File talk:Human fetus 10 weeks with amniotic sac - therapeutic abortion.jpg

Could I suggest the word "abortion" be removed from the description of this image, as it is unnecessarily confusing and somewhat insensitive?

The word "abortion" is properly used to describe either the direct killing of the unborn, or causing the separation of the living unborn from the uterus at a stage where this will certainly result in its death.

The removal of the uterus including an unborn child, in order to save the mother's life, even if it will inevitably result in the child dying, is not the same action.

This difference is important in the Catholic moral system, and perhaps in others, as those things described under the word abortion as defined above, are considered murder, while the removal of the child with a uterus removed to save the mother's life (as in the case of cancer) comes under the rule of double effect and is morally permissible.

I feel very unhappy with the notion that the mother and doctors in this case are having their action referred to as "abortion," which would be considered seriously wrong by a number of people who would suppose the action apparently described (that of removing a cancerous uterus despite pregnancy) legitimate.

I appreciate that the picture does show the foetus removed from the uterus, however, the suggestion is that this was a secondary action (I am a philosophy graduate: I do not have the medical knowledge to see if it is still alive or to know what the procedure was to result in that picture): I think it would be more sensitive not to use the words "therapeutic abortion," unless the medical process in the case in question is actually known to be correctly described in that way.

Besides sensitivity to the people involved, it does also matter for the sake of good moral debate, to use language describing a contraversial action with reasonable care and precision. — Preceding unsigned comment added by FloweringOctopus (talk • contribs) 11:50, 24 April 2022 (UTC)