This is the second in a series of posts on the power of words and why Christians need to be aware of the terminology we use when discussing important issues. The first post in the series is here.
"Pro-choice" and "pro-abortion" , "anti-choice" and "pro-life". This has been discussed at length and I doubt I can add much to the conversation. Suffice to say that I am pro-life, certainly not anti-choice. I am not against women having all sorts of choices...when the choice is theirs to make. But I don't believe a mother can choose whether or not to kill an unborn baby any more than a father can choose to kill that unborn baby. And as far as "anti-choice" goes, given the high number of Planned Parenthood clinics in low-income communities and the coercive practices at many PP clinics, if anyone is "anti-choice" it is the abortion advocate. One other point to make: It's easy to couch the abortion question in terms of "reproductive freedom" while disregarding the baby's developmental freedom, not to mention the father's reproductive freedom as well. But let's get down to what abortion actually is...
...If people say that they support a woman's right to choose abortion, it is important to define the "choice" they support. This is often said: "I am personally opposed to abortion, but I believe someone else has the right to make that choice and I don't want to impose my views." A good way to respond would be with a question: "What choice do you support? RU-486? Mifepristone or methotrexate with misoprostol? Manual vacuum aspiration? Dilation and scraping (a.k.a., D & C)? Vacuum aspiration with forceps and D & C? Dilation and evacuation (D & E)?" I'm not trying to be cruel; really, I'm not. But if a person supports another person's "right" to end a life, is it too much to expect a morally serious (and consistent) explanation? Shouldn't that person at least be expected to define the "right" they support?
"Stem cell research" and "embryonic vis-a-vis adult stem cell research". How many times are we attacked for not supporting "stem cell research" but no distinction is made between adult stem cells and their embryonic counterparts?
Last but not least, we must always, always, always refer to the unborn baby as an unborn baby and not as a fetus. Fetus means "baby" in Latin, anyway. And the last time I checked, Latin is still very much a dead language while the unborn baby is very much alive. So unless you're in the medical or legal profession (Do others use archaic Latin terms?) and speaking in the course of your business, let's steer clear of terms that dehumanize.
(The last and final post in the series will address terminology surrounding matters of the Christian faith.)
Yes, words matter a lot. Pro-legalized abortion folks rarely complete their sentences. I always want to ask, "Pro-choice to do what?"
Then there is the "anti-choice" label they use on us. Anti-choice to what?
Anti-school choice?
Anti-choice of parents to know if their children are receiving birth control at school?
Anti-choice of parents to know if their children are having an abortion, which involves great physical and mental risks to their daughters in addition to destroying their grandchildren?
Anti-choice to own guns?
Anti-choice of the unborn to determine if they can live?
Anti-choice for secret union ballots?
Anti-choice to access conservative radio shows?
Anti-choice to teach the flaws of Darwinian evolutionary theory?
Oh, you mean anti-choice to crush and dismember innocent human beings (regular abortions) or anti-choice to stick a sharp instrument in a baby's head and suck out her brains (partial-birth abortions, aka infanticide) or anti-choice to let born-alive abortion surviving babies die in closets (the method of infanticide protected by Barack Obama).
I'm not ashamed to be anti-choice, if that's what they mean.
Just to point out that Crisis Prengnancy Centers, which I would argue use coercive tactics, are also found in the poorest, more marginalized areas in the country.
I volunteered at a Planned Parenthood clinic and any woman expressing any discomfort or doubt about her abortion procedure was not operated on. There was nothing coercive about the procedure, and I watched it from beginning to end.
I am a volunteer, teacher and board member at a CareNet Pregnancy Center. We never use coercion. It is explicitly stated in our rules and training and is repeated often. It is possible that some centers coerce but I am highly skeptical of those charges.
Planned Parenthood, on the other hand, is well documented for their deceptions, such as the 90% of clinics caught on tape hiding statutory rapes.
I've posted a link to this article BlogWatch: Unborn Life; if we do not do due diligence on the words we use, the words can be twisted to say something different. While twisting the words does not end the debate ... it does prolong it, confuse the issue, distract. If our argument is the truth, wrong words allow the confusion.
Wayne,
Thanks! If you don't mind, I cross-posted your comment on my blog: http://dontdrinkthekingswine.com I want to direct as many people as is possible to Blog Watch.
Obama and Biden both agree with girls UNDER the age of 18 getting abortions WITHOUT parental consent. Democrats and the liberal illuminati are ruining our family values and morals and taking away our parental control and rights over our own children and putting our children's safety into question on top of it all!
Actually, I'm with Rachel McNair on the "fetus" issue. She said, "Let's use it!"
So I do. I'll use "fetus" instead of "baby" when we're discussing wanted pregnancies. It's amazing the looks I get. A pregnant colleague was about to cross the street without looking both ways. I extended an arm to hold her back, saying, "We don't want a flattened fetus." When shown ultrasounds, I'll say, "Fetuses are so CUTE when they suck their thumbs like that!" When my daughter had her first ultrasound, I said, "It's good to know that there is a fetus, not gestational trophoblastic disease. And it's good to know there's only one, not twins."
It forces people to recognize that the same entity they're all excited about right now is the same entity being discussed in abortion debates.