What Does ‘Abortion’ Mean? Even the Word Itself Is Up for Debate.
This New York Times piece reports on the difficulties doctors are facing in treating patients to terminate pregnancies. The article reports that while major medical societies define abortion as any procedure that terminates a pregnancy — even in those circumstances when a woman has experienced a miscarriage and needs a procedure to clean out her uterus—”the word abortion has taken on new political, legal and medical consequences” since the U.S. Supreme Court revoked the constitutional right to abortion.
“When something sad or devastating happens, you’re always going to hear the anti-abortion movement saying, ‘That is not abortion,’ because they can’t come to terms with the fact that that is also an abortion,” said Jenny Ma, senior staff attorney for the Center.
“You can add all sorts of different words, you can say induced delivery, you can say quote-unquote elective, but it’s the same,” she said. “It’s all part of how abortion has been stigmatized.”
Read the article here:
- “What Does ‘Abortion’ Mean? Even the Word Itself Is Up for Debate,” The New York Times, 10.18.22
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