There were three main factors which initially led us to choose the name Abort73 for this ambitious new website. They are as follows:
1) Length: We wanted something short, something that could be remembered and something that would be readable on shirts and stickers. Since every English word and common phrase is already registered as a URL, we knew we would have to add a number to our URL to keep it concise.
2) Ambiguity: We wanted a name that would be mysterious, something that would give away very little of the website's content, while piquing the curiosity of those who see it. We have specifically avoided pro-life catch phrases because we don't want to be instantly written off as "just another bunch of anti-abortion zealots". People think they know about abortion, but they don't. We're fighting against misperceptions, trying to bring in and engage students who have no interest in abortion and would never knowingly seek out a pro-life website. Even our T-shirts which do include slogans ("Light a Fire", "Fight Injustice", "End the Ignorance") still meet the same criteria. They're provocative, but they give away very little.
3) Connection: Despite our desire for ambiguity, we still wanted something that, when examined in context, would connect with the topic at hand. We took abortion and shortened it to "abort". In this form it can mean either to have an abortion, or more generally, to terminate an operation or procedure. Next we took the year in which abortion was federally legalized in the U.S., 1973, and shortened it to "73". When put together you can look at the name in two ways. Either it is an abbreviation of Abortion 1973, or it is a resource to help "abort" (terminate) the 1973 Supreme Court decision which legalized abortion. Both work, and both were in view when the name was chosen.
