Did anyone catch this interesting turn of a phrase on Olberman last night?

[lukasahero]

During the story on the woman and young boy who were killed in Texas, Olberman cut to a reporter "on the ground" there and during his "report" he used the words "unborn 7-month old baby".

Apparently that's referring to the fact that the murdered woman was seven months pregnant. Guess it's just not good enough that she and her living son were murdered by this cowardly monster, the reporter had to get the idea in there that there's an additional crime in the death of the unborn child.

I have never heard an unborn baby referred to as a seven month old and it really threw me. Did anyone else even notice it? Is that part of the problem? Is even my use of the words "unborn child" or "unborn baby" contributing to the cause of the right-to-lifers?

[davepc]

1. So if you want to have a child and bring it to term

You're not allowed to refer to it as a baby or a child until it pops out of you?

I think these semantic games are silly. Most 7 month fetuses will be viable outside the womb with decent medical care.

I don't have a problem with abortion for the most part, but is it too much to ask that a woman make up her mind within 3 or 4 months of learning she's pregnant if she wants to bring the not-quite-yet-a-person to term?

[Sweet Freedom]

4. "is it too much to ask

that a woman make up her mind within 3 or 4 months of learning she's pregnant if she wants to bring the not-quite-yet-a-person to term?"

Many women do not know of any deformities or neural tube defects, etc. until they are tested during the 17th week of pregnancy.

[enkidu2]

6. so then

i am infact 9 months older than i thought i was? gosh and i had a birthday and no presents?

[LisaLynne]

9. Yeah, that's what I have an issue with.

I'm not going to be 9 months older than I am now! Well, unless they reinstate the draft...

But seriously, we don't start counting the age of a person until they are born, so that is probably a new way to "frame" the debate from the other side.

[mattclearing]

7. These semantic games are not silly.

I know some states treat murder of a pregnant woman as a more heinous crime.

Additionally, language establishing the rights of children inside the womb are almost always used by anti-choice advocates and those who would appease them; this kind of talk is intended to gradually plant the idea that a fetus is a baby, from which the conclusion can be drawn that abortion is murder.

[lukasahero]

8. Thanks tasteblind

I guess that's what I thought when I heard the phrase. I thought he was referring to another child at first and it took me a minute to realize he was actually referring to the fact that the woman was pregnant. Why wasn't her death and the death of her son heinous enough?

[Kathy in Cambridge]

2. It's a fetus until it's out of the womb

end of story. But at 7 months it is a baby to the woman carrying, but scientifically it's a fetus.

[lukasahero]

5. I agree that it's a "baby" at 7 months

because it is likely to be viable outside of the womb hence my choice of words. I couldn't call "it" an it or a fetus at seven months but I'm also not sure I could call "it" seven months old. It just struck me as a really odd description and one I had never heard (or noticed) before.

[Spinzonner]

3. Was he Chinese

Don't they start counting from conception ?

[yo-yo-ma]

10. it's a really common thing to say

even pro-choice OB/Gyns will find themselves saying "baby" when technically they mean fetus.

And it's hard not to feel that this life is indeed a "baby" for all the reasons mentioned above.

As for the insidious creep of anti-choice language -- more of a concern in legal definitions etc. -- I wouldn't read too much into this.