The name "partial-birth abortion" was chosen by the anti-abortion camp, and it's misleading to people who don't know much about the procedure. People usually envision a full-term fetus being killed during birth. This is not what happens.In so-called partial-birth abortion, labor is induced in a woman who is carrying a second-trimester fetus. This is usually before the fetus is viable outside of the womb, and it's nothing like natural birth; if a woman were to go into natural labor at this point in her pregnancy, what she'd have would be a miscarriage. A more accurate term than "partial-birth abortion" would probably be "induced miscarriage."Simon has already talked about the pros and cons; this post is just intended to clear up any misconceptions that the term may give rise to.