Words Are Important
By J.C. Willke, MD


 

Words are important. Words are powerful. The words we or the pro-abortion activists use very clearly and frequently shape the value system of those who listen. Their use of the word “pro-choice” is no accident. It’s the last major argument they have, that a woman has a right to choose. But every time we call them that, we reinforce their argument and help them kill babies. Therefore, we must call them pro-abortion.

In addition, there are other more subtle words to use. For example, I suggest you not speak of them “doing” abortions, but rather of “committing” abortions. To do so immediately places a cloud or stigma over that abortion being done.

Almost everyone speaks of experimenting on an embryo and then “destroying it”. Please, never use that phrase again. This human embryo is experimented upon and then he or she is “killed”. There is a dramatic difference in what you are saying. It’s biologically correct, and the impact on the listener should be very definite.

I've compiled a list of suggestions that can frequently improve your ability to communicate the pro-life message. When needed, I’ve also provided specifics why one phrase is better than the other. You are already using some of them, while others you are not. But do, by all means, take them seriously. Lives hang in the balance, so we must do our level best to protect them.

 

You Should Say:

You Should Not Say:
  Killing a baby during delivery Partial-birth abortion/alone
  The great majority of people in the US do not know what partial-birth abortion is. Accordingly, many are not opposed. If, in addition to PBA, you say “killing a baby during delivery,” they stop short, their jaws drop and you'll get an immediate reaction.
     
  Research cloning/clone and kill Therapeutic cloning
  Cloning is cloning. In this case, a living human is experimented upon and then killed. The word is research. It is certainly not therapeutic.
     
  Human embryo implants Fertilized egg implants
  The fertilized egg stage lasts one day. Using this term dehumanizes this single cell human being. On day two, cell division occurs, and the proper term is “embryo” or best of all “living human embryo”.
     
  Fertilization Conception
  Fertilization is an exact biologic term. The term conception has been changed in many peoples’ minds to include implantation at one week of life.
     
  Abortion mill/chamber/killing center Abortion clinic
  A “clinic” calls up an image, in their minds, of a place of healing, which it is not.
     
  Abortionist Abortion provider/Doctor
  These hired killers do not deserve the dignity of the title doctor. Call them abortionists.
     
  NARAL NARAL Pro-choice America
  By changing their name to include “pro-choice,” they are trying to force us to use their definition. Resist it. Continue to call them only NARAL.
     
    Birth dearth Population explosion
    There is no population explosion. Every Western nation, and increasingly many third-world nations, now have birthrates sharply below replacement level. The problem before the mid-century will not be too many people,
but too few young people to take care of too many old people.
Disqualifying issue Single issue   When doctor kills patient Death with dignity
The words single issue, in recent years, have acquired a very negative meaning. Disqualifying issue is much more descriptive and states exactly what it is.   There’s nothing very dignified about killing a patient through
euthanasia. Call is what it is. A doctor kills a patient.
         
Kill Destroy   Chemical abortion Medical abortion
When you talk of destroying the embryo after experimentation, you dehumanize, for we destroy things. When you say kill, you emphasize humanity.   Chemical abortion, i.e. RU 486, is accurate and has a negative connotation. Medical abortion insinuates healing, which it is not.
         
Kill an unborn baby Terminate a pregnancy   Abortions committed Abortions done
Everyone reading this terminated his or her mother's pregnancy – most at nine months.   Committed carries a very specific judgment.
         
Mother Pregnant woman   National Organization For [some] women National Organization
For Women
Mother is a much softer word, calling for love and compassion by the reader.   Always qualify this. They are not the largest group of women by far. They are actually a rather small organization, which has only too major thrusts – they are pro-abortion and pro-lesbian.
Abortion Procedure
         
Fetal handicap Fetal deformity   Womb Uterus
Handicap calls forth in our minds, “I want to help”. Deformity calls forth revulsion, turn away, “I don't want to look”.   Womb is a warmer, maternal term. Uterus is coldly medical.
         
Assault rape, forcible rape Rape   Permissive - radical
abortion laws
Liberal abortion laws
Using the word rape alone includes statutory rape, which is intercourse, consensual or otherwise, with a minor. To use assault or forcible also separates it from the more vague and specious terms of marital rape and date rape.   Liberal always used to mean concern for the poor person.
Permissive abortion doesn’t much care for the baby.
         
Human life Person   Abortifacient pills Emergency contraceptives
Human life is definitive–this is human, this is alive. Person can be defined in 14 different ways and a government, by its laws, can define who is a person.   Call them what they are. They are abortive.
         
Place baby in a
pair of loving arms
Give her baby away   Safe, legal and everywhere Safe, legal and rare
(Clinton quote)
To “give her baby away” sounds negative, almost calloused.      
      Human life with great potential Potential life
Protective legislation Anti-abortion laws      
Pro-life people aren’t against anything; they are for the life of the mother and the child, so protective is proper.   Right to Life/Pro-life Antiabortion
         
She is carrying a child She is expecting a child   Baby/Fetal Baby Fetus/ Embryo
She’s not expecting, she already is.      
         
School based sex clinics School based health clinics      
Calling them sex clinics is accurate. Don’t disguise this by using the word health.  

 

Return to YSRTL Home Page  

© Life Issues Institute, Inc. 2003
1821 W. Galbraith Rd., Cincinnati, OH 45239
Phone (513) 729-3600 · Fax (513) 729-3636
E-mail: info@lifeissues.org www.lifeissues.org
President & Publisher............................J.C. Willke, MD
Editor in Chief.........................................Bradley Mattes
Design.......................................................Daniel Brown
The official quarterly publication of Life Issues Institute.
Vol. 12 Number 3 Subscription $25.

Articles may be reproduced with
acknowledgment of their source.

http://www.lifeissues.org/connector/index.html