{"id":81994,"date":"2015-12-09T17:53:32","date_gmt":"2015-12-09T22:53:32","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=81994"},"modified":"2015-12-10T21:41:21","modified_gmt":"2015-12-11T02:41:21","slug":"the-word-abortion-industry-workers-cant-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/the-word-abortion-industry-workers-cant-say\/","title":{"rendered":"The word abortion industry workers can’t say"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

A pro-choice researcher wrote about how the term “baby” is dreaded in abortion clinics. Feminist\u00a0author Wendy Simonds interviewed abortion industry\u00a0workers for her book\u00a0Abortion at Work:\u00a0Ideology and Practice in a Feminist Clinic.\u00a0<\/em>Although the book was written from a pro-choice perspective, with a whole chapter dedicated to how to foil\u00a0“antis” (i.e. “anti-choice” protesters),\u00a0some interviews with abortion\u00a0workers\u00a0seemed to give far more ammunition to the pro-life side than the pro-choice side.<\/p>\n

After observing the workings of the facility\u00a0and witnessing both abortions and counseling sessions, Simonds writes:<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Center staff members commonly said \u201cthe pregnancy,\u201d \u201cthe tissue,\u201d \u201cthe products of conception.\u201d \u201cFetal tissue\u201d was the most explicit term I heard health workers use with clients.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

They never, ever, called it a baby.<\/p>\n

Although Simonds does not spend much time talking about the counseling at the facility\u00a0(except to say that sessions were kept short <\/a>because spending too much time with each woman slowed down patient flow, ultimately\u00a0reducing the facility’s income) pro-lifers can\u00a0speculate about why the term “baby” is avoided. Many former abortion industry workers<\/a> have talked about how they were trained never to say the word “baby” because it would make women have second thoughts about going through with their abortions.<\/p>\n

For example, former abortion\u00a0worker\u00a0Kathy Sparks said the following <\/a>in the Christian Herald:\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Sometimes we lied. A girl might ask what her baby was like at a certain point in the pregnancy: Was it a baby yet? Even as early as 12 weeks a baby is totally formed, he has fingerprints, turns his head, fans his toes, feels pain. But we would say \u2018It\u2019s not a baby yet. It\u2019s just tissue, like a clot.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Abortion facilities do not make money if the woman leaves without aborting her baby. Avoiding words and phrases that might change her mind would be beneficial\u00a0for a facility\u00a0geared towards making a profit. (Which, of course, \u00a0all of them are.) It’s important to keep women in the dark.<\/p>\n

But there was another reason why the abortion\u00a0workers in\u00a0Abortion at Work<\/em> avoided the term “baby.”\u00a0See the quote from an abortion industry worker below:<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

I feel some sadness [about second trimester abortions]\u2026And I think part of the problem is that we don\u2019t talk about that\u2026Do you see what I\u2019m saying- that somehow your pro-choice stand is compromised by saying the word \u201cbaby.\u201d\u2026We don\u2019t allow ourselves to say or think that word\u2026<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Even though the abortion\u00a0workers were dedicated to abortion and vented a lot of hatred at pro-lifers,<\/a> they had qualms about what they were doing. \u00a0They\u00a0had to avoid the word\u00a0“baby” because that word could bring their carefully constructed facade\u00a0of lies and euphemisms crashing down. The word “baby” cuts through the illusion that they are doing something noble and good in the clinic. It refutes, in their own hearts, the belief that they are heroes helping and serving women.\u00a0Admitting that the fetus is a baby means admitting they are killing babies. And of course, they don’t want to believe that.<\/p>\n

Since the abortion facility\u00a0in Abortion at Work<\/em>\u00a0did abortions through\u00a026 weeks, (6 1\/2 months) there were many, many times when the aborted children looked like a full term babies. \u00a0(80 to 90% of babies born at 26 weeks who are\u00a0given medical care survive<\/a>.)\u00a0\u00a0So these babies were fully developed in many cases.<\/p>\n

\"slightly-open-right-eye\"<\/p>\n

Looking at the child above, one can imagine the emotional strain on an abortion worker who has to sort through the dismembered pieces of a baby this age. Calling the child a “product of conception” or “fetal tissue” is a way they deceive themselves. \u00a0“Baby” seems to be a word that abortion industry\u00a0workers hate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A pro-choice researcher wrote about how the term “baby” is dreaded in abortion clinics. Feminist\u00a0author Wendy Simonds interviewed abortion industry\u00a0workers for her book\u00a0Abortion at Work:\u00a0Ideology and Practice in a Feminist Clinic.\u00a0Although the book was written from a pro-choice perspective, with a whole chapter dedicated to how to foil\u00a0“antis” (i.e. “anti-choice” protesters),\u00a0some interviews with abortion\u00a0workers\u00a0seemed to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":153,"featured_media":57098,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[15],"tags":[5212,6011,1039,1196,1106,6564,6565,5210],"yoast_head":"\nThe word abortion industry workers can't say<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Abortion workers\u00a0describe how they avoid using the word\u00a0"baby"; it could bring their carefully constructed facade\u00a0of lies and euphemisms crashing down.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/the-word-abortion-industry-workers-cant-say\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The word abortion industry workers can't say\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Abortion workers\u00a0describe how they avoid using the word\u00a0"baby"; 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