Comentario sobre Niddah 3:4
הַמַּפֶּלֶת סַנְדָּל אוֹ שִׁלְיָא, תֵּשֵׁב לְזָכָר וְלִנְקֵבָה. שִׁלְיָא בַּבַּיִת, הַבַּיִת טָמֵא. לֹא שֶׁהַשִּׁלְיָא וָלָד, אֶלָּא שֶׁאֵין שִׁלְיָא בְלֹא וָלָד. רַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן אוֹמֵר, נִמּוֹק הַוָּלָד עַד שֶׁלֹּא יָצָא:
Si aborta una sandalia [es decir, un trozo de carne sin rostro, de forma similar a una sandalia] o una placenta, debe sentarse durante [el número de días de impureza y pureza requeridos para quien da a luz] a un hombre y para [alguien que da a luz] a una mujer. Si una placenta está en una casa, la casa es impura [como por la impronta de un cadáver]; no porque una placenta sea un feto, sino porque no puede haber placenta sin un feto. El rabino Shimon dice: el feto [que estaba en la placenta] se disolvió [en la sangre y fue anulado] antes de que saliera [y, por lo tanto, la casa no es impura].
Bartenura on Mishnah Niddah
English Explanation of Mishnah Niddah
If a placenta is in a house, the house is unclean, not because a placenta is a fetus but because generally there can be no placenta without a fetus.
Rabbi Shimon says: the child might have been mashed before it came out.
Section one: A "sandal" is a fetus whose face has not yet been formed. This counts as a human miscarriage and if the sex cannot be determined, then she must observe the impurity rituals for having both a male and a female (see mishnah two).
While a placenta is not a fetus, it is a sign that there was a fetus. Therefore, since we can't determine the sex of the fetus, she must act as if she had both a boy and a girl.
Section two: If a placenta is found in a house, we can assume that a dead fetus was in the house as well. This makes the house into an "ohel" (a tent) which conveys impurity to all of the contents of the house. (We learned plenty about this in Tractate Ohalot).
Rabbi Shimon notes that the presence of a placenta is not a certain sign that she gave birth to a fetus. It is possible that the fetus could have been dissolved or mashed up (I realize that this is not pleasant) before it came out of the woman. In such a case, the fetus does not have the status of a dead body and doesn't defile as does a dead body. The house and its contents will remain pure.