{"id":29878,"date":"2023-11-06T21:45:02","date_gmt":"2023-11-06T21:45:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/?p=29878"},"modified":"2024-03-01T18:25:05","modified_gmt":"2024-03-01T18:25:05","slug":"a-deadly-word-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/a-deadly-word-game\/","title":{"rendered":"A Deadly Word Game"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By John M. Grondelski | November 6th 2023<\/strong><\/a> – The New Oxford Review<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

White lab coats seem to make people believe their wearers cannot engage in sophistry<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

David Hackney is a Cleveland medical professor who is pushing Issue 1, the proposed Ohio state constitutional amendment to legalize abortion through birth, on the ballot tomorrow, November 7. He penned an article in the November 5 New York Times<\/em> defending the amendment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He claims the State of Ohio is promoting \u201cdisinformation\u201d by how it framed and summarized Issue 1. The hackneyed arguments Hackney puts forward are, however, the only disinformation out there. [A link to his article is\u00a0here<\/a>.]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, Hackney claims that the proposed amendment is \u201cshort (just over 200 words), easy to understand and written to specifically reflect the beliefs of our state.\u201d That sentence deserves three Pinocchios.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Issue 1 is written to engage in abortion obfuscation. It pretends to allow restrictions on abortion after \u201cviability\u201d because most voters are ambivalent about allowing abortion in the sixth to ninth months, when a mother can feel her baby move and the child can survive outside the womb. The abortion lobby would not want to alarm people with what they really want. So, they insert window dressing language about \u201cviability,\u201d a limit that they promptly eviscerate in three ways:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. They do not include any definition of \u201cviability.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. They say that \u201cviability\u201d is determined by the abortionist (in other words, a person regulated by the limit is entitled to waive it) on a \u201ccase-by-case basis\u201d (so, no general rule that fetuses are generally viable nowadays at 20 weeks\u2019 gestation).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. In case you can\u2019t use the determination-of-\u201cviability\u201d escape clause, don\u2019t worry: there\u2019s a fallback! Even \u201cviability\u201d does not trump a pregnancy the abortionist think is detrimental to a woman\u2019s \u201chealth.\u201d And, since \u201chealth\u201d is also undefined (and we know from 50 years of federal jurisprudence since Doe v. Bolton <\/em>that the definition of \u201chealth\u201d is extremely elastic and expansive), claiming an abortion is necessary to a woman\u2019s \u201chealth\u201d is your get-out-of-jail-free card, courtesy of Issue 1.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Hackney wants us to believe that late-term abortions \u201care not part of standard medical care in the United States and never will be.\u201d But even Planned Parenthood admitted, after Congress finally enacted the Partial Birth Abortion Act of 2003, that third trimester abortions occur at least as much for socio-economic as for \u201cmedical\u201d reasons. The abortionists of America don\u2019t want to admit that, which is why they conflate \u201chealth\u201d with psychological and emotional contentment so as to medicalize late-term abortions procured for socio-economic reasons. One hundred years ago, the AMA \u2014 which was campaigning against legalized abortion \u2014 would also have declared 60,000,000 abortions \u201care not part of standard medical care in the United States and never will be.\u201d Don\u2019t predict the future!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Talking about \u201ceasy to understand\u201d language, Issue 1 never says pregnant \u201cwoman\u201d or pregnant \u201cmother,\u201d only \u201cpatient\u201d or \u201cindividual.\u201d This construction serves a twofold purpose: (i) prevents the law from speaking of a pregnant woman as a \u201cmother\u201d (lest we humanize the fetus) and (ii) silently inserts gender ideology language into the Ohio constitution, establishing the legal fiction\/biological fraud that \u201cmen\u201d can be pregnant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Second, Hackney is upset that the Ohio elections board uses the term \u201cunborn child\u201d in its summary of Issue 1, which he believes is \u201cbiased\u201d language. \u201cFetal\u201d is \u201cscientific\u201d and \u201cstandard medical.\u201d It\u2019s even sewn on to his medical jacket!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cFetal\u201d is also dehumanizing. It seeks to substitute an antiseptic term for a reality that, in a rare moment of honesty, Hackney\u2019s article admits. Answering the objection whether a doctor ever speaks of an unborn \u201cchild,\u201d the professor writes: \u201cDo maternal fetal medicine specialists ever say \u201cchild\u201d in reference to someone\u2019s pregnancy? Of course we do, informally, all the time, in concert with our patients.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Let\u2019s unpack that sentence. If a \u201cmaternal fetal medicine\u201d specialist like Dr. Hackney condescends to say \u201cchild\u201d in reference to someone\u2019s pregnancy, is he lying or telling the truth? Hackney\u2019s answer is curious: he admits he uses the term \u201cin concert with our patients.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In other words, if mom wants the baby, it\u2019s a \u201cchild.\u201d If she doesn\u2019t, it isn\u2019t. He admits as much; he uses \u201cchild\u201d because \u201cthese are the patients who have chosen to continue their pregnancies and have chosen to frame them as such.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    So, either childhood depends on another person conferring that status \u2014 a curious scientific phenomenon undocumented to the best of my knowledge in the \u201ctextbooks, lectures, and research publications\u201d to which Hackney appeals \u2014 or his use of terminology is not \u201cscientific\u201d but polemical, a pretense of clinical objectivity in the service of a political outcome he prefers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Back in 1970 in a prophetic editorial [see\u00a0here<\/a>],\u00a0California Medicine\u00a0<\/em>admitted that the only way to justify abortion-on-demand was to have medical specialists engage in \u201csemantic gymnastics,\u201d because white medical jackets seem to make people believe their wearers cannot engage in sophistry. But the abortion establishment has been built on a house of semantic cards for five-plus decades. Ohio voters should not fall for its latest edition, especially when trafficked as \u201cscientific.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    John M. Grondelski (Ph.D., Fordham) was former associate dean of the School of Theology, Seton Hall University, South Orange, New Jersey.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    By John M. Grondelski | November 6th 2023 – The New Oxford Review White lab coats seem to make people believe their wearers cannot engage in sophistry David Hackney is a Cleveland medical professor who is pushing Issue 1, the proposed Ohio state constitutional amendment to legalize abortion through birth, on the ballot tomorrow, November…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29879,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nA Deadly Word Game - Cincinnati Right to Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/a-deadly-word-game\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Deadly Word Game - Cincinnati Right to Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By John M. Grondelski | November 6th 2023 – The New Oxford Review White lab coats seem to make people believe their wearers cannot engage in sophistry David Hackney is a Cleveland medical professor who is pushing Issue 1, the proposed Ohio state constitutional amendment to legalize abortion through birth, on the ballot tomorrow, November…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/a-deadly-word-game\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cincinnati Right to Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-11-06T21:45:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-03-01T18:25:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/A-Deadly-Word-Game.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Melanie Wade\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Melanie Wade\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/a-deadly-word-game\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/a-deadly-word-game\/\",\"name\":\"A Deadly Word Game - Cincinnati Right to Life\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/a-deadly-word-game\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/a-deadly-word-game\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/A-Deadly-Word-Game.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-06T21:45:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-03-01T18:25:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/9a5fe1347253fa134f21cdb919caf789\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/a-deadly-word-game\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/a-deadly-word-game\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/a-deadly-word-game\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/A-Deadly-Word-Game.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/A-Deadly-Word-Game.png\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":600},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/a-deadly-word-game\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Deadly Word Game\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/\",\"name\":\"Cincinnati Right to Life\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/9a5fe1347253fa134f21cdb919caf789\",\"name\":\"Melanie Wade\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7ec3fd7a1977f4be962597ccc3e12001?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7ec3fd7a1977f4be962597ccc3e12001?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Melanie Wade\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/author\/mwade\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Deadly Word Game - Cincinnati Right to Life","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/a-deadly-word-game\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Deadly Word Game - Cincinnati Right to Life","og_description":"By John M. 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