Editing Miscarriage (section)

== Terminology ==
Some recommend not using the term "[[abortion]]" in discussions with those experiencing a miscarriage to decrease distress.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Greaves |first1=Ian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2Z3cMX7owGwC&pg=PA506 |title=Emergency Care: A Textbook for Paramedics |last2=Porter |first2=Keith |last3=Hodgetts |first3=Tim J. |last4=Woollard |first4=Malcolm |date=2005 |publisher=Elsevier Health Sciences |isbn=978-0-7020-2586-0 |location=London |page=506 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160426205606/https://books.google.com/books?id=2Z3cMX7owGwC&pg=PA506 |archive-date=April 26, 2016 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all}}</ref> In Britain, the term "miscarriage" has replaced any use of the term "spontaneous abortion" for pregnancy loss and in response to complaints of insensitivity towards women who had suffered such loss.<ref name="Moscrop2">{{cite journal |vauthors=Moscrop A |date=1 December 2013 |title='Miscarriage or abortion?' Understanding the medical language of pregnancy loss in Britain; a historical perspective |journal=Medical Humanities |volume=39 |issue=2 |pages=98–104 |doi=10.1136/medhum-2012-010284 |pmc=3841747 |pmid=23429567 |doi-access=free}}</ref> An additional benefit of this change is reducing confusion among medical laymen, who may not realize that the term "spontaneous abortion" refers to a naturally occurring medical phenomenon and not the intentional termination of pregnancy.

The medical terminology applied to experiences during early pregnancy has changed over time.<ref name="pmid23429567">{{cite journal |vauthors=Moscrop A |date=December 2013 |title='Miscarriage or abortion?' Understanding the medical language of pregnancy loss in Britain; a historical perspective |journal=Medical Humanities |volume=39 |issue=2 |pages=98–104 |doi=10.1136/medhum-2012-010284 |pmc=3841747 |pmid=23429567}}</ref> Before the 1980s, health professionals used the phrase ''spontaneous abortion'' for a miscarriage and ''induced abortion'' for a termination of the pregnancy.<ref name="pmid23429567" /><ref name="PublicHealthReport-1988">{{cite journal |year=1988 |title=Standard terminology for reporting of reproductive health statistics in the United States |journal=Public Health Reports |volume=103 |issue=5 |pages=464–71 |pmc=1478116 |pmid=3140271}}</ref> By the 1940s, the popular assumption that an ''abortion'' was an intentional and immoral or criminal action was sufficiently ingrained that pregnancy books had to explain that ''abortion'' was the then-popular technical jargon for miscarriages.<ref name=":5">{{Cite news |last=Gross |first=Rachel E. |date=2024-08-13 |title=When 'Abortion' Wasn't a Dirty Word |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/13/science/medical-history-abortion.html |access-date=2024-08-15 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

In the 1960s, the use of the word ''miscarriage'' in Britain (instead of ''spontaneous abortion'') occurred after changes in legislation. In the late 1980s and 1990s, doctors became more conscious of their language about early pregnancy loss. Some medical authors advocated a change to the use of ''miscarriage'' instead of ''spontaneous abortion'' because they argued this would be more respectful and help ease a distressing experience.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Beard RW, Mowbray JF, Pinker GD |date=November 1985 |title=Miscarriage or abortion |journal=Lancet |volume=2 |issue=8464 |pages=1122–3 |doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(85)90709-3 |pmid=2865589 |s2cid=5163662}}</ref><ref name="Hutchon-1998">{{cite journal |vauthors=Hutchon DJ, Cooper S |date=October 1998 |title=Terminology for early pregnancy loss must be changed |journal=BMJ |volume=317 |issue=7165 |pages=1081 |doi=10.1136/bmj.317.7165.1081 |pmc=1114078 |pmid=9774309}}</ref> The change was being recommended in Britain in the late 1990s.<ref name="Hutchon-1998" /> In 2005 the [[European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology|European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology]] (ESHRE) published a paper aiming to facilitate a revision of nomenclature used to describe early pregnancy events.<ref name="Farquharson" />  

Most affected women and family members refer to miscarriage as the loss of a ''baby'', rather than an ''embryo'' or ''fetus'', and healthcare providers are expected to respect and use the language that the person chooses.<ref name="Chris2014" /> Clinical terms can suggest blame, increase distress, and even cause anger. Terms that are known to cause distress in those experiencing miscarriage include:
* ''abortion'' (including ''spontaneous abortion'') rather than miscarriage,
* ''habitual aborter'' rather than a woman experiencing [[recurrent pregnancy loss]],
* ''products of conception'' rather than [[baby]],
* ''blighted ovum'' rather than early pregnancy loss or delayed miscarriage,
* ''cervical incompetence'' rather than [[cervical weakness]], and
* ''evacuation of retained products of conception'' (ERPC) rather than surgical management of miscarriage.<ref name="Chris2014" />

Using the word ''abortion'' for an involuntary miscarriage is generally considered confusing, "a dirty word", "stigmatized", and "an all-around hated term".<ref name=":5" />

[[Pregnancy loss]] is a broad term that is used for miscarriage, ectopic and molar pregnancies.<ref name="Chris2014" /> The term ''[[Perinatal mortality|foetal death]]'' applies variably in different countries and contexts, sometimes incorporating weight, and gestational age from 16 weeks in Norway, 20 weeks in the US and Australia, 24 weeks in the UK to 26 weeks in Italy and Spain.<ref name="Mohangoo-2013">{{cite journal | vauthors = Mohangoo AD, Blondel B, Gissler M, Velebil P, Macfarlane A, Zeitlin J | title = International comparisons of fetal and neonatal mortality rates in high-income countries: should exclusion thresholds be based on birth weight or gestational age? | journal = PLOS ONE | volume = 8 | issue = 5 | pages = e64869 | year = 2013 | pmid = 23700489 | pmc = 3658983 | doi = 10.1371/journal.pone.0064869 | bibcode = 2013PLoSO...864869M | doi-access = free }}</ref><ref name="AIHW-2012">{{cite web| vauthors = Li Z, Zeki R, Hilder L, Sullivan EA |title=Australia's Mothers and Babies 2010|url=http://www.aihw.gov.au/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=60129542372|website=Perinatal statistics series no. 27. Cat. no. PER 57|publisher=Australian Institute of Health and Welfare National Perinatal Statistics Unit, Australian Government|access-date=4 July 2013|year=2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130718154709/http://www.aihw.gov.au/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=60129542372|archive-date=July 18, 2013|df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref name="RCOG-late-abortion">{{cite web|author1=Royal College of Obstetricians |author2=Gynaecologists UK |title=Further Issues Relating to Late Abortion, Fetal Viability and Registration of Births and Deaths |url=http://www.rcog.org.uk/womens-health/clinical-guidance/further-issues-relating-late-abortion-fetal-viability-and-registrati |publisher=Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists UK |access-date=4 July 2013 |date=April 2001 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131105042348/http://www.rcog.org.uk/womens-health/clinical-guidance/further-issues-relating-late-abortion-fetal-viability-and-registrati |archive-date=November 5, 2013 }}</ref> A foetus that died before birth after this gestational age may be referred to as a [[stillbirth]].<ref name="Mohangoo-2013" />