Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Had an argument with my brother recently in which I asserted that pro-lifers should never use the word "abortion" when referring to a miscarriage. Euphemisms are powerful things.

I find the article's commentary on the apparent callousness of accepted medical terminology interesting, particularly:

"...in some cases, doctors say they are now being more careful about what they put in your chart, to avoid hurt feelings caused by medical terminology."

This can be taken any number of ways. It's a bad idea to put anything in a chart that someone could be offended over in a courtroom, or the court of public opinion - online (fabricated or not) reviews. There's ways of getting around formal chart entries, such as an alert that pops up when the chart is accessed that says "personal hygiene a sensitive topic", but isn't technically part of the medical record for anyone but the staff to see.

But I digress.

Can a pro-life doctor reserve the word "abortion" for the murder of pre-born human beings, or do legal medical regulations require them to do otherwise?

The article's argument that a patient's objection might be based upon ignorance or a misunderstanding of terminology is insulting.

I am saddened to find that the word "abortion" appears to be medically accepted as interchangeable with "miscarriage." I have seen "abortion" euphemistically referred to as [deliberately] "induced miscarriage", and it nauseates me.

Your thoughts?

1 posted on 07/08/2013 9:16:54 PM PDT by SovereignVA
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies ]


To: SovereignVA

If the Philippines want to become the mecca of medical tourism, they need to explicitly guarantee confidentiality of medical records and they’ll make a killing.


2 posted on 07/08/2013 9:22:50 PM PDT by SpaceBar
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: SovereignVA

Waaaaay back when I was still “in production,” they called a miscarriage a “spontanious abortion.”


3 posted on 07/08/2013 9:22:58 PM PDT by bannie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: SovereignVA

My thought is that they are distinct, and that it matters, because we know the government and the abortion lobby will try to use these numbers in some way to support their agenda. Who knows but that they may try to portray women who have had a miscarriage, as supporting abortion?


5 posted on 07/08/2013 9:26:56 PM PDT by mrsmel (One Who Can See)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: SovereignVA

I sympathize with the lady. We lost one.

People actually OFFENDED by this need to grow up.... Its a medical term known as a “Spontaneous Abortion”. They can also be referred to as a fetal demise, depending on the circumstances..... I think. ( before becoming a Nurse Practitioner, my wife used to be an RN in OBGYN)


6 posted on 07/08/2013 9:29:34 PM PDT by KoRn (Department of Homeland Security, Certified - "Right Wing Extremist")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: SovereignVA

It’s not to be taken personally — it’s a medical record. However, it’s obviously a sensitive topic, whichever side of the aisle the patient is on. Accuracy and specificity are required in any medical document, and I don’t think the unqualified term “abortion” is appropriate.

Technically, if a fetus is not carried to term, it’s aborted. Part of a woman’s obstetrical history includes the number of times she’s been pregnant, the number of deliveries, number of abortions (of any kind), and how many live births. Such information should always be obtained with a degree of sensitivity in mind.


7 posted on 07/08/2013 9:34:56 PM PDT by FoxInSocks ("Hope is not a course of action." -- M. O'Neal, USMC)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: SovereignVA

The words that jumped out at me were “morbidly obese”. Sounds like she has bigger problems to worry about.


8 posted on 07/08/2013 9:36:30 PM PDT by moovova
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: SovereignVA

The same medical terminology can be used for a D&C....if it aborts a pregnancy...


9 posted on 07/08/2013 9:38:20 PM PDT by Cold Heat (Have you reached your breaking point yet? If not now....then when?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: SovereignVA

Here we go again. I guess niggardly isn’t the only word that is not pc.


14 posted on 07/08/2013 10:25:52 PM PDT by Cyman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: SovereignVA

There are 4 types of abortion and abortion is a medical term. Most women use the term miscarriage but that is a lay mans term.....You can have an inevitable abortion which means you are going to spontaneous abort. or a threatened abortion which usually means a pregnancy is in danger of an abort..... therapeutic abortion.... which is what most people call abortion..Cannot remember the other type and I’d have to dig out my nursing bible and its too late at night...


17 posted on 07/08/2013 11:48:25 PM PDT by goat granny
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: SovereignVA

the technical term for an early miscarriage is an “abortion”.

What laypeople call an “abortion” is called an “induced abortion”.

If it occurs later than 12 weeks, it is called a second trimester abortion.

If the miscarriage comes after viability, it is called premature labor.

To confuse matters, in most early miscarriages, in the first 6 to 8 weeks, there is no fetus (which is why the pregnancy spontaneously ended itself).

and if the baby dies or never forms, but you don’t pass the fetal sac, it is called a “missed abortion”.


20 posted on 07/09/2013 1:04:53 AM PDT by LadyDoc (liberals only love politically correct poor people)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: SovereignVA

The word ‘abortion” is an abortion.....it’s really MURDER. A Miscarriage is an act of God.....Murder is an act of the Mother.


22 posted on 07/09/2013 1:56:32 AM PDT by Ann Archy (Abortion.....the HUMAN Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: SovereignVA

The woman should have picked up Mr. Webster’s handy book and looked up abortion. http://1828.mshaffer.com/d/word/abortion The doctor was correct even by the devout Bible scholar Noah Webster’s definition of the word in his 1828 Dictionary.


23 posted on 07/09/2013 2:42:48 AM PDT by cva66snipe (Two Choices left for U.S. One Nation Under GOD or One Nation Under Judgment? Which one say ye?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: SovereignVA

The problem with people today is that they receive too much information from sources that don’t know what they are talking about, using words that have many meanings. The general media and politically correct individuals/groups are the major culprit information source.

People must understand that many fields have their own specific terminology with well defined definitions that do not always match that of the general media’s usage or the dictionary’s definition. Medicine, Law, the Trades, etc.

Think of all the words the far left has bastardized: gay, ...phobia. hateful, racist, ...


24 posted on 07/09/2013 3:20:22 AM PDT by Howindependent (A Liberal has no concept of reality.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: SovereignVA
I thought the term for miscarriage was auto-abortion.
25 posted on 07/09/2013 3:21:26 AM PDT by fso301
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: SovereignVA
From Stedman's Medical Dictionary:

abortion (AB)
Type: Term
Pronunciation: ă-bōr′shŭn
Definitions:
1. Expulsion from the uterus of an embryo or fetus before viability (20 weeks' gestation [18 weeks after fertilization] or fetal weight less than 500 g). A distinction made between abortion and premature birth is that premature infants are those born after the stage of viability but before 37 weeks' gestation. Abortion may be either spontaneous (occurring from natural causes) or induced (artificially or therapeutically).
2. The arrest of any action or process before its normal completion.

miscarriage
Type: Term
Pronunciation: mis-kar′ăj
Definitions:
1. Layperson's term for spontaneous expulsion of the products of pregnancy before the middle of the second trimester; no longer accepted in clinical usage.
Synonyms: spontaneous abortion

27 posted on 07/09/2013 3:55:46 AM PDT by MD Expat in PA
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: SovereignVA
Your thoughts?

We keep conceding the language to the left.

Pro-Life? Arguably not if you believe some people should be executed or stopped on the spot, even if they die as a result.

Pro-Choice? Arguably not if you believe people should not be allowed to choose to arm themselves or to deny service for religious reasons.

In regard to the abortion issue, people are for abortion-on-demand or against abortion-on-demand.

"Spontaneous Abortion" is a medical term and has been for a long while.

Should the language of medicine be "living" or should we learn what the words mean? Should the language of the Constitution be "living" or should we learn what the words mean?

Euphemisms are powerful things.

Consider that "miscarriage" is a euphemism for "spontaneous abortion".

The article's argument that a patient's objection might be based upon ignorance or a misunderstanding of terminology is insulting.

The truth can be insulting, but it's still the truth.

28 posted on 07/09/2013 9:18:34 AM PDT by KrisKrinkle (Blessed be those who know the depth and breadth of their ignorance. Cursed be those who don't.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: SovereignVA

The medical profession has always called a miscarriage an abortion — even before abortion was legal. Usually the word “spontaneous” was attached to the word “abortion”. I know because I used to be a medical records secretary in my youth.


30 posted on 07/10/2013 7:18:02 AM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson