Translating the Polite Language of Infanticide

A useful primer:

The Queen's English takes a beating whenever our politics turns to abortion. The most recent instance of this distortion of language -- obfuscation, really -- is the discussion of "partial birth" abortion. This barbaric practice is neither partial, nor is it an abortion. It is nothing short of infanticide.

During the last week's oral arguments in the U.S. Supreme Court, over a federal law seeking to ban this latest assault on the integrity of the human person, my ears perked up when I heard that the lawyers and judges used the term "fetal demise" to describe the fate of the doomed subject of the horrendous practice.

The "fetal" part refers to a baby. The "demise" refers to the killing of the baby, by means of crushing her skull, in the course of a breech delivery.

It should be of no consequence whether this outrage occurs immediately before, during, or after the actual "birth" of the child. It is abhorrent throughout. In terms of the continuum of the child's existence, which begins with conception and ends with death, birth is an entirely arbitrary, fleeting moment in time, a non-event in terms of the child's inherent worth. What in God's name is the principle of science, law, or morality which dictates that a human being is worthless one moment, before birth, and entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness the very next, that is, after birth?

Listening to judges and lawyers arguing whether or not this tragedy occurs in utero is to descend into the theatre of the absurd. At this late stage in pregnancy, no sane human should be disputing the child's expectation of a safe harbor in the arms of the mother.

Hmmm, wonder why we can't simply call "the procedure" what it is?

After all, if the health of the mother is paramount, why should we blanche at calling it infanticide when we don't at committing it?