Word Munger on reframing the abortion language (take that Frank Luntz!)
We need to reframe the debate on abortion. Because the debate is not about abortion, it’s about sex. Instead of describing the sides as Pro-Life and Pro-Choice, we should be describing them as Anti-Sex and Pro-Sex. Here’s what the Anti-Sex people really want: they don’t want you to have sex. Ever. They think sex is dirty, rotten, and immoral. Now, they may argue that sex can be appropriate when accompanied by marriage, as long as proper prayer and penance are made, but I would argue that anything preceded by that much prayer and penance can’t properly be called sex. That’s “conjugal relations,” simply a form of insemination, and nothing more.
For the Anti-Sexers, a child is not a child, it’s a Punishment. That’s right: children are God’s way of punishing you for having sex. If you have sex, you must have a child. Boys who have sex must work for 18 years to pay for the child’s upbringing, and girls who have sex must suffer the incredible annoyance of pregnancy, the pains of labor, and finally, the bothersome toil of raising the child to adulthood.
I’m officially agnostic on the abortion issue (as it relates to public policy). But I think the debating framing is useful.