In an effort to promote “optimal healthcare for both pregnant woman and preborn children,” the American Association of Pro Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG) has issued a “Glossary of Medical Terms for Life-Affirming Medical Professionals.”
"In this post-Dobbs environment, it is critical for life-affirming medical professionals to utilize language that is scientifically accurate,” said Dr. Donna Harrison, board-certified OBGYN and AAPLOG’s director of research. “In order for women to have true informed consent it is essential that they be given accurate information about the humanity of the preborn, the intent of induced abortion, and the difference between induced abortion and medically indicated maternal-fetal separations.”
“The pro-abortion American College of OB-GYNs (ACOG) obscures these facts in their own recently-published "Guide to Language and Abortion," Harrison said, “encouraging terminology that dehumanizes the preborn and euphemizes induced abortion.”
ACOG’s March 2022 language guide claims to be “without bias.” However, its language recommendations do not necessarily reflect medical science. For example, it stresses to use such language as “medication abortion” instead of “chemical abortion,” even though the abortion pill does not medicate any illness.
The AAPLOG glossary recognizes this and recommends avoiding the term “medication abortion” to refer to the abortion pill regimen.
The glossary states: “medication implies that an illness is being treated and that there is therapeutic benefit.”
Because pregnancy is not an illness, the glossary recommends alternate language such as “intentional embryocide by chemical agent” or “intentional feticide via mifepristone.”
This recommendation is especially timely in light of an ongoing court case against the FDA, which fast-tracked the abortion drug mifepristone on the false grounds that it treated a “serious or life-threatening illness.”
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The ACOG guide also delves into political language.
It suggests using the term “abortion” instead of “elective abortion” or “abortion on-demand,” even though the latter terms provide more information as to the circumstances under which politicians are promoting abortion.
The AAPLOG glossary recommends the term “intentional feticide” instead of “abortion.”
Further clarification is also recommended, depending on the method used. For example, the glossary suggests “Intentional feticide by chemical agent,” “Intentional feticide by vacuum disruption,” “Intentional feticide by dismemberment,” etc.
“ACOG's language not only prevents women from receiving true informed consent but also has profound effects on the discourse on abortion in our nation, even influencing the language that journalists use to report on this issue,” said Harrison.
“ACOG is so committed to a pro-abortion ideology that they are using their influence to sow confusion and fear among Americans, ultimately harming those we are sworn to serve: our patients,” Harrison said. “Our glossary presents an effort to restore sanity to the public conversation and encourage pro-life medical professionals to practice according to their values."
Another recommendation AAPLOG issued in the glossary is to use the term “fertilization” instead of “conception” because the latter “has been redefined as beginning with implantation.”
The idea that conception doesn’t occur until implantation is a relatively recent shift. In 2011, Reuters reported that 57 of 100 doctors in a survey affirmed that pregnancy begins at “conception.” At the time, ACOG propagated for a definition that pregnancy began at “implantation.”
Language changes have had real world impact.
A related change occurred in December 2022. The manufacturer of Plan B One Step successfully lobbied the FDA to disguise language about the drug’s effect on “implantation,” which they considered a “barrier” for consumers to use the product. The manufacturer effectively admitted that women do not want to take a product that will abort a baby even between fertilization and implantation. Using “fertilization” instead of “conception,” as AAPLOG recommends, can help clarify that one is not referring to implantation.
The language battleground not only permeates the medical and political arenas, but also media.
In December 2022, the Associated Press released guidelines that effectively served as language propaganda for the abortion industry, some of which echoed ACOG’s March 2022 recommendations.
The AP instructed journalists to use “anti-abortion” centers instead of “pregnancy resource centers,” use “anti-abortion” instead of “pro-life,” use “cardiac activity” instead of “heartbeat,” and avoid the phrase “late-term abortion.”
Language manipulation has long been a hallmark of abortion proponents. Even in the 1960s, ACOG betrayed the Hippocratic Oath by changing the definition of “therapeutic” to open the door for elective abortions.
Decades of specious language steering in favor of the abortion industry, including multiple renewed efforts in the last year, highlights the importance of the AAPLOG glossary today.
