I saw a host of comments in a Reddit thread where members referred to an unborn human as a “fetus.” This struck me as strange, that those who are pro-choice commonly use an archaic and obscure Latin medical term to describe an unborn baby.
My initial instinct about this practice was that it was meant to obfuscate, to muddy the picture of the true form of the unborn baby. It is akin to saying that the unborn human is a “kettlabog,” or whatever. It makes the unborn baby sound alien, even insectoid, but certainly doesn’t make one think of a human.
When conception occurs, we have a single-celled zygote. After the cells begin to replicate, we have an embryo. After about two months, medical literature refers to a fetus. If it is common for sonogram practitioners and doctors to refer to human unborn babies as “fetus” in front of expectant mothers, I have never seen it.
It only appears to be common usage for those who are staunchly pro-choice. I have often read on paternity sites that this “fetus” is referred to as a “baby to-be” by nurses and doctors.
It is strange when people start using an archaic Latin word, instead of simply using the plain and simple English equivalent. They will literally say anything to avoid getting “unborn baby” out of their mouths.
I’ve been in a doctor’s office three times with a woman receiving pre-natal care. Never once have I ever heard a doctor refer to the baby as a fetus in front of the mother. Not once. Instead they refer to them as he or she.
There are common, easy-to-understand English words that are just as accurate as describing an unborn human baby. But pro-choicers have fallen in love with the medical, scientific terminology, mainly used by expert personnel.
It is pretty obvious why, to me. They don’t want you to associate things like ‘aversion to pain’ and ‘able to dream’ with the unborn baby. They will very often not even specify that it is a “human fetus.” It seems important to them to divorce the reality of the situation from conversation and debate.
In all, if you have to resort to speaking in a foreign tongue to back up your argument, when a plain and simple English word would do, maybe it is time to rethink your position, maybe it is time to check yourself.