Life after birth
Sir: In response to Dot Wordsworth's col- umn 'Mind your language, 28 October' on the use of pro-choice and pro-life in the abortion debate, I would agree with her up to a point, but she has not gone far enough.
Indeed, pro-choke as used in the repro- ductive sense is inaccurate and should be changed or modified, if for no other reason than that it robs us of a useful term in other circumstances.
But pm-life as its opposite is also deceiv- ing; it applies only to a narrowly defined condition, the antenatal one. Once born, the child ceases to be of concern to the pro-life movement. Much too often the pro-life camp just postpones the elimination of unwanted children until later. This is espe- cially true in the United States, where pro- life groups tend to be against gun control and in favour of liberal use of capital pun- ishment. The combined results of these policies are dysfunctional families, and more young people killed by street guns than dying from other causes.
I have no choices for naming these two groups, but I am open to suggestions.
Marta Kastner
Cedar Hill, Rt 4, Box 247, Lexington, VA24450, USA
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