Originally posted by: shira
Originally posted by: zendari
I support abortion rights, but I also think pro-choice is a leftist terminology. If you support allowing people to have an abortion you are pro-abortion. Simple as that.
I disagree. It's not as "simple as that" (but leave it to Zendari to once again try to reduce a complex issue to black and white). There are THREE categories of people with respect to abortions:
"Anti-abortion" is shorthand for the more clumsy "anti-abortion-choice". These terms describe exactly what such people believe: Women should should not have the option of getting abortions. Also, since such people generally want women to be prevented from getting abortions (they want criminal penalties to exist), they can accurately be described as being "anti-abortion".
"Pro-abortion" describes people who advocate that women in general, or some sub-group of women, abort their fetuses. People who fall into this category include those radically opposed to population growth, radical eugenicists, racists (who don't want "those sorts of people" to reproduce), and those who think of abortion as one way of handling so-called "breeder" welfare mothers.
Contrast these positions with that of people like me: I'm for women having the option (= choice) of having an abortion, at least until viability. However, I do NOT advocate abortions, and am generally opposed to them. To classify me as "pro-abortion" would be a gross distortion of what I believe. I'm for "abortion choice" (= "pro-choice" for short). I'm not "for abortions".
"Pro-choice" and "pro-abortion-choice" aren't euphemisms. They're accurate descriptions.