Know These Terms Before Entering the Abortion Debate
Abortion has always been the subject of major debate in the United States, but it is about to come to a head with a draft opinion leaked this week that shows the Supreme Court voted to overturn Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. . Everybody knows. what is abortion, but before you start arguing with your uncle on Facebook, let’s go over all the other terms you’ll hear soon.
What is an abortion?
Abortion is a procedure that terminates a pregnancy; termination can be done with medication or through a surgical procedure. According to Harvard Health , abortion removes pregnancy tissue, products of conception, or the fetus and placenta from a person’s uterus. Pregnancy tissue is used to refer to any products of egg and sperm junction up to the eight week mark (also known as an embryo); after that we mean fetus and placenta.
What is a medical abortion?
If a woman opts for medical abortion, she uses mifepristone and misoprostol to end the pregnancy. They take these pills, they experience cramps and bleeding, and they have a process very similar to a miscarriage.
As a rule, abortion pills can only be taken during the first 10 weeks after the first day of the last menstrual period. The advantages of this method include the ability to do it yourself, mostly in the privacy and comfort of your own home, and the absence of surgery. (Note, however, that in some states you won’t be able to do this completely alone with a telemedicine prescription. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation , abortion telemedicine is banned in Arizona, Arkansas, Missouri, Louisiana, Texas, and West Virginia. What’s more, at 14 (other states have laws requiring the physical presence of an attending physician. Check your local laws or call a clinic in your area if you are considering a medical abortion.)
Emergency contraception, also known as the next morning pill, is not the same as medical abortion . Emergency contraception prevents pregnancy, while medical abortion terminates the pregnancy.
What is a surgical abortion?
Surgical or intraclinical abortions are performed in a clinic setting. A medical procedure uses suction to empty the uterus. Each state has different laws about how late in a person’s pregnancy this option can be taken, but it can generally be done before the 12th week of pregnancy.
The procedure uses local anesthesia and the person who undergoes it is anesthetized in the mouth. If you are less than 12 weeks pregnant, you can expect it to take about three hours. According to UCSF Health , if you have access to the procedure between the 12th and 14th weeks of your pregnancy, it can take up to five or six hours.
What is Dilation and Curettage (D&C)?
You hear a lot about D&C, but unlike some of the more loaded terms used in the abortion debate, this one is purely medical. Dilation and curettage is a procedure used to remove tissue from the uterus for any reason, including after a miscarriage or abortion. The cervix is dilated with small instruments or medicines, and then tissue inside the uterus is removed using a sharp instrument or suction device. This is a standard part of surgical abortion and post-miscarriage care.
What is late abortion?
People rarely have an abortion at or after the 21st week of pregnancy. Less than 1% of abortions happen this week or later, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Obviously, by this time the fetus is more developed, which can cause moral apprehension, as well as complicate the procedure.
Generally, people seek these abortions for various reasons. Perhaps there are abnormalities in the development of the fetus or the life of the pregnant woman is at stake. In other cases, access barriers may have prevented a woman from having an elective abortion early in her pregnancy. Read the personal story of one woman who made this decision here .
What is a partial abortion?
You may hear the term “partial abortion” from time to time. It’s a loaded term that’s also very evocative: The National Committee on the Right to Life coined it in 1995, and opponents of abortion rights have long described “partial birth” abortions as abortions in which the fetus is born until the head is outside the mother’s body. then discontinued, according to NPR .
These expansion and extraction procedures are possible, but very rare, and their use depends on extremely unique circumstances. This is not a widespread occurrence, despite what you may have heard in the marketing messages.
What is Rowe vs Wade?
Roe v. Wade is a landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision that states that the Constitution protects a pregnant woman’s freedom to have an abortion without undue government interference. This effectively legalized abortion throughout the country. Prior to Roe, some states had legal and affordable abortion options, but many states did not. Rowe leveled the playing field so that pregnant women in every state had access to safe, legal abortions, although each state was still free to make its own laws to regulate this.
What is Planned Parenthood vs Casey?
In 1992, the Supreme Court again made a historic ruling on abortion: in Planned Parenthood v. The Casey court upheld the rights rendered in the Roe case in developing an “excessive burden standard” for restrictions on abortion.
As mentioned, states are allowed to enforce their own abortion laws. In the Casey ruling, the court argued that these restrictions could not be too onerous. The case arose after challenging five provisions of the Pennsylvania Abortion Control Act of 1982, which required, among other things, a waiting period and notice to the spouse.
What do the terms “for choice”, “against choice” and “for life” mean?
When discussing abortion, you will hear people referred to as “for choice” or “against choice.” Opponents of abortion rights prefer the term “pro-life” when describing themselves because their arguments against access to abortion are based on what they call an interest in the “life” of the fetus.
These are all loaded terms, so they are often used as self-identification or as insults.
In short, one who sees himself as a “protector of life” stands for the “right to life” of the fetus. Anyone who considers himself “for choice” stands for “the human right to choose”.