A Terrible Coarsening Of American Public Life

George Weigel argues that the use of terms like reproductive health and reproductive freedom serves as a way to hide the reality of abortion, leading to a coarsening of American public life. Writing for The Tablet, Weigel claims these euphemisms have contributed to a death toll from abortion that exceeds the estimated 60 million civilian lives lost during World War II.

Weigel cites a recent fact sheet from the Reproductive Health Access Project regarding the use of abortion pills between 14 and 20 weeks as an example of this cultural shift. He notes that Mary Rice Hasson of the Ethics and Public Policy Center described the document as heartless. The fact sheet advises users that they will pass blood, clots, a placenta, and a fetus, and suggests that it is acceptable for the person not to look at the fetus, which may have visible heads, arms, and legs.