I've had a bee in my bonnet for some time now. It is about the way we choose labels and more specifically, the labels of anti-abortion and pro-choice. I am not going to get into the religious or moral aspects of this debate. I just want to speak about the choice of these labels and how I do not see them as being even slightly accurate.
On one side of this debate, you have the anti-abortion folks. These are folks who by definition, are against abortion of the fetus. However, if you were to poll 100 people and ask if they were for abortion, you would get 100 answers stating that they are not for abortion. I think that you can pretty safely say that most, if not all folks are against the idea of an abortion. So unless you can find someone who is for terminating a pregnancy just because it is fun to do, lets say that everyone is anti-abortion. Otherwise, calling one group of people anti-abortionists assumes that anyone who is not them is pro-abortion, which is not only insulting, but completely untrue.
On the other side of the debate, we have the pro-choice folks. These are folks who by definition believe that anyone in the position of being pregnant should be allowed to make their own decision as to whether they should carry the pregnancy full term. These same folks do not believe such a decision should be left to the government or anyone other than the person carrying the unborn fetus. To them, pro-choice really means the freedom to be able to decide on their own future without outside interference. These folks are not pro-abortion as the current anti-abortion movement would have you believe. As I stated above, no one believes abortion is a choice that folks want to make. However, only the woman who is in that situation should be allowed to decide if they can support this fetus/child at that time.
The current anti-abortion folks do not believe a woman should have this choice, they believe that the government should make laws banning this right (yes, it is a right supported by the Supreme Court). Many of the anti-abortion folks believe there are no extenuating circumstances that should allow for a woman to terminate a pregnancy. You could very accurately call these folks anti-choice since they do not believe that the woman should have any choice or freedom in the matter. In fact, the anti-abortion folks have persuaded state legislatures to create laws that create situations making abortion nearly impossible. In other words, they have caused the government to take away the ability for a woman to choose their future. Calling these folks anti-choice is much more accurate than calling them anti-abortion since everyone is anti-abortion but only these folks are anti-choice.
So, is the label anti-abortion or anti-choice more accurate?
One last thing. I understand that folks who spend their lives for a cause often will choose their personal label to sell to the public in the best way possible. This is only natural. Calling yourself anti-abortionists makes it sound like you are against the "killing of babies", and I am sure they are. However, it also subliminally asserts that every one who is not in your group is for "killing babies", which they are not. This, of course inflames the public to choose to be on the side of being against "killing babies". It is a smart, however very inaccurate move and one that I find has grown tiresome. No one want to "kill babies", no one. However, the current anti-abortion folks do want to remove the ability for pregnant women to choose their reproductive rights.
So I think to be more accurate, we need to stop calling the anti-abortion folks as such and start calling them anti-choice since that is their true calling.
