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Destigmatizing Abortion: Being Pro-Abortion is Good, Actually!
Hey there! If you care about abortion access—and we hope you do—you probably don’t want to use stigmatizing language about abortion. Our “Destigmatizing Abortion” series breaks down some of the mistakes a lot of us can make in our advocacy journey.
Today, let’s talk about the phrase: “I’m pro-choice, not pro-abortion.”
You may feel the urge to try to protect our movement from anti-choicers. That’s understandable, considering extremist anti-abortion activists have been purposefully trying to scare us out of demanding the high-quality, safe, accessible reproductive health care we deserve for, uh, decades. But this fear can result in us actually painting what we’re fighting for as a bad thing when, news flash, it’s not!
Abortion is not a bad word, it’s health care—health care that’s vital for everyone to be able to determine their own reproductive destinies. Why wouldn’t we feel positively toward anyone who wants an abortion being able to get one? Why wouldn’t we be loud and proud about access to something that results in us taking care of ourselves, our communities, and the people we love?
So next time, before trying to distinguish yourself as NOT “pro-abortion,” think about what it would look like if everyone who wanted an abortion could have one. Why wouldn’t you be pro- that?
CHECK OUT OUR OTHER DESTIGMATIZING ABORTION RESOURCES
