TERMINOLOGY USED IN THIS TEXT

Abortion Modifiers

• We use gestational “duration” rather than “age” which personifies the fetus, and we focus on weeks gestation rather than trimesters (Upadhyay 2023).
• We use “medication abortion” instead of “medical abortion” to represent medication-based methods and avoid implying medical necessity (Upadhyay 2023, Weitz 2004).
• We use “telehealth” to describe the use of telecommunications technology to provide health care services at a distance. This includes a two-way, real-time interactive communication between a patient and a practitioner, often utilizing audio and video equipment, or audio-only, and electronic communication systems (CMS 2025, Medicaid 2025), rather than the terms “telemedicine”, “no-touch” or “minimal contact” For a discussion of nuanced considerations, see Ch 10: Understanding and Defining Telehealth.
• We use “procedural abortion” or “aspiration abortion” instead of “surgical, “in-clinic abortion” or dilation and curettage” to convey that it involves a mechanical intervention facilitated by a skilled clinician and to avoid suggesting it is a surgical procedure requiring incisions or sharp curettage (Upadhyay 2023).
• We use “self-managed abortion (SMA)” as a broad term for ending a pregnancy outside the formal health care system. To prevent misunderstanding, best practice is to specify the method used. In Chapter 4, we use “self-managed medication abortion (SMMA)” to refer specifically to abortion with medication obtained and used outside clinical settings.
• We avoid “elective” and “therapeutic” abortion, which imply moral judgment on who is entitled to abortion care (Watson 2018).

Access

• Abortion access refers to the ease of obtaining safe, timely, and affordable abortion care without undue barriers. Facets include physical access (location), affordability, legality, acceptance, evidence-based care, and equity (ACOG 2025). The curriculum uses this definition, unless specifically referring to care of people with disabilities.
• Accessibility for the disability community refers to ensuring that the design and provision of physical spaces and services enable people with disabilities to independently and effectively access spaces and services without undue burden (UN 2025).

Trauma-Informed vs. Trauma-Responsive Care

• Trauma-informed care uses trauma theory to develop universal systems of care that avoid (re)traumatizing people regardless of whether they have disclosed a trauma history.
• Trauma-responsive care uses the principles of trauma-informed care to create actionable recommendations for patient care.

Pregnancy loss

• We use the terms “early pregnancy loss” and “miscarriage” interchangeably, avoiding the term “pregnancy failure” which may leave people experiencing pregnancy loss feeling responsible.

Person-Centered care

• We use “person-centered” to consider the whole life of those influenced by care (Håkansson Eklund 2019).

Gender-Neutral language

• We use gender-neutral language and the terms “person,” “patient,” singular “they,” “people with pregnancy potential,” and/or “people capable of pregnancy” (Moseson 2020), except when reporting gender specific research.
• Where possible, we use “Latinx/e” to describe a diverse group of people who have roots in Latin America, replacing a binary with a gender-neutral Spanish letter.