It is much safer to manually pull out the fetus intact, they say.

Dr. McMahon said he developed a different method to be sure he delivered an intact fetus that could be autopsied and the extent and cause of its anomalies ascertained.

It was a chancy, expensive gamble, and unless she came back impregnated with an intact fetus, any future missions would be canceled.

And relatively intact fetuses can be used in autopsies, which can help in the planning of further pregnancies.

The research at issue involves either embryos, including those created by in vitro fertilization, or intact fetuses obtained from miscarriages or hysterotomy, an early form of Caesarean.

It involves removing an intact fetus rather than dismembering the fetus in the uterus.

Hydatidiform mole is defined as products of conception that lack an intact fetus and show gross cyst-like swellings of the chorionic villi caused by an accumulation of fluid.

Typically, abortion opponents say, the lower part of the fetus's body is delivered, the head is punctured and collapsed, and a dead but intact fetus is delivered.

The acephalic fetus is a parasitic twin attached to an otherwise intact fetus.