If a politician announces they are “pro-life” or “pro-choice,” what does that mean to you? Of course, the easy answer is that the first term means the politician is against abortion, and the second means they are in favor of abortion. But the issue of abortion has become so nuanced that many are wondering if perhaps these terms are over-broad and insufficient to give voters an accurate portrayal of candidates’ positions. That’s the concept Republican strategists are musing over pending the upcoming election.
In a political climate where being pro-life can range from someone who personally believes abortion is wrong but does not believe it should be illegal, to someone else who believes abortion should be illegal at all stages of pregnancy with no exceptions, it leaves a lot to the imagination when someone declares they are “pro-life” on their campaign platform. It is for this reason that Republicans are attempting to “rebrand” the pro-life language used by candidates to paint a clearer picture of their position. Others are concerned the term “pro-life” has negative connotations and stigmas that could hurt Republicans in the long run.
“Many voters think [‘pro-life’] means you’re for no exceptions in favor of abortion ever, ever, and ‘pro-choice’ now can mean any number of things,” Sen. Josh Hawley shared. “So if you’re going to talk about the issue, you need to be specific.”
In a closed-door meeting led by a super PAC close to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Republican leaders attempted to coin new alternatives to language currently used by the pro-life movement. Senator Todd Young of Indiana began using the term “pro-baby” to demonstrate his own concern for babies, but it has yet to be adopted by other Republican leaders.
Of course, Leftists are none too pleased with this rebrand. Jen Psaki responded by saying, “I hate to break it to you, but if you call broccoli ‘candy,’ it’s still just broccoli.” The Intelligencer commented that conservatives are simply playing “language games” to “obscure the facts,” which is odd, because the Left has done nothing but play language games with the LGBT movement and social issues. Radical Leftists have rebranded unproblematic traditional language with newfangled LGBT terms, such as calling “breastfeeding” “chestfeeding,” and changing the word “mother” to “egg producer” and “gestational parent,” and labeling the killing of an innocent child as “reproductive health.” They have pulled new terms out of nowhere and expected all of society to abide by their terminology or be “canceled” for it – even respecting ridiculous pronouns like “ze/zir.” And the facts of the matter, just like Jen said, is you can call a man a woman, and you can call a man a mother, but he’s still just a man.
So once the Left stops creating new terminology and rebranding the LGBT movement, maybe then we can talk about playing “language games.” For now, Republicans will continue to clarify their individual positions by using new terminology as election season approaches – and there’s nothing wrong with that, no matter how the Left tries to skew it.
