Abortion glossary :: Unborn Baby
The term "unborn baby" is a colloquial term for an intrauterine foetus. Although, technically, it's not a baby because it has not been born (e.g., naturally, via surgical intervention, etc.), referring to a foetus as a baby reflects the intended and/or optimistic outcome of what is ultimately expected to be a successful pregnancy, and is not specifically useful as a technical medical term.
Debating strategy
When an anti-abortion person uses the word "baby" to refer to an intrauterine foetus, asking when the baby was born can prompt them to clarify what they mean, and it should be followed up with a corrective statement like "oh, you mean a foetus" (if it's intrauterine) or by asking "how does that address abortion?" (if it's ex-uterine).
Obtaining clarification of pre-birth vs. post-birth status can neutralize their argument, but if they continue to insist that "baby" is the correct word to use, then what they're doing is attempting to use manipulative tactics to control the narrative in support of their position, which should be rejected directly.
Logical perspective:
- birth is an indisputable pre-requisite for all babies (since babies must be born)
- therefore, to be "unborn" would require putting said baby back into a womb
- ...which is unrealistic because it's untenable since the baby would likely be too large
- ...which is dangerous because it would likely be fatal for both the baby and the womb's host
If delving into semantics, then one can easily point out that since abortion is a medical procedure, it's reasonable to expect medical perspectives to inform word choices while preemting ambiguity (simulatenously solving two problems at once).
See also