Abortion (a semantic discussion)

This isn't necessarily a debate as I'm going to be presenting some medical facts here. I mean, you can try to dispute them, but facts are facts.

heh

Anyway...

This is not about the practice of abortion, this is about the word abortion itself. A lot of people are not aware, I believe, of what exactly the term abortion means.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion

Abortion is simply this: the removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus from the uterus, resulting in or caused by its death.

In medical terminology, the term abortion refers to two basic phenomena: miscarriage (spontaneous abortion) and induced abortion. In common parlance, the term "abortion" is synonymous with induced abortion. However, in medical texts, the word 'abortion' might exclusively refer to, or may also refer to, spontaneous abortion (miscarriage).

So, as you can see, the phrase abortion has come to be synonymous solely with an induced abortion, but that is NOT what the word actually means.

Like it or not, a miscarriage IS an abortion too, and it is NOT disrespectful or callous or mean or anything other than medically accurate to refer to it as such.

We will continue to use the phrase abortion synonymously with induced abortion, of course, because it's part of the popular vernacular now, but we should still be mindful of the actual definition of the word when we use it.

C.

And if you want to debate the ethics of abortion, go elsewhere. Attempts to debate it here will just get you ignored and/or ridiculed.

Thank you.

C.

thanks C. You always know how to bust them facts out!

yeah, I had a miscarriage, and I think they call that a "spontaneous abortion" because it was not actually planned or anything. I hate hearing it referred to as that because I personally would never have an abortion, but I know that's the technical term for it. Just out of curiousity though... why did you post this?

Why?

Mostly because of various comments I've read in various threads about abortion on this forum.

C.

Quoting Shortcake718:“ yeah, I had a miscarriage, and I think they call that a "spontaneous abortion" because it was not actually ... [snip!] ... never have an abortion, but I know that's the technical term for it. Just out of curiousity though... why did you post this?”

There is a abortion debate going on else where.

youre right. (like usual)

short story... a man comes to my house hands me his card..
says hes the "tree abortionist" ...

thought that sorta fit with your words of wisdom.

KINDA SORTA RANDOM HUH?

Quoting God:“ This isn't necessarily a debate as I'm going to be presenting some medical facts here. I mean, you can ... [snip!] ... part of the popular vernacular now, but we should still be mindful of the actual definition of the word when we use it. C.”

Thank you for actually stating something like this. Hospitals and doctors actually use the terms SAB (Spontantaneous Abortion) = Miscarriages, or TAB (Terminated Abortions). When I would use the term Spontaneous Abortion in regard to my miscarriages, people would get all huffy thinking I actually had an elective abortion. As well as when questioned at the hospital, or when the term Spontaneous Abortion would be used, women would start saying "I didnt have an abortion!" I think most people, like you stated, are just unaware that this is the actual meaning of the word.

ah ok. thats cool.

Quoting iTS A GiRL... iM SO EXCiT:“ KINDA SORTA RANDOM HUH?”

Not really.

Quoting MamaMary:“ short story... a man comes to my house hands me his card.. says hes the "tree abortionist" ... thought that sorta fit with your words of wisdom.”

lol

C.

Quoting iTS A GiRL... iM SO EXCiT:“ KINDA SORTA RANDOM HUH?”

put away the caps.. your going to get your ass chewed out..

unless you like it like that.

Quoting iTS A GiRL... iM SO EXCiT:“ KINDA SORTA RANDOM HUH?”

As opposed to the meticulously planned and scheduled debates that go on around here?

heh

C.