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. Its 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. Its 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, Ive 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. | Theres nothing very dignified about killing
a patient through euthanasia. Call is what it is. A doctor kills a patient. |
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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 |
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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 doesnt much care for the baby. |
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Human life | Person | Abortifacient pills | Emergency contraceptives | |
Human life is definitivethis 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) |
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To give her baby away sounds negative, almost calloused. | ||||
Human life with great potential | Potential life | |||
Protective legislation | Anti-abortion laws | |||
Pro-life people arent 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 | |
Shes not expecting, she already is. | ||||
School based sex clinics | School based health clinics | |||
Calling them sex clinics is accurate. Dont disguise this by using the word health. |
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