Policically incorrectness

Subject: Policically incorrectness
From: "Misti Tucker USAET(UTC -04:00)" <mtucker2 -at- E-MAIL -dot- COM>
Date: Tue, 23 Sep 1997 17:18:15 EDT

Iain harrison wonders:

This may not be true in the US, but here in the UK, in the medical
world, 'abortion' refers to the premature ending of a pregnancy,
whether natural or not. The correct work for the surgical or medical
ending of a pregnancy is a 'termination'.

Given this fact, why is it that people have so much difficulty with
the word 'abort' (after all, about 30% of pregnancies naturally end
that way) yet seem happy with 'terminate'?

Are these words used the other way round by the US medical profession?

Nope. They're used exactly the same way here -- but only doctors and
healthcare workers use them that way. "Miscarriage" is the common term for a
spontaneous abortion, and of course "abortion" is the common word for a
medical procedure terminating pregnancy.

Misti Tucker
Technical Communication mta -at- cyberspace -dot- org (h)
& Help System Design mtucker2 -at- e-mail -dot- com (w)

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