Planned Parenthood is Ditching the Failed “Pro-Choice” Label. Here’s Why

National   |   Micaiah Bilger   |   May 11, 2017   |   3:38PM   |   Washington, DC

The “pro-choice” label has not been working out so well for the abortion chain Planned Parenthood.

The labels pro-choice and pro-life have been used for decades to help identify people’s positions on abortion, but young adults seem to be moving away from those labels. Abortion activists often refer to themselves as “reproductive rights” advocates rather than “pro-choice” now; and Planned Parenthood has been following the trend.

This week, the abortion chain’s CEO Cecile Richards talked with the pro-abortion blog Bustle about the shift in the rhetoric.

“I think the language is completely outdated, and in fact, we found by talking to younger people that they are so against being labeled in any way,” Richards said.

Though Planned Parenthood is not using the label anymore, its positions on abortion are the same. It wants women to have easy, completely unrestricted access to abortion, and it wants Americans to pay for them with their tax dollars.

Richards continued, “… women need to be able to make their own decisions about their pregnancy without the interference of politicians … [or] members of Congress who aren’t in their situation and can’t appreciate what they’re dealing with.

SIGN THE PETITION! Congress Must De-Fund Planned Parenthood Immediately

“We really think it’s important that women have all their health care options, and that they have a trusted provider to talk to about those options,” Richards concluded. “And that’s why we’ve really quit using political labels that are really frankly very binary, in which most people don’t feel like they reflect how important and personal these decisions are.”

Back in 2014 when abortion activists first began distancing themselves from the “pro-choice” label, Wesley Smith, writing at First Things, urged pro-lifers not to think the change meant people were becoming less extreme on abortion.

He wrote: “Rather than moderating, activists have embraced an advocacy model they once eschewed—being explicitly pro-abortion. In this new approach, Roe v. Wade is no longer a moment to celebrate. Rather, it must be overturned because it is too restrictive of what they believe should be an absolute right to terminate an unwanted pregnancy, at any time, for any reason.”

Smith’s predictions are coming true.

During the 2016 elections, the Democratic Party abandoned the old “safe, legal and rare” talking points about abortion, and embraced the destruction of unborn babies’ lives as something good and necessary for women.

Just a few weeks ago, Ilyse Hogue, president of the pro-abortion group NARAL, made it clear just how pro-abortion their position is.

Hogue told the Washington Post that the 2016 Democratic Party platform “didn’t just seek to protect abortion access — it sought to expand it.”

Liberal and mainstream media outlets also have been giving space for abortion activists to talk about “normalizing” abortion – as if it was just like any medical procedure.

It’s clear that Planned Parenthood and other abortion groups want abortion to be accepted as normal. They call the destruction of an unborn child a woman’s “right.” They fight against laws to inform women of their choices and of facts about their unborn baby’s development, arguing that women might feel ashamed if they realize their baby has a heartbeat or fingers and toes.

Perhaps, it’s good that Planned Parenthood and other abortion groups are not using the pro-choice label anymore. They are not fighting for true choices for women or babies. They are fighting for abortion on demand up to birth, paid for by our tax dollars.