Contemplations of a Cradle Catholic

In the light of the March for Life, I have always found the language used in the abortion debate as a bit ambiguous. First off we have the titles of the two sides of the debate, “pro-life” and “pro-choice.”

The funny thing about the titles of each side is that both are very pro-life and pro-choice. For instance “pro-lifers” do not condone choices, they just want people to make the right choice. Just as “pro-choicers” are “pro-choice” because they believe that they are improving the quality of life of those whom they stand by. So from now on I will refer to those commonly understood to be “pro-life” as anti-abortion, and those commonly referred to “pro-choice” as pro-abortion, these terms seem to be more clearly and specifically defined.

Of course, I am a Catholic and this is a Catholic network so I feel it is important to be clear as to where I stand on the issue, I am most emphatically anti-abortion. And this post will look more toward the misrepresentation and misuse of language in the pro-abortionist’s argument. I also feel that the anti-abortion side uses terms and language that is much more clear and specific, if not blunt (no duh, it’s the side I agree with).

The most ambiguous term that I find in the pro-abortionist argument is reproductive freedom. This is the right that all pro-abortionsists find so essential, so lets look closer to what this term means, and what they think it means.

So here it is: reproductive freedom. Let’s start by looking at the two words separately. Reproductive, to reproduce; to produce again; to make a copy of; etc. Second word, freedom, the state of being free; exemption from external control. Now take a gander at the unspoken assumption of the phrase; this phrase implies not just any type of reproductive freedom but sexual reproductive freedom. So now let’s put all this together. Looking at the term without any preconceived notions we an deduce a conclusion that one should have the right to sexually reproduce freely, that a person should have the right to reproduce through the act of sex without constraint or external control.

But what do the pro-abortionists mean when they say that they demand the right to reproductive freedom? Basically they mean that they demand sex without babies. So riddle me this Batman, where is the freedom of reproduction in this demand? Would not a less ambiguous term be reproductive constraint? For if you want the action or the means without the deductive end then you place external control over the act to determine the end, whether through birth control or abortion, both of which constrain the act of sex for reaching it’s end, reproduction.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 1st, 2008 at 11:27 am and is filed under Life Issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.