An abortion is "the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus." Abortions can be spontaneous or induced by deliberate medical or other intervention; abortions that are not induced by deliberate intervention are called spontaneous abortions or miscarriages.^[1]

Abortion is a less-discussed cause in the effective altruism community. Some effective altruists support reducing abortions (whether spontaneous or induced) as a cause area on the grounds that:

• Unborn children (embryos or fetuses) are moral patients or will be in the near future.
• Abortions occur in large numbers – there were 200 million spontaneous abortions and 73 million induced abortions in 2019, outnumbering all-cause deaths of already-born humans in the same year (58 million).^[2]
• The interests of unborn children are neglected, similar to non-human animals and future people in general.

Effective altruists may also draw attention to the suffering experienced by fetuses due to late-term abortions.

This tag is for discussion of abortion as a cause area and as an issue that affects members of the effective altruism community.