Abortion by Any Other Name Is Still Abortion

By Maria Gallagher, Legislative Director
Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation

While skimming through a news summary of an abortion-related study, I came upon the acronym "T.O.P."  Since my eye had been racing down the email, I had to double-back to try to find out what T.O.P. stood for. The answer? "Termination of Pregnancy." 

I then decided to perform a Google search of "T.O.P."  The query yielded 4.5 billion results, but those on the first page-and who goes beyond the first page of a Google search?-involved references to software, a South Korean rapper, women's clothing, a Spanish journal, and, of course, the hit TV show "Top Chef." 

I clicked "Next" twice more to get to the second and third pages of the Google search. Here I found references to the group ZZ Top and comedian David Letterman's Top Ten list, among other things. 

At least the Google algorithm does not find this sanitized reference to abortion to be popular terminology on the World Wide Web.

It seems so ironic, too, that three letters which in another context would be used to describe a beloved children's toy would stand for the taking of an innocent child's life. 

As one 20-something said about "T.O.P.": "That really is disturbing. They're just further and further distancing women from the facts about what abortion really is with dry, meaningless terms." 

The drive to keep abortion legal is fueled by code words and vague terminology.  At first, it was all about "the right to choose," without saying what the choice represented. Now, we hear a great deal about "reproductive justice," and who can be for the presumed counterpart, unproductive injustice? Much talk centers now on "women's health," as if abortions were customarily as therapeutic as heart-healthy diets or strength training to avoid osteoporosis. 

The best writing touches one's soul. The words carry abundant meaning and pierce the heart. The thought is transmitted instantaneously and unambiguously to the reader, viewer, or listener. A point of reference can be the American Film Institute's list of the 100 greatest movie quotes, among them: "May the Force be with you," Star Wars. "There's no place like home," Wizard of Oz. "What we've got here is a failure to communicate," Cool Hand Luke.  

Yes, what we have here definitely is a failure to communicate. But the obfuscation by the abortion industry and its apologists cannot change the fundamental truth, that abortion takes an innocent, unrepeatable human life, and can inflict deep emotional wounds on the mother whose child was lost at the abortionist's door. 

"T.O.P." sounds so harmless, yet leaves a lasting legacy which affects not only one life, but generations lost along a family tree. The innocuous sound of the language does not mitigate the devastation of the lethal action. 

A quote attributed to the author Sidney Sheldon states, "A blank piece of paper is God's way of telling us how hard it is to be God."  

T.O.P. is an attempt to play God, to decide for oneself the moment that a child's earthly life should be over, before she's taken her first breath outside the womb. It is the ultimate reproductive injustice, the most tragic choice, an abortionist's journey to the bottom of an abyss.  

But it is on the decline, for, despite distortions and headline-grabbing hyperbole, the truth does, in fact, emerge.