We should not be pro abortion!

[ehrnst]

158. Political terms carry their own meaning, and that can be different from general meanings.

The political term "pro-choice," as we all know, applies to abortion legislation, not to pizza toppings. It is used because "pro-abortion" isn't accurate in the political definition. "Pro-choice" doesn't promote one option over another, as pro-abortion would lead someone to believe you favor that option in a political discussion. It is a reflection of what the medical community has stated is the best practice for public health and safety, and the medical community code of ethics forbids them from favoring one medically appropriate option over another to a patient who has a choice to make. The informed patient is the one who does the favoring.

"Pro-life" in a political discussion means, as we all know, that you oppose legal access to abortion, not that you prefer a particular brand of cereal. I will never say I am "pro-life" and "pro-choice" as many pro-choice people do, because that involves mixing non political phrases with political labels, no matter what the adverb implies means in other contexts.

A writer I know said that "because I have a baby, I always have come down on the side of "life." Misusing that term erases "choice" or "consent" from the discussion as a valid concept. I told him that because I have given birth, I will always support childbirth by choice, rather than forced childbirth. I took the argument out of the "dead baby vs live baby" back and forth, by simply bringing it back to "willing" or "forced" view of childbearing - without focusing on what is "best" for her.

The opposite of "choice" is "forced" - the opposite of abortion is childbirth. When you make the discussion about the options, rather than about the choice, the true crux of the argument - the woman's will - is bypassed.