This Is "Pro-Life"

I saw a comment from crustyriotgrrl about the whole “pro-life” versus “anti-choice” terminology thing, and I wanted to explain how I see it.

First of all, the title of the blog has “pro-life” in quotation marks for a reason. It’s meant as commentary on the hypocrisy of calling yourself pro-life and then acting in ways that don’t seem all that pro-life. Read it more as “so-called pro-life.”

Secondly, I generally try to stay away from the term “anti-choice.” This may be naive of me, but I hope that perhaps if I don’t call them anti-choice, maybe they won’t call me anti-life or pro-death or whatever other nonsense euphemisms they can dream up. Kind of a do-unto-others Golden Rule thing. I find that using neutral language helps keep the conversation calm and reminds everyone to use their inside voices.

So that’s why I usually default to “anti-abortion.” But that’s just a personal preference; I certainly don’t fault pro-choicers who do use the term “anti-choice.”

If you’re active in the pro-choice movement, online or offline, you’ve probably witnessed antis behaving badly. I’ll post whatever you’ve got: links, screenshots, photos, Twitter exchanges, whatever. Send me stuff at dubiouslygreat@gmail.com.

Anti-abortion hypocrisy: why is it always the people railing against big government who insist on forcing government into people’s private lives and medical decisions?

It’s already the law of the land in Oklahoma that women seeking abortions must be offered ultrasounds, but now the hard-line antis want to take away the woman’s right to say “yes” or “no.”

From USA Today: Ultrasound mandates in abortions cross a line

The vast majority of African women have no access to legal abortion, which leads to 25,000 deaths and 1.7 million injuries per year. It’s one of the leading causes of maternal death in Africa, but no one wants to talk about it.

From The Globe and Mail: Africa’s deadly backroom abortions