Posted by
Russell Neglia on Thursday, February 07, 2008 6:27:30 PM
It is often said that whoever controls the language in any debate controls the debate. The pro-choice advocates won a crucial battle in the sixties and seventies when they convinced the modern culture to adopt a language that they carefully and strategically crafted in order conceal their real agenda and win others to their side. I want to select some of the more common buzzwords or phrases that have been dominant on the pro-abortion side and analyze each of them. To answer the misinformation promoted by the other side, we must know how to clarify the language of the other side:
Choice. You often hear this word from abortion defenders. Some of the more common ways they use this word is with such statements as: “I’m for a woman’s right to choose, or abortion is a personal choice between a woman and her doctor.” Who could be against choice? This is the brilliance of this word. But, what does “choice” mean when speaking about abortion?
Choice is fine if you are dealing with a personal preference such as what color do you like or do you prefer chocolate or vanilla ice cream. This is a subjective choice. Abortion, however, is not a subjective choice, it is a moral issue. Morals are not open to choice. This is the key. The crucial question to ask is what is the unborn? If the unborn is not a human life then choice is fine. We know that life begins at conception, as science has confirmed, so abortion takes the life of a human being. We do not have the choice to take a human life. Abortion defenders completely ignore the fact that abortion kills a human life. They treat it as if the unborn was equivalent to removing your tonsils.
Abortion is a private matter. As we pointed out earlier, abortion kills a human life. Can we kill a human being as long as it is done privately? Of course not. Can your mother or father have killed you, say, at the age of two months, as long as it was done privately? Suppose you’re a parent and your three year-old comes to you while you’re washing dishes and asks Mommy/Daddy can I kill this? What do you need to know before you answer? Again, the question is not privacy but what is the unborn?
Don’t impose your view on me! This is an often-heard challenge. First of all this challenge is self-refuting and commits logical suicide. What do I mean by that? If a person says, “don’t force your view on me” or words to that effect, what have they just done? They have just imposed their view on you. So, by their own logic, they’ve just invalidated their own challenge to you. Secondly, our society imposes morality on all of us all the time. Try stealing your neighbor’s car. When they protest say to them “don’t impose your view on me.” Our government imposes their will on us when they have a law that if you kill someone, you will lose your freedom or life.
That is just you’re opinion. Moral issues such as abortion are not simply personal opinions, they are moral issues. When you come to the red stop light do you say, oh well, that is just their opinion, I’ll just do what I want to do and cross it. There are issues that are personal opinions, such as what candidate do you like, or do you like Mexican food or Italian food. These are legitimate personal opinions. Moral issues are not and cannot be based on personal opinions or we would have total anarchy and our society would not survive. A person that makes a statement such as “that is your personal opinion” is making the mistake of mixing subjective choices with objective issues. This is very common with those who fail to analyze what they’re saying. A moral issue cannot be a subjective choice.
I’m opposed to abortion but it should still be legal. Another bizarre logical statement that you often hear is this one. Whenever you hear such a contradictory statement, ask the person if you can repeat what you heard him/her say. Ask the person who made this statement why they are opposed to abortion. Usually they’ll say that abortion kills a baby. Your response should be something such as this: “Let me see if I heard you correctly, you’re opposed to abortion because it kills a baby, but it should still be legal to kill a baby?” This will help this person analyze what they’ve said. Most people make statements such as these without realizing what they’re saying.
Personhood. Once you’ve debunked all the other myths and misstatements, the pro-abortion person will tell you that an unborn is not a person. Well, when does a human being become a person? And who decides when to confer personhood? Personhood is not a status that is achieved by any measure other than being a human being. Science has established that a human life begins at conception so personhood begins when human life begins. To assign a random time when a human being becomes a person can only be arbitrary and not based on any standard other than what that person says it is. A good question to ask is are there any human beings that are not a person, and if so, who and when?