Over the last couple of decades, we’ve seen the pro-abortion lobby morph its language multiple times. These people went from the long-held mantra that abortion should be “safe, legal, and rare” to killing the unborn as an essential part of women’s health care.
We’ve also witnessed the euphemizing of abortion. Come to think of it, “abortion” is a euphemism itself, designed to make killing babies look like a clinical procedure on par with getting your blood pressure prescription renewed or going in for a checkup. Then it just became “choice,” even though we knew what choice the abortion advocates wanted women to make.
But the euphemisms evolved to terminology worthy of a crusade: “reproductive freedom,” “reproductive healthcare,” and even “reproductive justice,” as if the baby is an oppressor. The left has moved the goalposts on abortion terminology so far that it’s fascinating that abortion advocates are upset with Biden for the phrasing he used in his campaign speech the State of the Union last week.
The president emphasized his and the left’s commitment to abortion on demand in the speech, even inviting a woman who had to travel out of state to exercise her “reproductive rights” to sit with First Lady “Dr.” Jill Biden in the gallery. But NBC reports that the pro-abortion crowd is upset about the word that the president didn’t use.
NBC quotes Jessica Mason Pieklo, whom the outlet identifies as “the executive editor at Rewire News Group, a news organization focusing on reproductive health care,” regarding her dismay that Biden didn’t utter the word “abortion” in the State of the Union. Why? Because saying “abortion” does so much to make it seem totally normal, of course.
"I think it was good that abortion got as much airtime in the president's speech that [sic] it did," Pieklo told NBC. She added that “the need to say the word abortion from the highest ranks of a Democratic administration is important, not just for optics, but because it helps tremendously in the destigmatization of abortion as a medical procedure."
But isn’t the reason for all the euphemisms over the years to give the impression that killing the unborn is as routine as having your teeth cleaned or as anodyne as a haircut? The euphemisms are supposed to take the stigma away, right?
Another abortion advocate, Emma Hernandez, lamented to NBC that the president relies on “language like 'difficult decisions' or, you know, 'a decision no one wants to make,' and that's not reflective of our experiences as people who have had abortions."
That’s right, the abortion crowd doesn’t want you to think of abortion as a decision that women agonize over. Some say that Biden’s propensity to avoid the word “abortion” is because of his supposedly deep Catholic faith, but his religious, erm, conviction hasn’t stopped him from pushing hard for abortion on demand as a national standard.
This isn’t the first time the pro-aborts have expressed their concerns that Biden isn’t down with the struggle. In late 2021, after the oral arguments in the Dobbs case, Associated Press writers were up in arms because the president didn’t emphasize abortion at a Christmas party fundraiser for the Democrats. Back then, the AP worried that he didn’t use the word “abortion” enough.
Flashback: The Left's Bewilderment Over Biden and Abortion
Regardless of which euphemism Biden uses, there’s no mistaking what he’s advocating for. Dr. Albert Mohler made that point clear on his podcast on Tuesday morning:
By the way, for the record, we should note that President Biden has used the word abortion. Maybe it slipped out. That might've been the case last month when speaking at a fundraiser in Maryland. Biden said, "I'm a practicing Catholic. I'm not big on abortion, but guess what? Roe v. Wade got it right now." There's so much moral confusion there, indeed. I'll go on a limb here. There's so much political corruption in that statement. I'm just let that stand for a moment and I'm just going to step back and say that's an amazing statement in terms of its moral content. "I'm not big on abortion." Just imagine saying, "I'm not big on prostitution. I'm not big on lying. I'm not big on manslaughter. I'm not big on treason." What an amazing statement. We are trapped by our words, and in this case, President Biden used the word abortion, but I would argue he used it in a way that actually reveals far more than his willingness in that context or his slip up to use the word. When he said, "I'm not big on abortion," let's just state the obvious, he is very, very big on moral confusion.
The abortion crowd shouldn’t nitpick over the president’s terminology. He’s pushing exactly what these people want him to push. If his faith were as important to him as he claims, he wouldn’t be on their side.
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