June 3, 2024

This guide from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) is designed to help inform language choice for those writing about reproductive health to use language that is medically appropriate, clinically accurate, and without bias.

The language we use when discussing reproductive health has a profound impact on what people hear and learn. Much of the language that is colloquially used to describe abortion or discuss health policies that impact abortion has a basis in anti-choice rhetoric and is inherently biased, inaccurate, and not medically appropriate—to say the least.

Read more about what terms to avoid, and suggested words to use instead, on the ACOG website.