I have supported abortion rights as my single-issue for many years. You can, therefore, imagine my dismay over the recent election.
I am writing everyone I know to urge a change in vocabulary so that we might reclaim our message on women's reproductive rights.
Heretofore, we must abandon the term "pro-life" and replace it with "pro-criminalizaton." Every elected official who proclaims to be anti-abortion must be labeled as "pro-criminalization." That puts the spotlight exactly where it should be and forces the public into an awareness of the gravity of the situation. We should be asking the anti-choice folks questions such as "who should go to jail and for how long?" We must drive home the reality that criminalization is the intended outcome of the anti-choice movement.
Anti-choice advocates have used language to their great advantage by renaming a little-known and little-used medical procedure "partial-birth abortion." Who could be against that? The very term "pro-life" is a misnomer and grants the bearer a high ground that is undeserved because it does not take into consideration the life of the mother.
Could we please stop allowing our opponents to define the vocabulary of the debate?
All together now: "It's the criminalization, Stupid!"