There are two ways to do late-term abortion – by injecting poison to kill the baby and then inducing labor or by going in and dismembering the baby with forceps. Some abortionists prefer the poisoning (induction) method, because they don’t have to be there when the mother expels her dead child.
“With respect to second trimester abortion, providers seek to distance themselves from an unpleasant procedure: physicians prefer medical abortions (where they need not be present at the expulsion of the fetus) and nurses prefer D&E procedures (where the physician does the “distasteful” surgery).”
Beverly Winikoff, Acceptability of First Trimester Medical Abortion (New York: The Population Council, 1994)
This is a D & E procedure:
