re: #781 Obdicut

Does it have to be one word? Are we paying by the line or something? I don’t have a sound-bite for you. If you are convinced parasite works, then go ahead and use it. Maybe I’m wrong. Just pay attention to results, and validate that choice with scrutiny.

Unfortunately, it does have to come down to one or two words, because that is where the war of rhetoric is fought, until it gets into the details of testimony, biology, and law for the people who actually will be writing, or rewriting the rules.

“Abortion is murder” and “Child not a choice” resonate not because they are true, but because they are short. “A woman’s body is her jurisdiction” is rather longer, and less catchy, and engenders further questions. The side of choice has the harder job, as we are arguing against the power of millennia-old parchment and dogmatism. We need semiotically powerful words, not for shock value, but to be rhetorically load-bearing. I find ‘fetus as parasite’ to have that function - I already wouldn’t be using it if I thought it was doing the pro-choice argument a disservice.