Talk:Abortion

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Requested move

The following discussion is an archived discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: No consensus to make the move as requested Mike Cline (talk) 18:06, 6 February 2012 (UTC)

---

Abortion → Induced abortion; Relisted —  AjaxSmack  01:26, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

Proposal

Move and redirect Abortion to Induced abortion. Add soft redirect with the "about" template to top of Induced abortion: "For Spontaneous abortion, see miscarriage." Remove spontaneous abortion-related content from the article. – 01:41, 22 January 2012 (UTC)

Reason for proposal

Look at our article: the Types section features a brief explanation of spontaneous abortion, but the Methods section, the History section, the Health section, the Incidence section, the Social Issues section, and the Debate section -- i.e., the complete remainder of the article -- has an exclusive focus on induced abortion. Spontaneous abortion does not fit well into the scope of the article. -BCSWowbagger

I would support a move of this article to Induced abortion, and a keeping the redirect of spontaneous abortion to miscarriage. It seems like it would make the rest of what we have to do easier. -Becritical

I've suggested a split before but it's never gained any traction. -JJL

Support/Oppose

• Support, per above. --BCSWowbagger (talk) 01:43, 22 January 2012 (UTC)
• Support WP:COMMONNAME actually supports this, so that we can give people what they are most likely looking for when they type "abortion." Since we can't exclude miscarriage from "Abortion," but we should direct to the article on what the reader is likely looking for. Also it will allow us to make this article less ambiguous, separating material into the categories it naturally falls into. B^e——C_ritical 05:44, 22 January 2012 (UTC)
• Weak Support because WP:COMMONNAME seems to suggest the current situation but the fact of the matter is that the article is almost exclusively about induced abortion and I see no path forward to making this an article that covers the whole topic in a balanced way. A dab page seems unwieldy unless, as was suggested last year, one wants to broaden the definition of abortion much further and I don't favor that. Having Abortion point to Induced Abortion with directions to Spontaneous abortion prominently at the top and an internal link to it in the lede paragraph is the best common-sense solution to me, all things considered. JJL (talk) 16:31, 22 January 2012 (UTC)

• Oppose. Given WP:SUMMARY and WP:COMMONNAME, "abortion" is the most appropriate title.  — ArtifexMayhem (talk) 02:31, 22 January 2012 (UTC)
  • I don't think WP:COMMONNAME applies when there are WP:DISAMBIG concerns, which there are here. And I don't see the application of WP:SUMMARY here. The "related but distinct" subtopic of spontaneous abortion is almost completely excluded from this article already. We could expand that coverage to give it equal weight, but we would be largely repeating text and research already done by the editors at miscarriage.
  • We would be redirecting abortion to induced abortion, if that helps. --BCSWowbagger (talk) 04:05, 22 January 2012 (UTC)
• Oppose. Although some of my concerns are alleviated by the concurrent suggestion of redirecting "abortion" to "induced abortion," "abortion" is still the WP:COMMONNAME in both lay and scholarly (incl. scientific) parlance. I think the concern about spontaneous abortion is handled by a hatnote and/or a brief summary with a mainlink to miscarriage. –Roscelese (talk ⋅ contribs) 00:50, 23 January 2012 (UTC)
  • (That said, I don't feel strongly about it.) –Roscelese (talk ⋅ contribs) 04:07, 23 January 2012 (UTC)
• Support It would help better separate the two subjects that are currently stepping all over one another in this article. PeRshGo (talk) 03:54, 23 January 2012 (UTC)
• Support I've read the Wikipedia articles that the other editors have suggested but can not point out anything to make my decision for me, so I'm going to have to go with my personal experience: In common, everyday usage abortion means one thing and miscarriage means another. For instance, never, ever, would one read that xxx aborted a pregnancy when they were speaking of a miscarriage. Gandydancer (talk) 13:21, 25 January 2012 (UTC)
• Support, seems helpful... unsure on redirect but we can try it and wait for complaints, should relieve some constraints on the lead and allow us to be succinct. Sorry to JJL if I didn't catch / support this idea previously. - RoyBoy 18:02, 26 January 2012 (UTC)
• Not sure I have thought this over for the last couple of days, and while initially opposed to the idea, it now makes more sense to me. While miscarriages are very related to induced abortions, the way that the sources approach them are very different. On the other hand, spontaneous abortion does make up a small but not insignificant percentage of this article, and the way it is done seems pretty reasonable to me (three paragraphs in "Type#Spontaneous" that in addition to describing a miscarriage, allow us to quickly summarize some quick facts about an induced abortion; as well as one paragraph in "in other animals", which I imagine would have to be cut?).

  Also, could someone properly list this at WP:RM? NW (Talk) 04:30, 27 January 2012 (UTC)

I think I just fixed the listing issue. Vegaswikian (talk) 08:06, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

• Oppose per WP:COMMONNAME and, strangely, User:Gandydancer's argument. For those worried about inclusion of material on spontaneous abortion, i.e. miscarriage, just add a hatnote stating "This article is about induced abortion. For spontaneous abortion, see miscarriage." —  AjaxSmack  01:19, 30 January 2012 (UTC)
  • That would be fine by me--I'm less concerned about the mechanics of doing this than about the convenience of having them (mostly) separated. JJL (talk) 18:40, 30 January 2012 (UTC)
  • AjaxSmack, I'm aware that my reasoning may sound pretty lame. Perhaps the correct name is clearly spelled-out in WP:COMMONNAME and due to my policy inexperience I just could not see it. Anyway, unable to find a policy that seemed to address the issue, a recent editing experience had a lot to do with my Support decision. I was editing an article and was including a medical advise quote which used the word "abortion". The advise clearly meant "miscarriage", but used the medical term, abortion. But knowing that if I only linked the word abortion nobody would bother to check the link since most people are well aware of what an abortion is (or so they think), so instead I needed to insert [miscarriage] following the term. To my way of thinking, if abortion is so seldom used when speaking of miscarriage (including within the medical community), it's about time Wikipedia use the two terms in the same manner in which almost all people do. Gandydancer (talk) 15:45, 31 January 2012 (UTC)
• Oppose per AjaxSmack; or include a brief section on spontaneous, with a main link to miscarriage. Dicklyon (talk) 15:53, 30 January 2012 (UTC)
• Oppose for reasons above, plus common usage sees abortion as induced, and the abortion-miscarriage continuum best described in miscarriage article and mentioned only briefly here with "see main article" note. Seems WP:Undue to have its own article. CarolMooreDC 19:29, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

• I think you're misunderstanding the proposal. There would be no separate article describing the differences. Abortion would simply redirect to induced abortion. NW (Talk) 19:39, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

• Oppose also common-usage, and redirecting would still be a problem because a miscarriage is an abortion. Triacylglyceride (talk) 00:04, 31 January 2012 (UTC)
• Oppose 'Abortion' in common parlance is medical or surgical means of removing an unwanted pregnancy. It certainly does not carry any connotation of natural abortion. --Ohconfucius ^¡digame! 08:02, 31 January 2012 (UTC)
• Oppose per Ajax. The common name is simply "abortion" and if a hatnote is added this problem is solved, IMO. Jenks24 (talk) 11:44, 31 January 2012 (UTC)
• Oppose as currently formulated. COMMONNAME in this case is the problem, and should see an application of wp:IAR. We'd make better progress by moving the disambiguation page Abort to Abortion, with links to Spontaneous abortion, Induced abortion, and all the other meanings. LeadSongDog come howl! 14:32, 31 January 2012 (UTC)
• Oppose. The current article covers both spontaneous and induced abortions, so this is in effect a proposal to either a) split the topic, or b) narrow the scope of our coverage. Neither of those propositions is legitimately addressed through a rename discussion. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 17:11, 31 January 2012 (UTC)
• Oppose; "abortion" without modifiers almost always refers to induced abortion, making it the common name. Powers ^T 18:19, 31 January 2012 (UTC)
• Oppose as common name and primary topic. – Pnm (talk) 17:39, 1 February 2012 (UTC)
• Oppose—Obviously, this is the common name for the subject. It also seems pretty obvious that induced abortion is the primary topic for the term abortion, so the article about them should be at abortion if we split it up. ErikHaugen (talk | contribs) 18:35, 1 February 2012 (UTC)
• Oppose to me, and in common usage, abortion refers to induced abortion. A spontaneous abortion is defined as a miscarriage. It's already clarified in the article, but to me, the title of Abortion fits best. Steven Zhang ^{Join the DR army!} 05:29, 3 February 2012 (UTC)
• Oppose. Induced abortion seems overly technical, and while technically there is a second meaning, the term abortion is commonly associated with "induced abortion" specifically; so it is not out of scope under the current name... L.tak (talk) 18:56, 3 February 2012 (UTC)
• Oppose. I don't think disambiguation is necessary. When people say "abortion" on its own, no one wonders if they're talking about "spontaneous abortion". In fact, saying "abortion" when they mean "miscarriage" would cause confusion, nine times out of ten. -BaronGrackle (talk) 23:03, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

More Sources

I have been asking that greater consideration be given in the lead and in Note 1 to the equally relevant and equally defining areas of philosophy, law, and ethics, especially the law. Not one to make a suggestion on WP and then leave it for others to follow through, here are my findings. I have bolded the sections I plan to include in Note 1, but believed that providing the full context (and, in the case of U.S. law, all the statutes) would be beneficial. I have also tried to list the weightiest definitions first, descending to the least weighty. (Black's Law Dictionary being clearly superior to anything else in tertiary legal sources, for example.)

JJL suggested that I include religion and history, so I have also included a couple of definitions from religion and the social sciences (a somewhat broader category). I admit, I didn't see either of those as especially important, so there isn't much on them. The overwhelming weight of what I have brought back comes from the law. U.S. State statutes in particular proved extremely amenable to inclusion in the Note and the lead.

I don't know that comment on this is necessary, but I welcome it. It is posted here primarily as an expanded reference to the non-medical defining authorities on abortion, and in case anyone objects, for whatever reason, to the additions I am proposing to Note 1. (I learned long ago that it is always, always, always a good idea to post all proposed non-grammatical changes to an abortion-related article on Talk before doing it. Half the time it provokes no comment and you go ahead, but the other half you save a lot of edit warring.)

Philosophy

In philosophy, I should note, an encyclopedia is generally considered more authoritative than a textbook. I was surprised by JJL's suggestion that the converse is true in medicine. Trivia, I suppose, since both are tertiary sources in any case, but I was intrigued.

abortion Termination of the life of a foetus, after conception but before birth. The event may be intentionally induced or natural, although it is intentionally induced abortion that is the topic of moral philosophy. The issues divide conservatives or ‘pro-life’ supporters, who regard deliberately induced abortion as impermissible, and liberal or ‘pro-choice’ supporters, who regard the action as permissible in a variety of cases. The liberal attitude may extend to almost any case in which a mother wishes an abortion, or may involve a variety of restrictions, including the age of the foetus. Moderates restrict the permissible cases, but the debate has not been notable for moderation. Issues arising include the nature of personhood, and its beginning; the extent of the right to life; the fragile notion of the sanctity of life; the way in which conflicting rights should be treated; and the political and social issues of who has the right to decide moral and legal policy and to enforce it.

"abortion" The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy. Simon Blackburn. Oxford University Press, 2008. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. 22 January 2012

(ETHICS) The intentional killing of a fetus or fertilized human egg by causing its expulsion from the mother's womb before its birth. Whether abortion should be morally permitted has been intensively debated in the past few decades and has become a major political and legal issue in many industrialized countries. One focus of the debate is on the moral status of a fetus. Is a fetus a person with a substantive right to life? The anti-abortion argument holds that a fetus is already a person and therefore should be within the scope of the moral rule that “you should not kill.” This view leads to a discussion concerning the concept of personhood, that is, at what stage between conception and birth does a fetus becomes a person? Another focus concerns the rights of the pregnant woman. Does she have a right to bodily autonomy, including the right to decide what happens to her own body? Even if a fetus is a person, how shall we balance its rights and the woman's rights? Still another problem concerns the extent to which we should take into account the undesirable consequences of the prohibition of abortion, such as poverty and overpopulation. Different sides of the debate hold different positions resulting in part from the moral principles they accept. There is currently no common basis to solve all the disagreement. Nevertheless, abortion, which was legally permitted only in Sweden and Denmark until 1967, has become accepted in the majority of Western countries.

“Induced abortion is the termination of unwanted pregnancy by destruction of the fetus.”
--Rita Simon, Abortion

"abortion." The Blackwell Dictionary of Western Philosophy. BUNNIN, NICHOLAS and JIYUAN YU (eds). Blackwell Publishing, 2004. Blackwell Reference Online. 22 January 2012

"A term that, in philosophy, theology, and social debates, often means the deliberate termination of pregnancy before the fetus is able to survive outside the uterus. However, participants in these debates sometimes use the term abortion simply to mean the termination of pregnancy before birth, regardless of whether the fetus is viable or not." "abortion." Dictionary of World Philosophy. London: Routledge, 2001.

Social Science

Induced abortion, in contrast to spontaneous abortion, is the deliberate termination of an established pregnancy. Induced abortion is a universal phenomenon, present in every known culture—literate or preliterate, primitive or modern. What has differed has been the safety of the methods used; how widespread the practice has been, especially relative to contraception and infanticide; and the role of church and state.

Abortion. International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. Ed. William A. Darity, Jr. Vol. 1. 2nd ed. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2008. p1-3. Word Count: 1414.

The classic definition of abortion is "expulsion of the fetus before it is viable." This could include spontaneous abortion (miscarriage) or induced abortion, in which someone (a doctor, the woman herself, or a layperson) causes the abortion. Before modern methods of abortion, this sometimes meant the introduction of foreign objects like catheters into the uterus to disrupt the placenta and embryo (or fetus) so that a miscarriage would result. In preindustrial societies, hitting the pregnant woman in the abdomen over the uterus and jumping on her abdomen while she lies on the ground are common techniques used to induce an abortion (Early and Peters 1990). Although these methods can be effective, they may also result in the death of the woman if her uterus is ruptured or if some of the amniotic fluid surrounding the fetus enters her bloodstream. From the colonial period to the early twentieth-century in America, primitive methods such as these were used along with the introduction of foreign objects into the uterus (wooden sticks, knitting needles, catheters, etc.) to cause abortion, frequently with tragic results (Lee 1969).

In modern society, abortions are performed surgically by physicians or other trained personnel experienced in this technique, making the procedure much safer. The goal of induced abortion remains the same: to interrupt the pregnancy so that the woman will not continue to term and deliver a baby.

One problem with the classical definition of abortion is the changing definition of viability (the ability to live outside the womb). Premature birth is historically associated with high death and disability rates for babies born alive, but medical advances of the twentieth century have made it possible to save the lives of babies born after only thirty weeks of pregnancy when the usual pregnancy lasts forty weeks. Some infants born at twenty-six to twenty-seven weeks or younger have even survived through massive intervention and support. At the same time, abortions are now routinely performed up to twenty-five to twenty-six weeks of pregnancy. Therefore, the old definition of viability is not helpful in determining whether an abortion has been or should be performed (Grobstein 1988).

Abortion. WARREN HERN. International Encyclopedia of Marriage and Family. Ed. James J. Ponzetti. Vol. 1. 2nd ed. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2003. p1-7. Word Count: 3288.

Both the practice of artificially terminating a pregnancy and the debate about its morality are as old as human civilization. Even the Hippocratic Oath, composed in ancient Greece, refers to abortifacents as one of the things doctors were not to administer. But the abortion question became a major political issue in the United States after the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, in which the Supreme Court ruled that the state could not regulate first-trimester abortions, could only regulate for the woman's health in the second trimester, and could only regulate on behalf of both woman and fetus in the third, after the fetus reached viability. The Supreme Court based its reasoning upon the principle of the right of privacy, in particular, that a woman's body is her own business and that she alone should be the one to decide if she wishes to carry to term.

Anti-Abortion/Pro-Life. Leigh Kimmel. Encyclopedia of Politics. Ed. Rodney P. Carlisle. Vol. 2: The Right. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Reference, 2005. p517-521. Word Count: 2901.

The deliberate termination of a pregnancy, usually before the embryo or fetus is capable of independent life. In medical contexts, this procedure is called an induced abortion and is distinguished from a spontaneous abortion (miscarriage) or stillbirth. Abortion laws are extremely controversial. Those who describe themselves as “pro-choice” believe that the decision to have an abortion should be left to the mother. In contrast, the “pro-life” faction, arguing that abortion is killing, holds that the state should prohibit abortion in most cases. Feminists (see feminism) and liberals generally support the pro-choice side; Roman Catholics and Protestant fundamentalists generally back the pro-life side. (See Roe versus Wade.)

abortion. (2002). In The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Houghton Mifflin. Retrieved from http://www.credoreference.com/entry/hmndcl/abortion

Religion

Abortion is defined as the artificial termination of a woman's pregnancy.

Abortion. Menachem Elon. Encyclopaedia Judaica. Ed. Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik. Vol. 1. 2nd ed. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2007. p270-273. Word Count: 3278.

Medically, abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by any means before the fetus is sufficiently developed to survive; it is divided into spontaneous ("miscarriage") and induced. Dictionaries, encyclopedias, and textbooks sometimes follow this definition. However, the practice of induced abortion requires a definition that is properly descriptive of the moral reality. In his landmark encyclical The Gospel of Life (Evangelium Vitae) (1995), John Paul II, citing the need to "call things by their proper name," defines abortion—he uses the term "procured abortion"—as "the deliberate and direct killing, by whatever means it is carried out, of a human being in the initial phase of his or her existence, extending from conception to birth" (58) (emphasis in original). Approximately 15% of recognized pregnancies end in spontaneous abortions. However, the topic of procured abortion is part of an intense debate that John Paul II calls "an enormous and dramatic clash between good and evil, death and life, the 'culture of death' and the 'culture of life"' (EV 28). At the conclusion of his classical study on abortion, Connery notes that the trend in the 19th century of eradicating abortion has now been reversed and that "in our present society the frequency of abortion is far greater than anything the Roman or ancient world ever knew or dreamed of" (Connery, 313). Indeed, the practice of abortion is unprecedented not only in terms of numbers but in term of methods and motivations.

Abortion. M. A. TAYLOR. New Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. 2nd ed. Detroit: Gale, 2003. p24-31. Word Count: 4063.

Law: Courts

Surprisingly slim pickings here. Courts frequently take the definition as read, so, while a definition might be implied by, say, Webster v. Reproductive Health Services, one is rarely stated. Here is one I found, from a state appellate court:

A person commits an abortion when he uses an instrument, medicine, drug or other substance with the intent to procure a miscarriage of any woman. Ill Rev Stats 1965, c 38, par 23-1., qtd. in People v. Hoffmann, 260 NE 2d 351 - Ill Appellate Court, 1st Dist, 3rd Div. 1970

Law: Statute

British law defining abortion is rather simpler than U.S. law, so I'm going to start there and do Europe before circling back to the U.S.'s massive weight of statutory law. It seems there is exactly one statute that defines it (the Offences Against the Person Act 1861)), exactly one statute permitting it under some circumstances (the Abortion Act 1967), and a zillion tiny, totally unimportant amendments modifying the statutes to comport with innovations in the NHS and so forth. Here is the U.K. definition/original prohibition on abortion:

58. Administering drugs or using instruments to procure abortion.
Every woman, being with child, who, with intent to procure her own miscarriage, shall unlawfully administer to herself any poison or other noxious thing, or shall unlawfully use any instrument or other means whatsoever with the like intent, and whosoever, with intent to procure the miscarriage of any woman, whether she be or be not with child, shall unlawfully administer to her or cause to be taken by her any poison or other noxious thing, or shall unlawfully use any instrument or other means whatsoever with the like intent, shall be guilty of felony, and being convicted thereof shall be liable to be kept in penal servitude for life.

59. Procuring drugs, &c. to cause abortion. Whosoever shall unlawfully supply or procure any poison or other noxious thing, or any instrument or thing whatsoever, knowing that the same is intended to be unlawfully used or employed with intent to procure the miscarriage of any woman, whether she be or be not with child, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and being convicted thereof shall be liable to be kept in penal servitude. Offences Against the Person Act 1861: 1861 c. 100 (Regnal. 24_and_25_Vict)

The effect of this law was modified/explained by the Abortion Act 1967 to render unpunishable most abortions, creating a space for legal abortion. It is not clear to me whether current U.K. considers the abortion definition of 1861 unenforceable or redefined. If the latter, I have not uncovered a succeeding definition.

Canadian law was voided, more or less, by R v. Morgentaler, but the definition remains on the books:

287. Procuring miscarriage (1) Every one who, with intent to procure the miscarriage of a female person, whether or not she is pregnant, uses any means for the purpose of carrying out his intention is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for life.
Woman procuring her own miscarriage (2) Every female person who, being pregnant, with intent to procure her own miscarriage, uses any means or permits any means to be used for the purpose of carrying out her intention is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years. Criminal Code, RSC 1985, c C-46, version in force as of 2 Dec 2011

Italian law, already mentioned, uses the terms "abortion" ("lo aborto") and "voluntary termination of pregnancy" ("Sull'interruzione volontaria della gravidanza") interchangeably.

German abortion law does not include formal definition, again using "termination of pregnancy" ("Schwangerschaft abbricht") interchangeably with "abortion" ("Abtreibung" or -- interestingly -- "Schwangerschaftsabbruch") (German Criminal Code section 218.)

Same goes for France (Code of Public Health, Art. L2212-1, L2213-1).

Where abortion definitions have proliferated is here in the States, where a complicated legal situation has bred explicit definitions all over the place (thanks to NARAL for pointing me in many of these directions):

"Abortion" means the use or prescription of any instrument, medicine, drug, or other substance or device to intentionally terminate the pregnancy of a woman known to be pregnant, with an intention other than to increase the probability of a live birth, to preserve the life or health of the child after live birth, or to remove a dead fetus. Montana Code, 50-20-104.

Oregon statutes never use the word "abortion," but switch between "termination of pregnancy" and "fetal death" depending on context. Only "fetal death" is defined. More trivia than anything, but interesting all the same:

“Fetal death” means death prior to the complete expulsion or extraction from its mother of a product of human conception, irrespective of the duration of pregnancy. The death is indicated by the fact that after such expulsion or extraction the fetus does not breathe or show any other evidence of life such as beating of the heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord or definite movement of the voluntary muscles. Oregon Rev Stat. 432.005.5

More:

"Abortion" means any medical treatment intended to induce the termination of a pregnancy except for the purpose of producing a live birth. CA Rev Stat §123464

"Abortion" means the intentional termination of human pregnancy for purposes other than delivery of a viable birth. ID Rev Stat 18.604.1

"Abortion" means an act committed upon or with respect to a female, whether by another person or by the female herself, whether directly upon her body or by the administering, taking or prescription of drugs or in any other manner, with intent to cause a miscarriage of such female. DE Stat Title 11 § 654

"Abortion" means the deliberate termination of an intrauterine human pregnancy after fertilization of a female ovum, by any person, including the pregnant woman herself, with an intention other than to produce a live birth or to remove a dead unborn child. LA Rev. Stat. Title 9 §2800.12(B)(1)

Feticide is the killing of an unborn child by the act, procurement, or culpable omission of a person other than the mother of the unborn child. The offense of feticide shall not include acts which cause the death of an unborn child if those acts were committed during any abortion to which the pregnant woman or her legal guardian has consented or which was performed in an emergency as defined in R.S. 40:1299.35.12. Nor shall the offense of feticide include acts which are committed pursuant to usual and customary standards of medical practice during diagnostic testing or therapeutic treatment. LA Rev. Stat. Title 14 32.5(A)

"Abortion" means the use of any instrument, medicine, drug or any other substance or device to terminate the pregnancy of a woman known to be pregnant with an intention other than to increase the probability of a live birth, to preserve the life or health of the child after live birth, or to remove a dead fetus.

(6) "Fetus" and "unborn child" each mean an individual organism of the species homo sapiens from fertilization until live birth.

(7) "Abortifacient" means any instrument, medicine, drug, or any other substance or device which is known to cause fetal death when employed in the usual and customary use for which it is manufactured, whether or not the fetus is known to exist when such substance or device is employed. Ill. Stat. 720.510.2 (1975) (earlier Illinois law already cited above)

"Abortion" means the termination of human pregnancy with an intention other than to produce a live birth or to remove a dead fetus. Indiana Code 16-18-2-1

"Abortion" means the use of any instrument, medicine, drug, or any other substance or device with intent to terminate the pregnancy of a woman known to be pregnant with intent other than to increase the probability of a live birth, to preserve the life or health of the child after live birth, or to remove a dead fetus TN Code 37-10-302

"Abortion" means the intentional termination or attempted termination of human pregnancy after implantation of a fertilized ovum, and includes any and all procedures undertaken to kill a live unborn child and includes all procedures undertaken to produce a miscarriage. "Abortion" does not include removal of a dead unborn child. UT Statutes 76-7-301

"Abortion", the intentional destruction of the life of an embryo or fetus in his or her mother's womb or the intentional termination of the pregnancy of a mother with an intention other than to increase the probability of a live birth or to remove a dead or dying unborn child; MO Statutes 188.015

"Abortion" means the purposeful termination of a human pregnancy, by any person with an intention other than to produce a live birth or to remove a dead unborn child; OK Statutes 63.1.730.1

Texas appears unwilling to settle on one definition:

"Abortion" means the use of any means to terminate the pregnancy of a female known by the attending physician to be pregnant, with the intention that the termination of the pregnancy by those means will with reasonable likelihood cause the death of the fetus. This definition, as applied in this chapter, applies only to an unemancipated minor known by the attending physician to be pregnant and may not be construed to limit a minor's access to contraceptives. Texas Family Code § 33.001.

In this code, "abortion" means an intentional expulsion of a human fetus from the body of a woman induced by any means for the purpose of causing the death of the fetus. Texas Family Code § 161.006(b)

"Abortion" means an act involving the use of an instrument, medicine, drug, or other substance or device developed to terminate the pregnancy of a woman if the act is done with an intention other than to:
(A) increase the probability of a live birth of the unborn child of the woman;
(B) preserve the life or health of the child; or
(C) remove a dead fetus. Texas Family Code § 170.001.1(b)

"Abortion" means an act or procedure performed after pregnancy has been medically verified and with the intent to cause the termination of a pregnancy other than for the purpose of either the birth of a live fetus or removing a dead fetus. The term does not include birth control devices or oral contraceptives. Texas Health and Safety Code § 245.002.1(b)

"Abortion" means the use of any instrument, medicine, drug, or any other substance or device with intent to terminate the pregnancy of a woman known to be pregnant with intent other than to increase the probability of a live birth, to preserve the life or health of the child after live birth, or to remove a dead fetus. KY Rev. Stat. 311.732.1(c)

"Abortion" means the termination of a human pregnancy with the intent other than to produce a live birth or to remove a dead fetus. Abortion does not include medical care which has as its primary purpose the treatment of a serious physical condition requiring emergency medical treatment necessary to save the life of a mother. IA Code 146.1, in part, cit. in 135L.1, 707.8A

"Abortion" means the use of any means to intentionally terminate a pregnancy except for the purpose of causing a live birth. Abortion does not include: (1) The use of any drug or device that inhibits or prevents ovulation, fertilization or the implantation of an embryo; or (2) disposition of the product of in vitro fertilization prior to implantation. KS Stat 65.6701, cit. at 65-67a01

"Perform an abortion" means to interrupt or terminate a pregnancy by any surgical or nonsurgical procedure or to induce a miscarriage as provided in § 18.2-72, 18.2-73 or 18.2-74. VA Code §16.1-241 (NOTE: the referenced sections provide for the lawful circumstances of abortion in the first, second, and third trimesters, respectively)

As used in the Revised Code, "abortion" means the purposeful termination of a human pregnancy by any person, including the pregnant woman herself, with an intention other than to produce a live birth or to remove a dead fetus or embryo. Abortion is the practice of medicine or surgery for the purposes of section 4731.41 of the Revised Code. OH Rev. Code Title 29 § 2919.11

"Nontherapeutic abortion" means an abortion that is performed or induced when the life of the mother would not be endangered if the fetus were carried to term or when the pregnancy of the mother was not the result of rape or incest reported to a law enforcement agency. OH Rev. Code Title 1 § 124.85.A(1)

"Abortion" means any medical treatment intended to induce the termination of a pregnancy except for the purpose of producing a live birth. Rev Cd. of Washington State, RCW 9.02.170

Abortion means the use or prescription of any instrument, medicine, drug, or other substance or device intentionally to terminate the pregnancy of a woman known to be pregnant with an intention other than to increase the probability of a live birth, to preserve the life or health of the child after live birth, or to remove a dead unborn child, and which causes the premature termination of the pregnancy; Nebraska Criminal Code 23-326.1

“Abortion” defined. As used in NRS 442.240 to 442.270, inclusive, unless the context requires otherwise, “abortion” means the termination of a human pregnancy with an intention other than to produce the birth of an infant capable of sustained survival by natural or artificial supportive systems or to remove a dead fetus. Nevada Rev. Stat. NRS 442.240

"Abortion" means an act, procedure, device or prescription administered to or prescribed for a pregnant woman by any person with knowledge of the pregnancy, including the pregnant woman herself, with the intent of producing the premature expulsion, removal or termination of a human embryo or fetus, except that in cases in which the viability of the embryo or fetus is threatened by continuation of the pregnancy, early delivery after viability by commonly accepted obstetrical practices shall not be construed as an abortion; Wy. Title 35 Section 6.101(a)(i)

'Abortion' means the use or prescription of any instrument, medicine, drug, or any other substance or device with the intent to terminate the pregnancy of a female known to be pregnant. The term 'abortion' shall not include the use or prescription of any instrument, medicine, drug, or any other substance or device employed solely to increase the probability of a live birth, to preserve the life or health of the child after live birth, or to remove a dead unborn child who died as a result of a spontaneous abortion. The term 'abortion' also shall not include the prescription or use of contraceptives. GA Code, Title 15, Section 11.110.1

Abortion shall mean an operation to intentionally terminate the pregnancy of a nonviable fetus. The termination of a pregnancy of a viable fetus is not included in this section. Hawaii Rev. Stat. §453-16(b)

In this section, “abortion” means the intentional destruction of the life of an unborn child, and “unborn child” means a human being from the time of conception until it is born alive. WI Stat. 20.927

“Abortion” means the use of an instrument, medicine, drug or other substance or device with intent to terminate the pregnancy of a woman known to be pregnant or for whom there is reason to believe that she may be pregnant and with intent other than to increase the probability of a live birth, to preserve the life or health of the infant after live birth or to remove a dead fetus. WI Stat 40.98

“Abortion” means the use of an instrument, medicine, drug or other substance or device with intent to terminate the pregnancy of a woman known to be pregnant or for whom there is reason to believe that she may be pregnant and with intent other than to increase the probability of a live birth, to preserve the life or health of the infant after live birth or to remove a dead fetus. WI Stat 48.375(2)(a) and s. 253.10 (2) (a).; used again in 939(2)(a) except defining "induced abortion"

And here is an old statute, simply because I was curious about the language of my home state prior to its repeal in the 1970s:

"Abortion" includes an act, procedure or use of any instrument, medicine or drug which is supplied or prescribed for or administered to a pregnant woman which results in the termination of pregnancy. MN Statutes 617.18; Repealed, 1974 c 177 s 7

Some 35 U.S. states (according to NARAL) have statutory language prohibiting abortion under various conditions (unenforceable under Roe). I read their statutes, and nearly all define illegal abortion using text virtually identical to these:

A person who provides, supplies or administers to a pregnant woman, or procures such woman to take any medicine, drugs or substance, or uses or employs any instrument or other means whatever, with intent thereby to procure the miscarriage of such woman, unless [insert possible rape/incest/life/health exceptions here], shall be punished by [insert punishment here]

Any person who willfully administers to any pregnant woman any drug or substance or uses or employs any instrument or other means to induce an abortion, miscarriage or premature delivery or aids, abets or prescribes for the same, unless [exceptions] shall on conviction be [punishment].

Law: Text

"1. An artificially induced termination of a pregnancy for the purpose of destroying an embryo or fetus. 2. The spontaneous expulsion of an embryo or fetus before viability;" Garner, Bryan A. (June 2009). Black's Law Dictionary (9th ed.). Thomson West. ISBN 9780314199492.

The spontaneous or artificially induced expulsion of an embryo or fetus. As used in legal context, the term usually refers to induced abortion.

Abortion. West's Encyclopedia of American Law. Ed. Shirelle Phelps and Jeffrey Lehman. Vol. 1. 2nd ed. Detroit: Gale, 2005. p13-26. Word Count: 9830.

The ending of a pregnancy before its natural term

COMMENT: The legal limit for abortion in the UK is currently 24 weeks. The procedure may also legally be performed up to 28 weeks if there is evidence of severe foetal abnormality or if it is necessary to save the life of the mother, although in practice this is rare. After this time the foetus is considered viable and may not be destroyed.

abortion. (2007). In A&C Black Dictionary of Law. Retrieved from http://www.credoreference.com/entry/acblaw/abortion

for legal purposes, termination of a pregnancy before it is complete, with the purpose of destroying the embryo or foetus. In English criminal law, procuring an abortion was a FELONY and indeed it is still criminal, subject to the provisions of the law permitting abortion which appeared in the UK in the 1960s.

abortion. (2006). In Collins Dictionary of Law. Retrieved from http://www.credoreference.com/entry/collinslaw/abortion

abortion The termination of a pregnancy: a miscarriage or the premature expulsion of a foetus from the womb before the normal period of gestation is complete. It is an offence to induce or attempt to induce an abortion unless the terms of the Abortion Act 1967, as reformulated by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990, and the Abortion Regulations 1991, as amended by the Abortion (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2002 (SI 2002/887), are complied with. The pregnancy can only be terminated by a registered medical practitioner, and two registered medical practitioners must agree that it is necessary, e.g. because (1) continuation of the pregnancy would involve a risk to the life or physical or mental health of the pregnant woman (or of other children of hers) that is greater than the risk of terminating the pregnancy, or (2) there is a substantial risk that the child will be born with a serious physical or mental handicap. However, doctors are not obliged to perform abortions if they can prove that they have a conscientious objection to doing so. A husband cannot prevent his wife having a legal abortion if she so wishes. Compare child destruction.

"abortion" The Oxford Dictionary of Law Enforcement. Michael Kennedy. Oxford University Press, 2007. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. University of St. Thomas. 22 January 2012

1 : the termination of a pregnancy after, accompanied by, or closely followed by the death of the embryo or fetus; esp : the medical procedure of inducing expulsion of a human fetus to terminate a pregnancy

2 : the crime of procuring or performing an illegal abortion <a conspiracy to commit ~ — W. R. LaFave and A. W. Scott, Jr.> — see also Roe v. Wade and Webster v. Reproductive Health Services in the Important Cases section

abortion. (1996). In Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law. Retrieved from http://www.credoreference.com/entry/mwdlaw/abortion

The termination of a pregnancy by the removal, by surgical or other means, of an embryo or fetus from a woman's uterus. Until 1973 abortion was considered a crime unless performed by physicians to protect the life of the mother. The Supreme Court ruled in the case of Roe v. Wade (1973) that a woman had the right to choose abortion to end a pregnancy through the first trimester. In the latter stages of pregnancy, danger to the life of the mother could still justify a legal abortion.

Source: Legal Information Institute, http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/abortion

Here is an interesting (and relevant?) distinction drawn in British law of which I was not previously aware:

abortion n. The removal of an embryo or foetus from the uterus at a stage in the pregnancy when it is deemed incapable of independent survival (see viable ). Under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 (s 58) abortion is a criminal offence unless carried out in accordance with the provisions of the Abortion Act 1967 , which sets out the grounds upon which a termination is legal (s 1). Generally, a termination is lawful if the pregnancy has not exceeded 24 weeks and if the continuance of the pregnancy would involve a greater risk to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman than having an abortion. In some circumstances a termination is permitted after 24 weeks, for example if there is a substantial risk that the child if born would be seriously handicapped or if the continuance of the pregnancy would involve grave permanent injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman. The abortion must be carried out in an approved hospital or clinic and two medical practitioners must certify that the termination is necessary for one of the reasons set out in the Act. The distinction between abortion and contraception is a crucial one. A recent case, R (Smeaton on behalf of SPUC) v Secretary of State for Health [ 2002 ] EWHC 610 (Admin), [ 2002 ] 2 FLR 146, ruled that use of the “morning after pill”, which prevents the implantation of the fertilized egg in the womb, did not constitute an abortion. Doctors are not obliged to perform abortions if they can prove that they have a conscientious objection to so doing. A husband cannot prevent his wife having a legal abortion if she so wishes. Compare child destruction .

child destruction An act causing a viable unborn child to die during the course of pregnancy or birth before it has an existence independent of its mother. If carried out with the intention of causing death, and if it is proved that the act was not carried out in good faith in order to preserve the mother's life, the offence is subject to a maximum punishment of life imprisonment. Governed by the Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929 (s 1), this offence fills the gap between murder (the unlawful killing of a living being) and abortion , which is the procuring of a miscarriage.

"child destruction" A Dictionary of Law. by Jonathan Law and Elizabeth A. Martin. Oxford University Press 2009 Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. 22 January 2012

Amusing

Not actually including these anywhere, but I found these and was amused. In case anyone feels the urge to write some abortion poetry:

abortion
•ashen, fashion, passion, ration
•abstraction, action, attraction, benefaction, compaction, contraction, counteraction, diffraction, enaction, exaction, extraction, faction, fraction, interaction, liquefaction, malefaction, petrifaction, proaction, protraction, putrefaction, redaction, retroaction, satisfaction, stupefaction, subtraction, traction, transaction, tumefaction, vitrifaction
•expansion, mansion, scansion, stanchion
•sanction
•caption, contraption
•harshen, Martian
•cession, discretion, freshen, session
•abjection, affection, circumspection, collection, complexion, confection, connection, convection, correction, defection, deflection, dejection, detection, direction, ejection, election, erection, genuflection, imperfection, infection, inflection, injection, inspection, insurrection, interconnection, interjection, intersection, introspection, lection, misdirection, objection, perfection, predilection, projection, protection, refection, reflection, rejection, resurrection, retrospection, section, selection, subjection, transection, vivisection

"abortion" Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. Oxford University Press, 2007. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. 22 January 2012

A failure. As dyspeptic Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) said of Charles Lamb (1775-1834): “Poor Lamb! Poor England! when such a despicable abortion is named genius!” Abortion has only recently begun to escape the taboo that became attached to it as a result of its association with a formerly illegal operation. For years, newspapers refused to print the word and Hollywood censors kept it out of film soundtracks. The customary evasions were criminal operation in the United States and illegal operation in the United Kingdom. Miscarriage also was used frequently in lieu of the other term, as in the film version of John O’Hara’s Ten North Frederick (1958). The taboo was strong enough that it even affected miscarriage. Thus, in Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind (1936), Rhett Butler tells Scarlett, “Cheer up, maybe you’ll have a miscarriage,” just before she tumbles down the stairs and has one, but in the film that was made from the book (1939), Clark Gable mentions only the possibility of her having an “accident.” Today, despite the decriminalization of the procedure (Roe v. Wade, 1973), advocates of women’s reproductive rights still honor the old taboo when they say they are pro-choice, not pro-abortion, or that they favor therapeutic interruption of pregnancy. See also squeal.

abortion. (1989). In Rawson's Wicked Words. Retrieved from http://www.credoreference.com/entry/rawww/abortion

I have tried to figure out who submitted all of these citations. Who was it? Dr. Jux (talk) 18:16, 14 February 2012 (UTC)

Most of those rhymes for abortion are at best a linguistic distortion! Instead your selection rhymes with contraception, which is an amusing bit of good fortune. Triacylglyceride (talk) 05:23, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

Include eugenics as example of public policy influencing debate.

Re: [1], and several like it.

I am still wondering why User:Attleboro is continue to edit war on including material about eugenics in an article on abortion. Sure, religious ethics impacts both, but religious ethics also has plenty to say about marriage, sexual behavior, slavery, and dietary habits. We are not including those though, and I am struggling to see why we would even mention eugenics in the context that Attleboro wishes to. NW (Talk) 21:47, 14 February 2012 (UTC)

I changed the title to clarify what this is about; it's a simple sentence and a simple relationship that NuclearWarfare seems not to see:

NuclearWarfare (I don't doubt that it is true, but I fail to see how mentioning that religious ethics has an influence on eugenics (of course it does) is relevant to this article. Please open a discussion on the talk page if you still want to add it.)

Attleboro (To User:NuclearWarfare: How do you get "religious ethics has an influence on eugenics"? The sentence is "Religious ethics ... has an influence on ... the greater debate over abortion, as does public policies like eugenics.")

NuclearWarfare (There is no serious public policy debate on eugenics in the modern day, so there's no need to mention it here. Take it to the talk page if you disagree.)

Attleboro (Wrong, see "ObamaCare and Eugenics", WSJ, 3/15/10. Why change from your original argument when it is answered? Though the citations concern policies of recent history (up into the 1990s in Japan), how is that irrelevant today?)

Roscelese (Undid revision 476892814 by Attleboro (talk) rv irrelevant synthesis)

What synthesis and how irrelevant? -Attleboro (talk) 20:22, 15 February 2012 (UTC)

It would give WP:UNDUE weight to the eugenics claim, which is at best a minor point w.r.t. abortion and public policy. (The cited source [2] is a "Best of the Web" section--essentially an op-ed that also includes other stories.) Religion is addressed elsewhere in the article. JJL (talk) 23:07, 15 February 2012 (UTC)

How is this undue weight if only mentioned in passing at the end of a sentence but backed up with 5 cites to actual eugenics policies, some recent? (...not to mention even more recent use by the WSJ.) I note my questions as to synthesis and irrelevance remain unanswered. -Attleboro (talk) 21:52, 16 February 2012 (UTC)

I agree that it gives undue weight. The citations talk about historical examples and ethical conjecture; the current public policy discussions over abortion care only touch eugenics in the form of anti-choicers drawing unfounded connections. Appropriate for a history section, maybe. Also, whose grammar was that? Triacylglyceride (talk) 01:54, 17 February 2012 (UTC)

Undue weight to have any mention of eugenics in this article. Binksternet (talk) 03:21, 17 February 2012 (UTC)