Mark (Delirium) wrote:
The basic tension is between opponents of legalized abortion, who want the descriptions to be as gruesome and detailed as possible, and between supporters of legalized abortion, who want the descriptions to be as detached, clinical, and jargon-filled as possible. Hopefully we can avoid doing either.
You hit the nail on the head. The debate over abortion has definitely been polarized around loaded terminology.
I bet we Wikipedians will be able to reach a consensus on describing abortion procedures using medical terminology - even at the cost of using "detached" jargon.
I have fainter hopes that we'll be able to reach consensus on the neutrality of any article exploring the moral aspects of abortion. Extremists from both "pro-life" and "pro-choice" camps may very well insist that nothing short of fully embracing their POV is "neutral".
Which is why I've avoided the issue like the plague (to use a clinical and gruesome metaphor). Not to mention that it will take dozens of hours of my time...
Uncle Ed