[PATCH v2 00/13] Replace us of term abort

[Stephen Hemminger]

On Wed, 30 Aug 2023 18:49:14 +0200
Thomas Monjalon <thomas at monjalon.net> wrote:

> I don't feel the rationale should be followed here.
> If there are better terms, why not.
> But really, "abort" is not only medical.
> And banning this word may be felt as a political position,
> which is not what we want.
> 
> I am OK to replace if there is a better word in some contexts,
> but we should not make it forbidden.

There are two overlapping reasons behind this.
First, any reference to abortion in the US is a political hot button.
Therefore the recommendation is to avoid the term.

The other reason is that the term may raise some negative feelings
from people that have had to have an abortion.

According to the etymology sites and dictionary sites
I looked at the term comes from a strictly medical point of view:
 https://www.etymonline.com/word/abortion
 https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/abort
It looks like the secondary meaning in computer science came later.
It would be best if the term could be avoid if possible.