The term “pro-life” also fails to support productive communication, as it manipulates the listener into thinking that if they are not pro-life, they must be anti-life — or, worse yet, pro-death. The ability of the phrase to disorient is stunning, and a political stance against it can feel terrifying. No one authentically opposes life.
“Pro-life,” freed from association with right-wing politics, leaves a listener to wonder, Whose life is being valued? The fact is, mother and baby are, physically, one. For some, the well-being of this interconnected union might mean continuing with a pregnancy, while for others, well-being — even survival — might mean releasing it. These are life perspectives with equal honor and deserve equal respect.
As someone who has received a late-term abortion — and grateful to live in a state offering such medical care and counsel — my political viewpoint is firmly “pro-choice.” Yet if I were to choose one of these two terms to best describe my emotional point of view? I would pick “pro-life.”
I identify as someone who values life, both the quality of the mother’s and the future child’s. I wish the need to face choices around abortion on no one.
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