“Pro-Choice”

I was recently criticized for using the word “pro-abortion.” It’s only in the last few years that I’ve switched (most of the time anyway) from “pro-choice” to “pro-abortion.” Since I grew up with the word “pro-choice”, the word pro-abortion feels a little awkward, yet at the same time, I believe in using correct terminology. The word “pro” means to support. I am pro-life because I support life and someone who supports abortion is pro-abortion. So why, then, do we use the term “pro-choice?” From what I understand from people like Bernard Nathanson, the slogans “pro-choice” and “freedom of choice” were invented and then popularized by abortion advocates as a way of gaining public support for abortion. The language of “choice” enabled them to draw the debate away from abortion—the killing of an innocent human being—and instead focus on the idea that laws prohibiting abortion were depriving women of a “right to choose.” When you look honestly at the facts, abortion becomes extremely difficult to defend and therefore must be dressed up or disguised. And that disguise is the word “choice.” But what affect does this have on our every day conversations about abortion? Does is turn people away from listening or does it bring the discussion back to what it’s really all about? I happen to think the shift is a good thing—bringing us back to the issue at hand—real women being harmed by abortion and real babies dying.