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Article: Word games we play.(language important in framing political, cultural issues)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- U.S. News & World Report
- Article date:
- December 6, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 All rights reserved. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Several columns ago, when I wrote that "students, disability activists, and pro-lifers" were demonstrating at Princeton, the copy desk here at U.S. News wanted to change "pro-lifers" to "abortion opponents." The proposed change was by the book. Like most news organizations, this magazine uses "abortion-rights activists" and "abortion opponents," not "pro-choice" and "pro-life." But in this case "abortion opponents" was clearly not an adequate term. The issue at Princeton wasn't abortion. It was infanticide. The university had appointed a professor who believes parents should be allowed to kill their severely disabled babies.
Here's the verbal issue, debated for ...