Controlling the Language of Abortion

From Alternet:

[T]he travesty of language around abortion is so pervasive that even Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing the decision for the court’s majority, in addition to using the inaccurate term “partial birth abortion,” also referred to the “abortion doctor” repeatedly in the ruling. Why did he not simply refer to doctors as “doctors,” or “ob/gyns”?

…

There is no such thing as partial birth abortion. The term will be found in no medical book. It was coined in 1995 by Douglas Johnson, legislative director for the National Right-to-Life Committee, and former Congressional representative and current Florida appeals court judge Charles Canady explicitly to confuse, horrify, and deceive — to manipulate language with the intent of sensationalizing the abortion debate.