Is aborted

[Federico Escobar]

Not a pleasant first post of the year, but one particular use of the verb
"abort" caught my attention.

This was posted on a Facebook discussion, and nobody made a comment on it:
"I am not giving her until she is aborted and fixed."

The poster referred to a dog who got pregnant by accident. One could think
it means that the dog herself must be aborted (i.e., her life terminated).
What the person means is that the dog must be subjected to an abortion
(i.e., her puppies must be aborted).

It's difficult to separate this particular passive from other, well-settled
examples of "is aborted" (e.g., "Dialogue is aborted"). I ran a search of
"is aborted" on the COCA and came up with no examples that were similar to
the one I quoted.

All the best to everyone in 2011,
F.

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