Key To The Abortion Debate Is The Rhetorical Concept of Terministic Screens

People who are “pro-choice” and people who are “pro-life” can’t agree on anything. Except the subconscious use of this one rhetorical trick.

This article was originally written in July 2019.

In recent weeks, we have witnessed a wave of abortion criminalization. This has occurred through so-called “heartbeat bills”, many of which do not include an exception for cases of rape or incest, that ban abortion the second a fetal heartbeat is detectable, which means that abortion can be banned as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. Because this time-frame can often pass before someone realizes they are with child, these bills are rightfully being called out for what they really are: an all but total ban of abortion.

Abortion has been a subject of rigorous political debate for quite some time now. Oftentimes the debate comes down to the specific number of weeks during which an abortion is permissible, and whether you’re “Pro-Life” or “Pro-Choice.” However, most debates actually begin before you realize you’re even in a debate, and this one begins with the taken-as-a-given terms “Pro-Life” and “Pro-Choice”, because those terms are defining the parameters of the debate, acting as what…