&X) is a different procedural variation on D&E.

Dilation and evacuation procedures have been increasingly banned in US states since the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision overruled the right to an abortion.