Abortion Definitions
Using a well know resource, Steadmans Medical Dictionary on can come up with the following medical terms are used to categorize abortion:
A. Spontaneous abortion (miscarriage): An abortion due to accidental trauma or natural causes. Most miscarriages are due to genetic abberations or errant duplication of the chromosomes (genes); they can also be caused by environmental factors, such as toxixs.
B. Induced abortion: Induce Abortion is what we are most familiar with in the public discussion and has been a contentious issue. This type of Abortion has been caused by a deliberate human action. Induced abortions are further subcategorized into therapeutic and elective:
1. Therapeutic abortion: An abortion performed either…
i) to save the life of the pregnant woman
ii) to preserve the woman’s physical or mental well being and health
iii) to terminate pregnancy that would result in a child born with a congenital disorder that would be fatal or associated with significant morbidity
iv) to selectively reduce the number of fetuses to lessen health risks associated with multiple pregnancy.
C. Elective abortion: Abortion performed for any other reason. In common usage, 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).
Abortion - Abortion Clinics, Abortion Pill, Abortion Information 
November 14, 2007 at 1:39 am
Thank you for these clinical definitions. But is it not a fact that abortion is a form of killing, if not outright killing? Why cannot the pro-choice movement admit that?
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February 19, 2011 at 10:03 pm
They acknowledge that all the time all over this blog, what are you talking about?
Abortion is safe and should remain legal.
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June 4, 2011 at 4:43 pm
I am very Pro-choice and I can say that yes…abortion is an interverntion to end a pregnancy! So yes it is a form of “killing”!! But that does NOT make it a “bad thing”…
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June 4, 2011 at 6:09 pm
good to see you over here, Lorraine! There are too many blogs to keep track of, huh?
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July 12, 2011 at 12:35 am
Most do admit that abortion is a form of killing. It is all over this site you knucklehead.
Why can’t Pro Lifers admit that Pro Life Murderers are wrong?
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July 12, 2011 at 6:35 am
Thanks for chiming in, Evan! The funny thing is that even if we “admit” it’s a form of killing, it’s not like millions of women are gonna think about their abortion and freak out. Women know exactly what they are doing when they have an abortion and they know the consequences…
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July 12, 2011 at 7:14 am
I fully agree. I don’t know what these pro lifers are talking about.
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November 14, 2007 at 3:03 am
Thank you for your input.
If one looks at previous threads of this type of comment, one would ask, to initiate a grounded conversation, is there any situation that you would allow an abortion?
Previously, seemingly reasonable, that is to most the population of this country, and the vast majority of western civilizations – For the protection of the life of the mother seems like a reasonable context to allow abortion.
Examples include, and there are many more,
1) Cancer of the Cervix,
2) Tubal pregnancies,
3) The many diseases that the mother has a >50% mortality rate, ie Epstein’s heart anomaly,
4) Rape of a women without their (implied) consent,
5) Episodes when the best intentions, like a tubal ligation and a vasectomy are performed but they fail, sadly this happens, and there are many more examples. These are not insignificant examples, as one sees them commonly in everyday experience as reported in the peer reviewed literature, and anecdotal experience. This is a confluence of opinion by both sides of the issue.
So, as a starting point to understand perspectives, do any of these in your opinion, warrant allowing a women to have the right to make the choice about what she would do with her own body, or do you feel that under all these circumstances the women has no right to choose what happens to her body? This would be educational to the discussion. Thank you for your kind participation.
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November 26, 2007 at 1:30 am
“”Previously, seemingly reasonable, that is to most the population of this country, and the vast majority of western civilizations – For the protection of the life of the mother seems like a reasonable context to allow abortion.””
<what world are you in?, the vast majority of western civilizations, the majority of the population, ….approves abortion? there are NO Facts to back you up, that is an outright lie. Society has developed to PROTECT the innocent, they be fetus, mental handicapped, crippled, poor, infected with syphilis, HIV, etc. You are out of touch with reality. You religiousity to the god of death, drugs (we both know you do or have done drugs)and lack of accountability is just what you deserve. and me. and the world. We are all selfish, but only the abortionists get away with killing the ones they hate/repulsed by and then have society to tell them “good job-you killed the little b******** “”””
Examples include, and there are many more,
1) Cancer of the Cervix,
2) Tubal pregnancies,
3) The many diseases that the mother has a >50% mortality rate, ie Epstein’s heart anomaly,
<unreal, have been in practice 20 years, have never seen that one due to abortion. You are unreal. How many more died of depression induced suicide, I will give you one dollar for every dollar you get for Epstein’s heart, I could retire on the result but will give to Feed the Children.
4) Rape of a women without their (implied) consent,
give her the morning after pill, if guy gives her infection, syph. HIV then assault with intent to murder, put him away for life.
5) Episodes when the best intentions, like a tubal ligation and a vasectomy are performed but they fail, sadly this happens, and there are many more examples. These are not insignificant examples, as one sees them commonly in everyday experience as reported in the peer reviewed literature, and anecdotal experience. This is a confluence of opinion by both sides of the issue.
<baloney. it does happens but you sound like a circus barker trying to get someone to enter the tent, “see the ape-man, the bearded lady, the woman with the tubal or the man with the vasectomy who where warned, and had to sign forms stating so, that they could still get pregnant, and that the risk of tubal pregnancy would be increased….I tire of this, you are so outright, simply misinformed, probably because you purposely refuse to accept anything other than the truth, and what science shows/reveals. You are in delusion.
warrant allowing a women to have the right to make the choice about what she would do with her own body
<<do you realize the fetus/baby is not part of the women’s body? if it were there would be no genetic input from the father and therefore would be asexual reproduction. The fetus/baby MAKES the placenta, and feeds off the mother like a parasite,and secretes hormones,etc that keep the woman’s body from rejecting the fetus/baby since it is HALF genetically the father and HALF genetically the mother. If not thus protected the mother’s body would reject the baby and even attack it as it would a foreign body like bacteria, viruses, worms, etc. The baby is on average 50% derived from both parents so it is NOT the mother’s body, not any more that it is the father’s body.
tough luck. Reality and truth say you prefer to kill babies. You probably hug trees and protect endangered fish but don’t hesitate to kill a human being.
A
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February 19, 2011 at 10:17 pm
?????
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February 8, 2014 at 2:00 pm
Yes, it does! I will have my surgery in August. I am 34 with a 15-year-old son and 13-year-old dagethur. I had my tubes cut and burned when I was 22 thinking I would never want another child, because I already had two at such a young age. I have felt this way for 13 years, until I met my fiance9 who is 40 with no children. I pray to God this works. I am terrified and excited all in one. Your story is definitely an inspiration for me also! Be blessed L Coleman
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November 26, 2007 at 1:42 am
I cut and paste, but you deleted my full response, esp regarding cancer of the cervix and tubal pregnancies. Below is full response:
“”Previously, seemingly reasonable, that is to most the population of this country, and the vast majority of western civilizations – For the protection of the life of the mother seems like a reasonable context to allow abortion.””
<what world are you in?, the vast majority of western civilizations, the majority of the population, ….approves abortion? there are NO Facts to back you up, that is an outright lie. Society has developed to PROTECT the innocent, they be fetus, mental handicapped, crippled, poor, infected with syphilis, HIV, etc. You are out of touch with reality. You religiousity to the god of death, drugs (we both know you do or have done drugs)and lack of accountability is just what you deserve. and me. and the world. We are all selfish, but only the abortionists get away with killing the ones they hate/repulsed by and then have society to tell them “good job-you killed the little b******** “”””
Examples include, and there are many more,
1) Cancer of the Cervix,
2) Tubal pregnancies,
3) The many diseases that the mother has a >50% mortality rate, ie Epstein’s heart anomaly,
<unreal, have been in practice 20 years, have never seen that one due to abortion. You are unreal. How many more died of depression induced suicide, I will give you one dollar for every dollar you get for Epstein’s heart, I could retire on the result but will give to Feed the Children.
4) Rape of a women without their (implied) consent,
give her the morning after pill, if guy gives her infection, syph. HIV then assault with intent to murder, put him away for life.
5) Episodes when the best intentions, like a tubal ligation and a vasectomy are performed but they fail, sadly this happens, and there are many more examples. These are not insignificant examples, as one sees them commonly in everyday experience as reported in the peer reviewed literature, and anecdotal experience. This is a confluence of opinion by both sides of the issue.
<baloney. it does happens but you sound like a circus barker trying to get someone to enter the tent, “see the ape-man, the bearded lady, the woman with the tubal or the man with the vasectomy who where warned, and had to sign forms stating so, that they could still get pregnant, and that the risk of tubal pregnancy would be increased….I tire of this, you are so outright, simply misinformed, probably because you purposely refuse to accept anything other than the truth, and what science shows/reveals. You are in delusion.
warrant allowing a women to have the right to make the choice about what she would do with her own body
<<do you realize the fetus/baby is not part of the women’s body? if it were there would be no genetic input from the father and therefore would be asexual reproduction. The fetus/baby MAKES the placenta, and feeds off the mother like a parasite,and secretes hormones,etc that keep the woman’s body from rejecting the fetus/baby since it is HALF genetically the father and HALF genetically the mother. If not thus protected the mother’s body would reject the baby and even attack it as it would a foreign body like bacteria, viruses, worms, etc. The baby is on average 50% derived from both parents so it is NOT the mother’s body, not any more that it is the father’s body.
tough luck. Reality and truth say you prefer to kill babies. You probably hug trees and protect endangered fish but don’t hesitate to kill a human being.
A
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November 26, 2007 at 1:46 am
Examples include, and there are many more,
1) Cancer of the Cervix,
2) Tubal pregnancies,
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November 26, 2007 at 1:48 am
your software screens out any mention of cervical cancer HPV virus vaccine and the ridiculous statement you made on Tubal, you deleted my arguments/facts 3 straight times!!!
and YOU are the honest ones fighting the honest fight?????
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November 26, 2007 at 1:54 am
Examples include, and there are many more,
1) Cancer of the Cervix,
now a vaccine for this, sorry, BTW, don’t you promote/use condoms?????
2) Tubal pregnancies,
yes, indeed, sad, but rare, and what on earth does it have to do with abortions? women w/o any history of abortion die of tubal pregnancies every year, so do VIRGINS!!!!. you are technically illiterate.
3) The many diseases that the mother has a 50% mortality rate, ie Epstein’s heart anomaly,
unreal, have been in practice 20 years, have never seen that one due to abortion. You are unreal. How many more died of depression induced suicide, I will give you one dollar for every dollar you get for Epstein’s heart, I could retire on the result but will give to Feed the Children.
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November 26, 2007 at 1:57 am
thank you for relenting and allowing my full argument to be filed and displayed.
W
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November 26, 2007 at 2:01 am
Willie,
Thank you for your input. I will try and reply to your several commentaries.
1) Please see the Annual Report of the US Task Force On Preventive Services, as well as the annual report from the United Nations Human Population Initiative, as well as the Annual report on World Population from the US government under Presidnet Bush to validate the opinion that th majority of individuals support a womens right to choose what she may or may not do regarding abortion.. It is so clear, it is not even disputable. I thiank you fo recognizing this obvious point.
2) I just reply as you do, so I do not censor anything. I just post the same as you, and as far as I can tell there has been no cencoring of your input.
3) It is very difficult to follow your arguments, I apologize as they lack the articulate nature of a well posed debate. But I will try.
a. Birth control fails routinely, please see the PDR on all forms as they all state from large randomaized placebo controlled trials the failure rate of well intentioned bith control. Please note the objective data from where your opinion originates from.
b. It appears you may have attempted profanity, and that is not tolerated on this respectful discourse, maybe that is where your sense of censorship has come from. It is unclear.
c. You accuse this author of paricitpating in drug use, please p[rovide the supporting information, as that allegation is false. If you want to really suggest that erroneous fact then provide your contact information so may be liable to a lawsuit for defamation. I suspect you will not follow through with any accurate information.
d. Epstien’s is well documented in the literature, it sounds like you do not read your peer reviewed literature. I recommend that you do so as you will be better informed. It is harmful for you to disseminate misinformation.
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November 26, 2007 at 2:13 am
Willie,
Thank you for your input. I will try and reply to your several commentaries. It is difficult as they are disjointed and hard to follow the logic. Also there is no support of your claims. I will do my best. I apologize if I miss a point, it is not purposeful, it is simply from a difficult thread to follow.
1) Please see the Annual Report of the US Task Force On Preventive Services, as well as the annual report from the United Nations Human Population Initiative, as well as the Annual report on the World Population Council from the US government under President Bush to validate the opinion that the majority of individuals in western society support a womens right to choose what she may or may not do regarding abortion.. It is so clear, it is not even disputable. I thank you for recognizing this obvious point.
2) I just reply as you do, so I do not censor anything. I just post the same as you, and as far as I can tell there has been no censoring of your input.
3) It is very difficult to follow your arguments, I apologize as they lack the articulate nature of a well posed debate. But I will try.
a. Birth control fails routinely, please see the PDR on all forms as they all state from large randomized placebo controlled trials the failure rate of well intentioned birth control. Please note the objective data from where your opinion originates from.
b. It appears you may have attempted profanity, and that is not tolerated on this respectful discourse, maybe that is where your sense of censorship has come from. It is unclear.
c. You accuse this author of participating in drug use, please provide the supporting information, as that allegation is false. If you want to really suggest that erroneous fact then provide your contact information, and state it clearly, so you may be liable to a lawsuit for defamation and suffer those consequences. I suspect you will not follow through with any accurate information as is allways the case.
d. Epstien’s is well documented in the literature, it sounds like you do not read your peer reviewed literature. I recommend that you do so as you will be better informed. It is harmful for you to disseminate misinformation.
e. It is not clear about the rape of the mother. You imply that giving the morning after pill (MAP) is the solution. Unfortunately a sizable percentage of these women still get pregnant. Everyone informed on the issue knows that use of the MAP 1) may cause an abortion in and of itself, and 2) does not work all the time. So what would you do for that women? The treatment of the rapist does not make up for the pregnancy that you would oblige the women to carry.
f. It is difficult to understand your dialogue, one nice comment would be useful where one could see you contrary responses, but it is very difficult.
g. The last argument about tubals and vasectomies failing, is bizarre. There is not a single OBGYN or Urologist that does not consent the patient for possible failure of those procedures as it is well known that they fail at times, and unfortunately on occasion. Every practitioner who has taken care of a large population of patients has seen this. I cannot imagine that you are one given your opinions, although it almost seems like you claim to be. What are your credentials out of curiosity?
Thanks you for your comments. Please note that I am familiar with the forum, if you are abusive in tone or language you will be barred. I recommend you behave, and stay away from the profanity and reply with a considerate, respectful dialogue, or it will be impossible to hear you point through your gutter like articulation. I suspect you are more intelligent than that.
Any sensible argument or debate is quite welcomed as so far you have failed on all points.
Regards,
Gail
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November 26, 2007 at 7:26 pm
Will:
I have always thought that it is much easier to argue against abortion intellectually, to talk about biology, etc. Have you ever known someone who actually felt they needed to have an abortion? Just try to put yourself in someone else’s shoes for a minute.
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November 26, 2007 at 10:36 pm
To the person who is responsible for the recent Medical Term contribution: We are obliged to thank you for such a scholarly comment. It reveals how person’s who are interested in such a controversial issue may correspond in a cordial and a respectful fashion. This, in part, is the basis of our republic, and continues often, on this proud tradition to this very day. It distinguishes our country from many others. We can only all hope to help live up to this example. Thank you dear contributor.
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November 28, 2007 at 4:05 pm
I think abortion is wrong in so many ways. It is the murder of an innocent child. And I will never change my mind.
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November 28, 2007 at 4:07 pm
Abortion? What kind of word is that? Is it right or is it wrong? Abortion should not have been invented because God created man and woman and if you can’t take care of the child then put it up for adoption, don’t kill it.
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November 28, 2007 at 8:46 pm
Tabitha: I respect your opinion and your thoughts on adoption. Have you ever adopted a child?
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February 5, 2008 at 4:18 pm
unplaned pregnancy is something hard to deal with. Most people dont understand that it is difficult to live with, but there is so much help for you,I mean its murder! And i know that the roe vs. wade is coming back, abortion is going to be over. I do understand that unplanerd prgnancy is hard to deal with, if its the kid that you dont want, there is adoption. if its the pregnancy, then dont have sex! thats the point of it .. to make babies? God has a plan for each and every baby, before it is in the womb, to be apart of the army on its knees, to be called to prayer and fasting, and repent for our nation. My mother was told by many dr. to abort me, because they thought i would be mentaly ill. guess what? IM FINE !!
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February 7, 2008 at 2:50 pm
My understanding regarding the frequency of which abortions are performed on a daily basis – 4,000 + EVERY DAY. I’m amazed at why america is wondering and worrying so much about the soldiers that have given up their lives (as of today, 3950 US casualties over 4+ years) only to allow US citizens the freedom to perform abortions – that’s about 1.5 million abortions a year!? Come on… 50 million over the last 25 years – talk about more deaths than all the wars combined!! To think, statistics show abortion is on the decline in recent years… its truly sad.
People should be ending abortion in my opinion. If you can’t kill a baby out of the womb, then you shouldn’t be allowed to kill it in the womb. Either don’t have sex, use protection, or give up your baby to someone who can’t have children… there are so many reasons to let a child live and next none to kill a baby. I wonder how many great minds were killed and destroyed because of this “procedure”.
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February 7, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Chuck,
Would love to understand your position better:
Would you permit an abortion under any circumstance? Or is there no circumstance that an abortion could be performed?
Would you permit a young girl (let’s say 12) who had been raped by a close relative to decide not to endanger herself and abort the pregnancy (?) or would you force her to take the pregnancy to term where she might suffer a wide variety of well understood greater chances of danger for herself including her own death (higher mortality for younger mothers, well documented), including the inability for her to reproduce when she is ready and married with someone that she wants to have a baby with. An answer would be educational.
M
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February 7, 2008 at 5:19 pm
Ok, sure 5% of the time babies can be killed babies if they were the direct result of rape by a relative (not rape in general) but you can not excuse the rest.
You can not if you are human be OK 95% of baby killing going on in this country?
The overwhelming majority of all abortions, (95%), are done as a means of birth control.
Only 1% are performed because of rape or incest;
1% because of fetal abnormalities;
3% due to the mother’s health problems
I hope you were educated with these facts.
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February 7, 2008 at 5:49 pm
Chuck,
thanks for the reply. Not trying to be antagonistic, just trying to understand the incredible variety of perspectives people have. There is not a majority polarized opinion on this. Almost the entire population believes there are a subset of circumstances when abortion is OK.
Very few, are more conservative than you to the point of disallowing in every circumstance.
I am glad to hear that you agree Abortion is OK in certain circumstances, as I (and most in our country) feel the same way, so once common ground is found, then real determinations of what is proper can be more readily identified. There cannot be a global ban as there are a lot of considerations.
That being said,
1) What is the logical argument that abortion (murder as your nomenclature – abortion is just being used as a well established medical term here) is OK in some cases. Are those subset of cases is murder not the right word? Or is it the same as when it is not allowed. I have trouble understanding how murder can be OK in one case but not the other. Especially if you believe you are killing an innocent baby still?
2) Would you agree that if a women were at greater risk of morbidity and mortality that she should have access to an abortion?
3) For example, when the pregnancy is in the tube and the mother can die if an abortion of the tubal pregnancy is not performed. Is that OK? or is that murder too?
Curious to understand where you differentiate and why,
Regards,
Mira
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