I went to happy hour with a few pro-choice bloggers/activists. Our discussion was all over the place, but one of the things we talked about was terminology. Specifically, we discussed using the terms "pro-life" v. "anti-choice" and "the life of the mother" v. "the life of the woman".
I never use the term "pro-life". I don't think it's ok that those who are against abortion rights are pro-life. I like life - they don't get to imply that I hate life! "Anti-abortion" might not cut it either, since it's opposite is "pro-abortion", which I'm not sure many people want to be labelled. Lynn Harris wrote an excellent piece about the topic a while ago. She writes that "choice' doesn't even cut it when it comes to reproductive rights, but that "pro-life" is just unacceptable.
But how dare they call themselves "pro-life" — and how dare we let them? As long as we stubbornly, naively keep saying "choice," as long as we keep improvising and compromising with scrappy verbal seconds, we are letting the emotional terrorists win. Sure, I've seen plenty of signs that say, "Pro-choice is pro-life," but that still sounds to me like a defensive "Am, too!" So here, I'll start. I believe that we cannot live without full reproductive freedom. Which is to say, I'm "pro-life."
Unlike Lynn, though, I think "pro-choice" is a good option. The point is that the antis don't think you get to make your own choice about what to do with your body. It, to me, boils down to control, and who gets to make personal decisions, and that doesn't seem frivolous to me, even if "choice" might sound less imperative than it is.
I also picked on someone when she said something about "the life of the mother" because I really think it's inappropriate to call a woman a mother when she's not, and when that's not her intention. A woman who is having an abortion is most likely a mother, but that's not the point here. When we argue about a woman's abortion procedure, she may or may not have children already, and her status as a mother is irrelevant, if not insensitive. She is a woman. She is a person. One whose life is in danger. She is, unlike the fetus, a fully recognized human being. It seems like a bit of an attempt at emotional manipulation to point out that she's a mother, but since 40% of women having an abortion don't have children, a large minority of these women are not mothers, and it's inappropriate to terms them so based on their to-be aborted fetus.
Thoughts?