Para refers to the number of pregnancies that have resulted in a birth.

• A. The number of times a patient has been pregnant.
• B. The number of pregnancies that have resulted in a birth.
• C. The number of live births.
• D. The number of abortions.

Answer: (B)

Parity is the count of pregnancies that have progressed to a viable birth. It excludes pregnancies that end before viability, such as many miscarriages or abortions. Live births and stillbirths both count toward parity, whereas simply counting the number of live births does not capture pregnancies that reached birth if there were stillborns, and counting abortions does not reflect parity. So the statement that para represents the number of pregnancies that have resulted in a birth is the accurate description. For example, a woman with two full-term births and one early miscarriage would have parity reflecting the two pregnancies that reached birth, not the total pregnancies or just the live births.