Is there a difference between "pro-abortion" and "pro-choice"?

Question

I think so, and I think other smart-aleckey posters do too...

Answer 1

Is there a difference between "pro-slavery" and "pro-choice"? What if I took the position that I'm *personally* opposed to slavery, but I'll defend your right to *choose* to own slaves. Is that an appropriate stance?

Against this, it will be argued that "slaves" are human beings; but under the original U.S. Constitution, they were accorded a 3/5ths status for census (taxation) purposes. In addition, others argued they were not *fully* human for one reason or another. What about that "choice" sir? Are you pro-choice when it comes to slavery? Do you defend the right of others to choose slavery?

The bottom line of all this is, of course, that you don't have the right to choose to own slaves because slavery is immoral. That observation is every bit as justified as the observation that unborn children are human beings due to the FACT they are classified EXACTLY as every other human being -- BY THE HUMAN GENETIC CODE (beginning at conception). The so-called "personhood" arguments were later added because the science is against the pro-abortion crowd. "Personhood" is subjective while the genetic code is biology.

There is no substantive difference between "pro-abortion" and "pro-choice".

Answer 2

Yes there is. Not all pro-choice people are pro-abortion...some in fact are against abortion at least for themselves, but they wouldn't stop someone from getting an abortion herself because they acknowledge they have no right to tell another person what to do with her body or her life. Most pro-choice people are also all for things that would make abortion unnecessary, such as contraception and sterilization.

Answer 3

Oh yes, there's a difference. I'm pro-choice because I feel that no one-and I do mean no one-has the right to tell a woman what she can and cannot do with her body. No woman should be forced to carry a pregnancy to term, no matter the circumstances. This is a choice, a personal one that is really only the business of the mother.

Does that make me pro-abortion? Absolutely not. I'd much prefer to see another solution. But it's not my decision to make.

If you take away one freedom, it's pretty easy to allow the others to fall.

Answer 4

Yes, there is.

Abortion is a tragedy, IMO. It is a wrenching experience for most women who choose it.

It is a tragedy that many women, who make their decision to not have children *when they go on the pill or take other preventative measures* have to make this subsequent decision because no method, short of sterilization, is completely effective at preventing pregnancy.

It is a tragedy that so many people think that they, rather than the prospective mother, are best at deciding if she should bear children or not.

It is a tragedy, IMO, that so many people seem to think that a woman's reproductive capacity is the most important thing about her...that this implies an obligation to reproduce (which almost anyone can do - it takes FAR more than that to be a parent).

All that said, I am absolutely pro-choice.

IMO, the only appropriate person to make this decision is the person who will spend the rest of her life dealing with the consequences of her choice - the prospective mother.



Peace out.

Answer 5

"Pro-abortion" has heavy semantic bias. No one is in favor of abortions. Rather, some people are in favor of abortion rights. "Pro-choice" is a euphemism for "Pro-abortion-rights."

This is purely a semantic issue. Your feelings on abortion are entirely separate. Let's stay on topic.

Consider this parallel: People can be anti-war, but no one would like to be called pro-war. No one wants war but rather the positive outcome that could come after the fighting.

As a personal aside, people need to stop undercutting each other with deceptive, loaded language. This is called "spin," and constitutes a hindrance to effective discourse on important topics.

Answer 6

Of course there is a difference, I believe most Americans are pro-choice not pro-abortion.

Answer 7

"Pro-Abortion" and "Prolife" are propaganda terms chosen to give cover for people who want to base their position on the lie that opposition to abortion bans implies that one condones murder. Sadly, the antiabortion movement has placed that lie at the center of their strategy and rhetoric for so long that they are no longer capable of participating in civil society. Notice the knee-jerk "it's murder" responses that came up in this very thread.

Now, "pro-choice" is also a propaganda term, obviously. What we really have are people who oppose abortion bans and those who support such bans. We also have a third category - the Republican party, which doesn't really support banning abortion (just look at their intentional rejection of a Constitutionally-sound late-term abortion ban a few years ago) but rather supports using the anti-abortion movement for its own political purposes.

Answer 8

I'm pro-choice. I'm in favor of any woman having the right to do what she wants with her own body.

"Pro-abortion" simply doesn't exist. It's a strawman argument used by pro-lifers, to try and persuade the public that people actually want and like abortions. Nobody likes abortions.

I'm, for example, also pro legalazation of soft-drugs. Yet, I will never use drugs, I think it's silly stuff, and I don't feel like harming myself with it. So, I'm not pro-drugs.

Answer 9

pro-abortion sounds exactly like it is -- pop out unborn children
(normally as a means of late birth control)
pro-choice sounds like a choice between having children or
not -- the choice of not having children is via abortion (a
way to cloud the issue and make it nicer)

Answer 10

No one is pro abortion. That term is used a lot but the position is actually pro choice. It is about who or what gets to make the choice for a woman. I actually believe everyone is pro choice. Many people choose no based upon their religious dogma or personal morality.