Abortion Terminology You Should Know

Abortion rights are on the ballot in 10 states this Election Day, and at risk nationwide. The most important thing going into your polling place is to be informed and know what you're voting for. Oftentimes, language around sensitive & polarizing topics like abortion is purposely confusing or unclear, to confuse voters.

The language used when discussing reproductive health has a huge impact on what people hear & take away. Here are some important terms to know & use regarding abortion, abortion bans, & reproductive rights.

Comprehensive abortion care (CAC)

Provision of information, abortion management (including induced abortion and care related to pregnancy loss), and post-abortion care.

Community-based care

Services delivered by a broadly defined community health workforce, according to their training and capacity, encompassing a range of health workers, lay and professional, formal and informal, paid and unpaid, as well as facility-based personnel who support and supervise them and provide outreach services and campaigns

Decriminalization

Removing abortion from all penal/criminal laws, not applying other criminal offences (e.g. murder, manslaughter) to abortion, and ensuring there are no criminal penalties for having, assisting with, providing information about, or providing abortion, for all relevant actors.

Medical methods of abortion (medical abortion)

Use of pharmacological agents to terminate a pregnancy.

Dilatation and evacuation (D&E)

D&E is used after 12–14 weeks of pregnancy. It is the safest and most effective abortion procedure for later abortion, where skilled, experienced practitioners are available.

Post-abortion care

Provision of services after an abortion, such as contraceptive services and linkage to other needed services in the community or beyond. It can also include management of complications after an abortion.

Viability

Viability in the context of abortions refers to the point at which a fetus can survive outside the uterus, which usually happens between 24 and 28 weeks after conception.

Regulation of abortion

All formalized laws, policies and other instruments (e.g. facility-level protocol) that regulate pregnancy and abortion.

Pre-Roe bans

Most states repealed abortion bans in effect as of 1973 once Roe made them unenforceable. However, some states and territories never repealed their pre-Roe abortion bans. Now that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe, these states could try and revive these bans.

Trigger bans

Abortion bans passed since Roe was decided that are intended to ban abortion entirely if the Supreme Court limited or overturned Roe or if a federal Constitutional amendment prohibited abortion.

Pre-viability gestational bans

Laws that prohibit abortion before viability; these laws were unconstitutional under Roe. Gestational age is counted in weeks either from the last menstrual cycle (LMP) or from fertilization.

Misused or Medically Inaccurate Abortion Terms

Many politicians use polarizing, emotion-invoking, or inaccurate terms when talking about abortion as a fear tactic. Knowing medically accurate terms can help decipher what's true and what's not.

"Late-term abortion"

This phrase has no clinical or medical significance. “Term” historically referred to the three weeks before and two weeks after a pregnancy’s due date. To be even more clinically accurate, ACOG now refers to early term (37 weeks through 38 weeks and six days of gestation), full term (39 weeks through 40 weeks and six days of gestation), late term (41 weeks through 41 weeks and six days of gestation), and postterm (42 weeks of gestation and beyond). Abortion does not happen during this period.

"Abortion after birth"

Donald Trump & many republican political activists have falsely claimed that Democrats support abortions "after birth." There is no state where it is legal to kill a baby after birth. No such procedure exists. Because abortion ends a pregnancy, it can only be performed during a pregnancy. Abortion cannot be performed after a pregnancy has ended. Use of this term dismisses the pain and suffering experienced by families in need of perinatal palliative care.

"Heartbeat Bill"

A "fetal heartbeat bill" is a law that makes abortion illegal as early as six weeks, which is when proponents claim that a "fetal heartbeat" can be detected. It is clinically inaccurate to use the word “heartbeat” to describe the sound that can be heard on ultrasound in very early pregnancy. In fact, there are no chambers of the heart developed at the early stage in pregnancy that these bills are used to target, so there is no recognizable “heartbeat.” At six weeks, the embryo does not have a heartbeat - and it not even considered a fetus until 10 weeks gestational age.

"Baby" "unborn child" "preborn child" when talking about abortion

Through ten completed weeks after last menstrual period, it should be referred to as an "embryo." After that point until delivery, "fetus." Centering the language on a future state of a pregnancy is medically inaccurate. As long as the pregnancy continues, the language should reflect the current state of the pregnancy. It is not a child or baby until after delivery.

"Elective abortion"

The unnecessary descriptor of “elective” can be used to differentiate between reasons for abortion care and diminish the value of the abortion care that many patients need. The motivation behind the decision to get an abortion should not be judged as “elective” or “not elective” by an external party. You can just call it "abortion," or if absolutely necessary, "induced abortion."