Words Are Important

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: killing a baby during delivery
You should not say: partial-birth abortion (only)
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.

You should say: research cloning or cloning and kill
You should not say: 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.

You should say: human embryo implants
You should not say: 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”.

You should say: fertilization
You should not say: conception
Fertilization is an exact biologic term. The term conception has been changed in many people’s’ minds to include implantation at one week of life.

You should say: abortion mill/chamber/killing center
You should not say: abortion clinic
A “clinic” calls up an image, in their minds, of a place of healing, which it is not.

You should say: abortionist
You should not say: abortion provider/doctor
These hired killers do not deserve the dignity of the title doctor. Call them abortionists.

You should say: NARAL
You should not say: 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.

You should say: birth dearth
You should not say: 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.

You should say: disqualifying issue
You should not say: single issue
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.

You should say: kill
You should not say: destroy
When you talk of destroying the embryo after experimentation, you dehumanize, for we destroy things. When you say kill, you emphasize humanity.

You should say: kill an unborn baby
You should not say: terminate a pregnancy
Everyone reading this terminated his or her mother’s pregnancy, most at nine months.

You should say: mother
You should not say: pregnant woman
Mother is a much softer word, calling for love and compassion by the reader.

You should say: abortion
You should not say: procedure

You should say: fetal handicap
You should not say: fetal deformity
Handicap calls forth in our minds, “”I want to help”.” Deformity calls forth revulsion, turn away, “”I don’t want to look”.”

You should say: assault rape, forcible rape
You should not say: rape
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.

You should say: human life
You should not say: person
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.

You should say: place a baby in a pair of loving arms
You should not say: give her baby away
To “give a baby away” sounds negative, almost callous.

You should say: protective legislation
You should not say: 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.

You should say: she is carrying a child
You should not say: she is expecting a child
She’’s not expecting; she already is.

You should say: when doctor kills patient
You should not say: death with dignity
There’’s nothing very dignified about killing a patient through euthanasia. Call is what it is: a doctor kills a patient.

You should say: chemical abortion
You should not say: medical abortion
Chemical abortion, i.e. RU 486, is accurate and has a negative connotation. Medical abortion insinuates healing, which it is not.

You should say: abortions committed
You should not say: abortions done
Committed carries a very specific judgment.

You should say: National Organization for (some) Women
You should not say: National Organization For Women
Always qualify this. They are not the largest group of women by far. They are actually a rather small organization, which has only two major thrusts: they are pro-abortion and pro-lesbian.

You should say: womb
You should not say: uterus
Womb is a warmer, maternal term. Uterus is coldly medical.

You should say: permissive/radical abortion laws
You should not say: liberal abortion laws
Liberal always used to mean concern for the poor. Permissive abortion doesn’’t much care for the baby.

You should say: abortifacient pills
You should not say: emergency contraceptives
Call them what they are. They are abortive.

You should say: safe, legal and everywhere
You should not say: safe, legal and rare (Clinton quote)

You should say: human life with great potential
You should not say: potential life

You should say: right to life/pro-life
You should not say: anti-abortion

You should say: baby/fetal baby
You should not say: fetus/embryo

You should say: school-based sex clinics
You should not say: school-based health clinics
Calling them sex clinics is accurate. Don’’t disguise this by using the word health.