Opposition to vivisection, the practice of experimenting on live animals by cutting or otherwise injuring them.
From 'anti-' plus 'vivisection' (from Latin 'vivus,' alive, and 'secare,' to cut). The antivivisection movement began in the 19th century as awareness of animal suffering grew.
The antivivisection movement was one of the first modern animal rights movements, and it actually succeeded in getting laws passed in many countries that restrict animal testing—showing how moral outrage can change laws.
Antivivisection movements of the 19th-20th centuries were disproportionately led by and associated with women, yet historical credit often defaulted to male scientists and philosophers.
Use naturally; it is a legitimate ethical position. Simply credit women activists and scientists in antivivisection history when discussing the movement.
Frances Power Cobbe, Beatrice Potter, and other women pioneered antivivisection ethics while being excluded from scientific institutions; their moral arguments shaped modern animal research regulation.
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