The Associated Press (AP) has adopted an overt pro-abortion stance in its language choices, instructing its reporters to avoid the use of “crisis pregnancy centers” and “pregnancy resource centers” in favor of the derogatory “anti-abortion centers.”
Reporters should “avoid potentially misleading terms such as pregnancy resource centers or pregnancy counseling centers,” because “these terms don’t convey that the centers’ general aim is to prevent abortions,” the AP says in its most recent Abortion Topical Guide.
If using the term anti-abortion center, the Guide instructs, “explain later that these often are known as ‘crisis pregnancy centers’ (with quotation marks) and that their aim is to dissuade people from getting an abortion.”
The AP Guide also directs its journalists to use the modifiers “anti-abortion” or “abortion-rights,” rather than “pro-life,” “pro-choice,” or “pro-abortion” unless they are in quotes or proper names.
“Avoid abortionist, which connotes a person who performs clandestine abortions,” the Guide states.
In this photo released by the Longmont Police Department the Life Choices building in Longmont, Colo., is seen vandalized on Saturday, June 25, 2022, following a fire at the Christian pregnancy center. The fire, which is being investigated by police as a possible arson, was reported hours after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and said abortion laws would be decided by the states. (Longmont Police Department via AP)
As an authority, the AP cites the Planned Parenthood-affiliated Guttmacher Institute, which it refers to fawningly as “a science-based research group that supports abortion rights.”
The Guide Avoid further prohibits the use of the terms “fetal heartbeat bill” and “heartbeat bill,” since “the terms are overly broad and misleading given the disagreement over details, such as what constitutes a heartbeat at varying gestational ages.”
The AP allows the use of the term unborn baby and unborn child in cases not involving abortion. The examples offered in the guide are “Weiss said her love for her unborn baby was the strongest feeling she had ever felt” and “The expectant mother lost her baby in the seventh month of pregnancy.”
In its Guide, the AP declares categorically that emergency contraceptives such as “Plan B” prevent ovulation and are not abortifacient. According to Women’s Health magazine, however, Plan B “can also prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus,” which constitutes abortion for anyone aware that human life begins at conception.
When speaking about abortions, AP counsels using the verb “provide” rather than the verb “perform,” since the former has a more positive connotation.
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