By Any Other Name
“ What is in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”
Emotionally-charged “names” can be dangerous when used by politicians. Putin claimed his invasion of Ukraine was “a special military operation”. Somehow, we imagined SNL’s Church Lady squeaking, “Isn’t that special?” How bad can it be?
Ron DeSantis responded to a reporter’s question regarding Florida’s abortion ban after six weeks with the classic “When there’s a heartbeat, there’s life.” Somehow, we imagined E.T.’s little heart flickering, then glowing, then beating. Isn’t that special? How bad can that be? Ron is in favor of E.T.
The American College of Gynecology disagreed with Ron’s definition of “fetal heartbeat” at six weeks gestation. “It is clinically inaccurate to use the word “heartbeat” to describe the sound that can be heard on ultrasound in very early pregnancy. In fact, there are no chambers of the heart developed at the early stage in pregnancy that this word is used to describe, so there is no recognizable “heartbeat.” What pregnant people may hear is the ultrasound machine translating electronic impulses that signify fetal cardiac activity into the sound that we recognize as a heartbeat.”
When we dissected an earthworm in Biology class, we found no Valentine-like heart in there, but a small jumble of blood vessels that kind-of pulsed with an electric charge. At six weeks’ gestation, human “hearts” are more like worm hearts than not.
Ron used several other emotionally-charged phrases while burnishing his pro-life credentials:
“Abortion Tourism” — Are pregnant people crossing state lines to take in a Broadway show, eat at a fancy restaurant and grab a relaxing abortion before ice skating at Rockefeller Center? Are Viking Cruises somehow involved?
“Abortion On Demand” — People seeking abortions must be treating medical clinics like the drive-thru lane at McDonald’s. “The drive-thru lane is quicker and I get my abortion without even getting out of my car!” Not in DeSantis’ Florida!
“Abortion Trafficking” — Are pregnant people being thrown into vans and dragged unwillingly to unwanted abortion appointments? This is almost as scary as the large, hairy trans person using your first grader’s girls school rest room and then taking her place on the grade school varsity cheer squad.
“Chemical Abortion” — Chemicals are always bad, right? Of course, taking an aspirin is “chemical headache therapy”. Baking is a chemical reaction. Flour, yeast, and salt plus heat equals bread. Of course, it’s much more difficult to harass women entering a CVS to purchase Plan B than it is to picket an abortion clinic.
Keep on using those emotionally-charged phrases, Ron.
By Ed Dufton
