Where did the term “pro-life” come from?
If there’s one thing that’s clear in the abortion debate, it’s that much can seem unclear. Arguments for and against abortion tend to revolve around definitions. When does life begin? What is a person? What does viability mean?
Definitions are powerful. They don’t just categorize and clarify; they advocate and argue. In other words, definitions are not neutral.
Those of us in the pro-life movement must understand what we stand for. And that starts with defining the term “pro-life” itself. When we call ourselves “pro-life,” what are we saying? What does “pro-life” mean?
Merriam-Webster defines “pro-life” as “opposed to abortion.” While that much is true, it’s a narrow and simplistic definition. Let’s explore a more complete understanding of what it means to be pro-life.
Where did the term “pro-life” come from?
Even before the U.S. Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade in 1973, finding a supposed “right” to abortion in the Constitution, advocates were using “life” language in the abortion debate. In 1967, a group of doctors, lawyers, and others banded together to encourage California Governor Ronald Reagan not to sign a pro-abortion bill. The advocates called themselves the Right to Life League.
Two years after Roe was decided, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops finalized a document called the “Pastoral Plan for Pro-Life Activities” affirming the dignity of all human life and setting an agenda for education, pastoral care, public policy, and prayer.
The use of the term “pro-life” continued to grow during the 1970s as advocacy on behalf of the unborn became a major political force. In Before Roe v. Wade: Voices that Shaped the Abortion Debate Before the Supreme Court's Ruling, Linda Greenhouse and Reva Siegel of Yale Law School write, “When conservatives of the New Right began to assemble a pan-Christian coalition against Roe in the late 1970s, the crusade against Roe would proceed under the banner of ‘pro-life’ and ‘pro-family.’”
The term has stuck.
Pro-life vs. pro-choice
People who support abortion-on-demand are often described in the media as “pro-choice.” It’s a convenient term: the word “choice” has few negative connotations, and identifying as being for something engenders much more sympathy than being against something.
But “pro-choice” is simply not an accurate term for supporters of legalized abortion. First, the term fails to answer an important question: what choice? The answer, of course, is a woman’s choice to abort her unborn child. Planned Parenthood, perhaps the foremost “pro-choice” organization in the United States, defines the term this way: “When you say you’re pro-choice you’re telling people that you believe it’s OK for them to have the ability to choose abortion as an option for an unplanned pregnancy — even if you wouldn’t choose abortion for yourself.”
But there’s another problem with the term “pro-choice”: it treats abortion as the only choice available to women facing unplanned pregnancies or uncertain futures.
People who call themselves “pro-life” support choices too: parenting and adoption are choices not just accepted but championed by pro-life advocates.
And what about “pro-choice” organizations? In 2019, Planned Parenthood, America’s largest abortion provider, performed 133 abortions for every one adoption referral. Does that sound like an organization dedicated to “choice”?