General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Being pro-life doesn’t make me any less of a lefty [View all]NYC Liberal
(20,136 posts)The point is about choice. That's what the debate is about. It's about whether women have the right to make that choice for themselves, or whether they shouldn't. That is the fundamental question behind the entire abortion debate. Saying "I support women's right to choose to have an abortion" is not any better or more elucidating than simply saying "I am pro-choice" when the meaning is obvious in context. Nobody, nobody thinks of plastic surgery when they hear "pro-choice." Maybe you get confused but almost everyone else does not.
And of course we should have a substantive discussion of the merits and the issues; saying "I am pro-choice" is not a substitute for that nor is it meant to be. Objecting to the term "choice" because it could refer to the "choice" of getting plastic surgery is like objecting to the word liberal because liberalism is not about being a "liberal eater." Just as everyone knows when you say you're a "liberal" in this country you mean the modern American political ideology, everyone knows what you mean when you say you are "pro-choice".