I recently got called anti-choice (again), or rather was asked whether I am “anti-choice” and whether that’s an official stance of the place I work.
Got me thinking: Thanks for asking, why yes! I am! For this one choice, it should be abundantly clear over five years of blogging (how did that happen…I digress) that I am anti “the abortion choice,” which loosely translates into killing your child. When we put it that way, no one would ask.
People who opt for “fetus fetishist” as their chosen slur have a hard road to travel because it’s a) hard to say and b) makes them sound crazy.
But anti-choice? Yes, and proud of it.
Next question.
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Faye adds: In our culture we seem to value “choice”, regarding anything really, above everything else. Let’s not evaluate or assess the morality or consequences of a given choice, let’s just value “choice” in and of itself.
I’m anti-choice on abortion. But I’m pro-choice on a whole host of issues. People should be free to determine where they live, work, play, etc. But some choices are wrong. Like whether or not to kill a human being.
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“Fetushist”, whatever way you spell it, has always been my favourite insult from the opposition. Saying that my pro-life activity is motivated by a subpar sex life due to my disability – not so much.
Mighty Mouse, join the club! We all get insulted. I’m told to get used to it. The process goes like this: first I curse to my friends, and then, once that is out of my system, I can laugh at it. That’s pretty mean, and rude, but consider how small a person you have to be to make such an insult.
Hmm. I’m going to respectfully disagree a little bit here. I don’t think you want to embrace the term anti-choice. Because you are not anti-choice, you are really only anti-one-choice, and that choice is abortion. I don’t think you want the pro-choicers framing the terms here.
Funny thing is, when it comes to actual choice, many pro-choicers aren’t as supportive of choice as you would think they are: ( http://reason.com/reasontv/2012/09/05/how-pro-choice-are-democrats ).
If people are actually starting a dialogue with you, then that is one thing. But I find that “anti-choice” is a term used like “bigot”, it is used to shut down the conversation and dismiss the views of the person that is slurred.
So, yeah, I do consider the term “anti-choice” to be a slur. It would be on par if we started calling abortion advocates “anti-birth”, or “pro-killing” or something. It’s a complete distortion of our position, and it’s a lazy and unfair way to argue.
Who called you anti-choice?
I don’t mind ‘anti-abortion’ because, yes, I am. (Although being anti-abortion certainly doesn’t capture the full picture because being pro-life is about more than being against the abortion of preborn children.)
I would agree that anti-choice and pro-choice aren’t good labels because they don’t define what the choice is that they’re referring to. And, as Faye says, we are all “anti” and “pro” many different choices.
I see what you are saying, Melissa, but it’s pretty clear when they say “anti-choice” that there is only one thing they are referring to, and that’s abortion. Since I am anti-abortion, I’m not inclined to get steamed about the term.
“Fetus fetishist” on the other hand, doesn’t steam me either, simply because it is so ridiculous. But I’ve stated that opinion before. I think there is no better term for our opponents to use to appear out of date and out of touch.
I am proudly anti-choice. “Anti-choice” is synonymous with pro-life.
I really don’t think our culture values choice at all. What I hear sounds like nothing more than; ‘Be Yourself. Everybody Wear Nike’. Very conformist society exerting pressure to think and act alike.