When I discuss the issue of abortion, I usually refer to the other side as “pro-abortion.” They like to refer to me as “anti-abortion” and it seems appropriate to identify the sides of the issue using terms that clearly spell out what they are for or against. But for some reason, the pro-abortion side doesn’t like that term applied to them. They consistently reject the term and substitute “pro-choice.”
However, the distinction they are trying to make between pro-abortion and pro-choice doesn't really exist. The reason they like the pro-choice label is because it sounds better. It’s a euphemism. And, like most euphemisms, it’s designed to cover up the reality of the topic being discussed by framing it in more palatable terms. We use euphemisms to refer to things we find distasteful or embarrassing. We use euphemisms for sex and sexual organs. We use them to refer to a death. We use them to make crimes and bad choices sound better. And we use them to obscure the reality of horrendous acts like abortion.
Not only is “pro-choice” a euphemism, but it isn’t even accurate. The “pro-choice” liberals aren’t talking about being for choice in every regard. They’re usually against school choice and school vouchers, for example. They’re typically against the choice to own guns. They don’t want women to choose to stay home with their children and home school them. They don’t want parents to have the choice of what their kids eat for lunch at school. They don’t want choice in health insurance. The only time they trot out the “choice” rhetoric is when the topic of abortion comes up. So what is this choice they are so adamantly in favor of?
They only apply this issue of choice to a woman’s pregnancy. But it can’t be the choice to have the baby they’re talking about. Everyone agrees that a woman has a right to choose to have her baby. It can’t be the choice to put the baby up for adoption. No one disagrees with that choice either. So what is the choice that differentiates the two sides? What choice is it that the "pro-choice" crowd is in favor of? It's the choice to have an abortion. The fundamental issue is that "pro-choice" people think it is okay to make the choice to abort, and that makes them pro-abortion.
As an analogy, let’s look at some other topics. If you think a person should have a legal choice to take someone else’s property if he so chooses, you’re pro-theft. If you think parents should be able to abuse their children if they feel like it, you’re pro-child abuse. If you think it's okay for a man to choose to rape a woman if he wants to, you're pro-rape. You don’t have to think every man should rape every woman to be pro-rape. All you have to do in order to be pro-rape is think that rape is a legitimate choice a man has a right to make. So, by the same token, if you think it is okay for a woman to choose to abort her unborn child if she wants to – in other words, if you think that’s a legitimate choice a woman has a right to make – you're pro-abortion.
Really, the “pro-abortion” term is already a sanitized version. Abortion is such an innocent sounding term to describe such a horrific reality. We’re tearing an unborn baby limb from limb, crushing his skull, or burning him alive with a strong saline solution. We’re taking the life of an innocent human being in some of the most inhumane ways possible. But we don’t talk about that. We refer to it as “aborting,” like we do when we start a computer program and need to stop it before it completely loads. It sounds like just an “oops” we need to fix. Just something we started and decided not to finish. No big deal, right? We describe it as anything but the reality of what it is: the gruesome and purposeful murder of the smallest and most needy among us.
For the sake of clarity, I’ll give them the pro-abortion label, even though I would rather call them pro-murder, pro-torture, and pro-death. But I won’t refer to them as pro-choice any more. The millions of unborn babies sacrificed in the name of “choice” deserve better than to have me euphemize their deaths and disregard their lives like that. Ending their lives isn’t just some innocent choice and I won’t pretend that it is.
Not only does the pro-abortion side euphemistically label themselves “pro-choice,” but they label their opposition as “anti-choice.” Like their own self label, this one is inaccurate. I’m not against choice. I think people should have a lot of choices. Remember all those choices I mentioned above that liberals don’t want you to have? Well, I’m in favor of them. I think people should have the freedom to make any choice that doesn’t harm another person or otherwise infringe on their rights.
As for pregnancy, I think women should have a choice of whether or not to be pregnant. But a woman exercises that choice when she consents to sex. Once her choice to engage in sex creates a child, the time for choice is past. A new human being exists and she shouldn’t have the choice to murder him. So, I’m all for choices, including reproductive choice. But once conception has occurred the choice to reproduce has already been made. The only choice remaining is whether or not to kill the child. I don’t think anyone should have that choice.
As for the term “anti-abortion” that is often applied to my position, I really don’t mind that one. I know it is usually used as a put down. It’s supposed to paint me in a negative light by pointing out what I’m against rather than what I’m for. But in this case I don’t mind being described by what I am against. Yes, I’m against abortion. I’m proud to be against abortion. I’m also anti-rape, anti-theft, and anti-child abuse. Nobody thinks those are bad labels. I lump abortion right in there with the rest of those crimes. So I’ll wear the anti-abortion label with pride. All the pro-abortion people are welcome to call me that.
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Spot on! Couldn't make it any clearer. Thanks for posting this.
ReplyDeleteExcellent points! They try to call us anti-abortion as a put-down, but I embrace it. "Abortion kills an innocent human being without adequate justification, so yes, I am anti-abortion. Thanks for noticing!"
ReplyDeleteAnother argument to always use against them is that they want abortions to increase, so they are obviously pro-abortion. When they try to deny it, ask if they support the Democrats' platform of unrestricted, taxpayer-funded abortions: “The Democratic Party strongly and unequivocally supports Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to make decisions regarding her pregnancy, including a safe and legal abortion, regardless of ability to pay. We oppose any and all efforts to weaken or undermine that right.” They obviously think there aren't enough abortions, so we must take money by force from pro-lifers to pay for more.
Don't forget conscience rights - they don't want pro-life medical workers to have a right to abstain from performing abortions, nor to they want Christian business owners to have a right to abstain from subsidizing insurance plans that cover drugs that can cause abortions, nor do they want to allow pro-life taxpayers to abstain from subsidizing abortions performed by Planned Parenthood.
ReplyDeleteI stopped calling people "Pro-Life" unless they were strict Buddhists.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I've seen of the "pro-life" movement they seem to want all women to convert and live by the Bible. I've seen examples of slut shaming "keep your legs closed" and other despicable acts. Not to say that the "Pro-Choice" side is all angels. It's not. No one is clean in this discussion- it cuts too deep.
Mostly I consider your side "Pro-BIRTH" as you don't give a toss for the women or babies once born.
They are then "takers", "moochers" and left to live a life of servitude to those who have so valiantly saved their lives.
Not all Liberals are "Pro-Choice" and to lump other choices in with this is disingenuous.
We all want the best choices for our kids but we don't want a system that helps private schools more then public.
I'm a liberal and I own guns. I just want a system to use when I or anyone wants to sell their weapon the piece of mind that the weapon isn't going to someone who will use it to gun down another. That it won't fall into a criminal or someone who has clearly shown that they have been a threat to others' hands. Right now the system we have is broken. It's like a bridge where one of the lanes has gaping hole in it. We need to fix it, it's our responsibility as a community to protect life.
Which brings me back to the choices all women have to make when pregnant.
Alice Paul, famous Quaker Suffragette, didn't know if she'll ever vote but she wanted to have the chance, the right to.
Your argument that by allowing others the choice to abort makes us willing accomplices can be turned around on many other issues- pointedly; being pro-death penalty. You may never flip the switch but it makes you okay with the whole "eye for an eye" (which makes us all blind in one eye).
Shrimp vs McFall actually covers this argument well. Does someone have the right to demand their life be saved by taking sustenance from another?
The Law says no. Privacy and medical choices MUST be protected.
You want to know the REASON I am so Pro-Choice?
Rape. In over 30 states a Rapist can have control over your life with a custody over that child. By removing the choice you subject thousands of women to further abuse.
I've been raped twice. Once a child and once while drugged and unconscious. How dare you equate the loss of choice in any manner to your argument.
My own mother had her choice taken away. She wanted to hold me and raise me. Her parents gave me away. She will never be "Mom". The loss of choice can come in so many forms. To take any of them away is an affront to all that is good.
A majority of abortions are not the horrors you describe. Most are medical and not surgical. Most (88%) are done before 9-12 weeks of gestation. A majority of the rest are done for medical reasons or because people like you limited the choices and they couldn't get a medical abortion in time.
I think women should have the EDUCATION and CHOICE in how to protect against PREGANCY. Not ONCE did birth control come up. Just veiled slut shamming about keeping her legs shut.
You might not be anti-rape but you are pro-rapist custody. You are pro-theft, as in Shrimp VS McFall and I'll be expecting you on the donor list ASAP. Your vision for the world means so many deaths of women and children forced into situations where abuse and suicide is more likely.
Don't wear those labels, you didn't earn them.