Denying Humanity Through Language

... Yet I noticed that when I became pregnant with my first child, I wasn't terrified of losing the "fetus" to miscarriage; I was terrified of losing the baby. When I was 10 weeks pregnant I didn't buy a handheld Doppler so that I could lie in bed and listen to the "clump of tissue"'s heartbeat; I was listening to my child's heartbeat.

When my doctor first told me that I was pregnant, I remember her asking me what vitamins I was taking. I told her about a brand I liked from Whole Foods, and she cut me off in mid-sentence to give me a stern lecture. It was my responsibility to look out for this little person, she told me, and proceeded to inform me of all the amazing development my baby was going through right now. She gave me a prescription for superior vitamins and rattled off a list of dietary changes I needed to make to nourish my baby.

Less than a year later an acquaintance went to this same doctor with a surprise pregnancy that she did not want. The doctor assured her that the procedure for expelling the "fetus" was a simple one and scheduled her for an abortion. This woman was at the same stage of pregnancy as I had been at that first visit, but the word "baby" was not used at her appointment. I was offered an ultrasound to see my new child with my own eyes; she was not. ...

Jen from Conversion Diary has more to jolt us into thinking about what we choose to overlook and downgrade in her piece, Abortion and Holocaust Comparisons.