Thread by @heartSFbaseball

I have a question for #MedTwitter. Yesterday, I saw a large government-focused IG account suggest medical coding for miscarriage should be changed to something other than abortion. The account owner mentioned receiving "so many DMs" from people saying,

"I was devastated to have a miscarriage, and it was like a gut punch to see the word abortion on my medical records." To me, this needs to be solved by eliminating the stigma around abortion. I see this as a societal failure, and it seems like it could be a slippery slope

to suggest changing medical coding for one type of abortion procedure, just because it makes some people feel bad. I responded to the account and said much of this (I didn't talk about it seeming like a slippery slope, yet anyway), and the response I received was:

"Sure. But there is also a distinction between a voluntary termination and a spontaneous miscarriage. It seems like our medical terminology could reflect that." This just makes me feel all kinds of wrong. I think it could make it even harder to keep abortion legal and safe.

I'd love to hear experts thoughts though. #AbortionIsHealthcare #ReproductiveRights

Also, I'd be willing to bet that the large majority of people who said they "were devastated" to see abortion in their medical records were financially stable white women, based on the IG account. This is a big reason why it's raising red flags for me.