Photo: Feng Yu (Shutterstock)
Abortion has always been a major debate in the United States, but it’s about to hit a fever pitch because of a draft opinion leaked this week that shows the Supreme Court has voted to overturn Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. Everyone knows what abortion is, but before you run straight into a debate with your uncle on Facebook, let’s walk through all the other terms you’re about to hear thrown back and forth.
What is an abortion?
An abortion is a procedure that ends a pregnancy; the termination can be done by using medications or by having a surgical procedure. Per 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 an egg and sperm joining before the eight-week mark (also known as an embryo); after that, we refer to the fetus and the placenta.
What is a medication abortion?
If a person opts for a medication abortion, they use mifepristone and misoprostol to end their pregnancy. They take these pills, experience cramping and bleeding, and undergo a process that is very similar to a miscarriage.
Typically, the abortion pill can only be taken for the first 10 weeks after the first day of a person’s last period. The benefits of this method include being able to do it on your own, largely in the privacy and comfort of your own home, and the lack of surgical intervention. (Note, though, that in some states, you won’t be able to do this totally solo with a telehealth prescription. Per the Kaiser Family Foundation, telehealth for abortion provision is outlawed in Arizona, Arkansas, Missouri, Louisiana, Texas, and West Virginia. Moreover, 14 other states have laws requiring that the clinician providing the medication be physically present. Check your local laws or call a clinic in your area if you are considering a medication abortion.)
Emergency contraception—also known as the morning-after pill—is not the same as a medication abortion. Emergency contraception prevents pregnancy while medication abortions end pregnancy.
What is a surgical abortion?
Surgical or in-clinic abortions take place in a clinic setting. The medical procedure uses suction to empty the uterus. Each state has different laws about how late in a pregnancy a person can seek this option, but generally speaking, it can be done up until the 12th week of a pregnancy.
The procedure uses local anesthesia and a person who undergoes it is given oral pain relief. If you are less than 12 weeks pregnant, you can expect this to take around three hours. If you have access to the procedure between the 12th and 14th weeks of your pregnancy, it may take up to five or six hours, according to UCSF Health.
What is dilation and curettage (D&C)?
You’ll hear about D&C a lot, but unlike some of the more loaded terms that get thrown around in the abortion debate, this one is purely medical. Dilation and curettage is the procedure used to remove tissue from a uterus for any reason, including after a miscarriage or abortion. The cervix is dilated using small instruments or medication, and then a sharp instrument or suction device is used to remove the tissue within the uterus. This is a standard part of surgical abortions and post-miscarriage care.
What is a late-term abortion?
It is uncommon for a person to have an abortion at or after the 21st week of their pregnancy. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, less than 1% of abortions take place at or after that week. Obviously, the fetus is more developed by that time, which can raise moral concerns and also make the procedure more complex.
Typically, people seek these abortions for distinct reasons. It may be that there are fetal anomalies or the life of the pregnant person is at stake. In other instances, barriers to access may have prevented a person from getting an elective abortion earlier in their pregnancy. Read the personal story of one woman who made this decision here.
What is a partial-birth abortion?
You might hear the term “partial-birth abortion” crop up from time to time. It is a loaded term that’s also very evocative: The National Right to Life Committee coined it in 1995 and abortion rights opponents have long described “partial-birth” abortions as ones in which a fetus is delivered until the head is outside the mother’s body, then terminated, per NPR.
These dilation and extraction procedures are possible, but very rare, and their use depends on extremely unique circumstances. This is not a widespread phenomenon, despite what you may have heard in promotional messaging.
What is Roe v. Wade?
Roe v. Wade is the landmark Supreme Court decision from 1973 that ruled the Constitution protects a pregnant person’s freedom to choose to have an abortion without excessive interference from the government. It essentially legalized abortion across the country. Prior to Roe, some states did have legal and accessible abortion options, but many states did not. Roe evened the playing field so pregnant people in every state had the opportunity to access safe, legal abortions, though each state was still able to put its own laws in place governing that.
What is Planned Parenthood v. Casey?
In 1992, the Supreme Court again made a landmark abortion ruling: In Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the court upheld the rights decided in Roe while crafting the “undue burden standard” for abortion restrictions.
As mentioned, states have been allowed to implement their own laws about abortion. In the Casey ruling, the court maintained that those restrictions couldn’t be too onerous. The case came about after a challenge to five provisions of the Pennsylvania Abortion Control Act of 1982, which required, among other things, a waiting period and spousal notice.
What do the terms pro-choice, anti-choice, and pro-life mean?
When discussing abortion, you’ll hear people referred to as “pro-choice” or “anti-choice.” Abortion rights opponents favor the term “pro-life” when describing themselves, as their arguments against abortion access hinge on what they describe as an interest in the “life” of a fetus.
These are all loaded terms, which is why they’re often used as self-identifiers or as insults.
In short, someone who considers themselves “pro-life” argues in favor of the “right to life” of a fetus. Someone who considers themselves “pro-choice” argues in favor of a person’s “right to choose.”
