Wordsmiths distort abortion debate

Thirty-seven years after Roe vs. Wade (Jan. 22, 2010) and 50 million dead babies later (a billion worldwide), little has changed in America. As a nation, we have subscribed to a "culture of death" by design, as the dignity of human life has been losing ground at every stage of its existence since 1973.

A great old adage to live by when growing up was, "Say what you mean, mean what you say." But, that's been superseded today by something called "verbal engineering." You know, words and phrases like, "hope, change, cash for clunkers, birth control, choice, rights."

For example, when Margaret Sanger founded Planned Parenthood in 1916, her passion was to promote racial "purification." What she really meant was racial "extermination" ("Birth Control in America, the Career of Margaret Sanger," p. 117). So she changed the words to accomplish the goal. Thus, the phrase "birth control" came into being.

Then, the '60s and the sexual revolution came along. We were now ready for Planned Parenthood's so-called "gift" of birth control/abortion; then the "pro-choice" (pro-death) movement; then "legalized" abortion (baby killing). G.K. Chesterton put it in perspective by stating, "They insist on talking about birth control when they mean less birth and no control."

Wordsmiths are hard at work in our daily lives. "Choice" means kill; "no" equals yes; "right" is wrong, and on and on. Word games do take lives, and as George Orwell said, "If thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought." Ironically, we can be arrested, jailed and/or fined for killing cats, dogs, darters, birds, elephants, seals, snails and whales, but we are vindicated for killing babies.

America, what a country.

Donna Marek

Ogdensburg