English

Noun

abortionist ‎(plural abortionists)

1. (now often historical) One who performs an illegal abortion in a non-medical setting (a back street, a hotel room, etc).
   • 2005, Paul Krassner, One Hand Jerking: Reports from an Investigative Satirist, ISBN 1583226966, page 24:

     In 1962, when abortion was still illegal, I published an anonymous interview with Dr. Robert Spencer, a humane abortionist who was known as “The Saint.”

   • 2009-2010, Roger Ebert, Roger Ebert's Movie Yearbook 2010, review of 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, page 146:

     Then she asks her to go first to meet the abortionist. Then she neglects to make a reservation at the hotel the abortionist specifies. That almost sinks the arrangement: The abortionist has experience suggesting that hotel will be a safe venue, and suspects he may be set up for a police trap.

2. (chiefly in anti-abortion discourse, pejorative) An abortion provider; one who performs a legal abortion.
   • 1998, J. David Bleich, Bioethical Dilemmas: A Jewish Perspective, volume 1, page 277:

     Such a fetus is perfectly viable save for the act of the abortionist.

   • 2003, Mark Juergensmeyer, Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence, ISBN 0520240111, page 24:

     According to Bray, "there is a difference between taking a retired abortionist and executing him, and killing a practicing abortionist who is regularly killing babies." The first act is in Bray's view retributive, the second defensive.

   • 2009, Dinesh D'Souza, Letters to a Young Conservative, ISBN 0786739096, page 191:

     […] a gruesome procedure in which the abortionist dismembers a child who could survive outside the womb.

3. (in anti-abortion discourse, offensive) One who favors abortion being legal. [since the late 19^th century]^[1]

Antonyms

• (one who favours abortion being legal): anti-abortionist (one who opposes abortion being legal)

Translations

References

1. 1 2 Lesley Brown (editor), The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 5th edition (Oxford University Press, 2003 [1933], ISBN 978-0-19-860575-7), page 7