"Aborior, as a verb itself, means simply to fail."

"Contra is Latin for against or opposite. Conceptio is a Latin verb meaning "to conceive." Put together, the two words form contraception meaning "against conceiving."

"Birth control is an artificial device that attempts to eliminate God from reproduction. It gives control to humans without respect to the divine role in reproduction."

"There is another choice involved, and it is one that can be made in good conscience. That is the choice of abstinence."

The Words People Use:
An etymological glance at abortion, contraception and other words

Words are tools of communication. Ferdinand de Saussure, a linguist, described words as a type of code. They are used to impart knowledge from one person to another. Both parties in the relationship must have knowledge of the same code in order to understand each other.

Put simply, the person you’re talking about has to know what the heck you mean when you say something! If I tell you to pick up an orange, and you don’t know what I mean by the word orange, chances are you’re not going to pick up the orange.

Words such as abortion and contraception are very good words, because they describe perfectly what the actions entail. Let’s look more closely.

Abortion

First, abortion. Obviously, this is the noun form of abort, which means, "to cease growth before full development or maturation," according to The American Heritage Dictionary. Notice the cessation of growth "before full development." The definition implies that something has already begun to grow and to develop.

In FBI/CIA/military lingo, to abort a mission is to cease the operations of the mission before it has been completed, but after the mission has begun. The word abort indicates that the mission ends before the intended end results, but it also implies that had the mission not been aborted, the expected end would have occurred.

The same applies to pregnancy. Had the pregnancy not been aborted or ceased or terminated (an even better word that is used regularly), the intended end – a baby – would have resulted. Explain to me again how this is not murder?

Breaking the word down

It’s rather common for a person mourning the death of another to say something like, "Now, he’s gone. He’s just gone." The deceased has been erased from life, and those left to mourn feel emptiness because the person has ceased to exist. It’s as if the deceased had disappeared.

Back to the word abort. Abort is derived from the Latin verb aborior, which is comprised of two other Latin words ab and orior.

Ab is a preposition, which when used as referring to motion or measurement, means away from or from. Orior means to rise or to appear. Combined, they would mean something like "to rise away from" or "to appear away."

It’s a rather odd combination. Typically, when we think of something appearing, we think of it as coming closer to us. Yet, in aborior, we imagine something appearing away from us. It seems strange and ironic.

Aborior, as a verb itself, means simply to fail. The choice of the word abortion for the intended and forced failure of a pregnancy seems very appropriate when looking at the Latin roots.

Contraception

Contraception likewise comes from Latin roots. Contra is Latin for against or opposite. Conceptio is a Latin verb meaning "to conceive."

Put together, the two words form contraception meaning "against conceiving."

The negativity of the word against implies that something is wrong with conceiving. Obviously, those using contraception intend not to conceive. Yet, the word fits the action, because it signifies that there is something undesirable about conception, babies, and fertility itself.

Contraception is a device that is used against reproduction and the natural processes of the body. Contraception implies the body is in need of repair and takes action to stop natural processes. However, in using contraception, an individual is in fact making the body not work as it should. This clearly is not in line with reason.

Changing Terminology

This glance at the etymology of abortion and contraception is perhaps unenlightening on the surface, but it does give us some insight into the subtle efforts by some to move away from these words.

Birth Control

Birth control, for example, is a much more positive sounding term than contraception. It eliminates the opposition implied in contra and replaces it with control. It is intended to show responsibility. Control is something usually thought of as positive.

Yet, even using the term birth control signals one aspect of the device that is immoral. The Church teaches that God plays a role in reproduction. Birth control is an artificial device that attempts to eliminate God from reproduction. It gives control to humans without respect to the divine role in reproduction.

Forced Pregnancy

Sometimes words impart more knowledge than is desired by the speaker. This is the case with the word abortion. Many abortion supporters recently have made efforts to move away from that term. They are attempting to convince the United Nations that laws restricting abortion cause forced pregnancy or enforced pregnancy.

You will notice they have turned the attention away from abortion itself and switched it to the "laws restricting reproductive freedom." By using the term forced, they attempt to create an image of oppression.

It is interesting to note that Pope John Paul II this week asked for a definition of forced or enforced pregnancy (Catholic World News July 16, 1998). It will be interesting to see what the reply is.

Forced pregnancy implies there is no choice. Abortion supporters use this term to argue that women ought to have a choice. Obviously, women have a free will and can choose abortion if they so desire. They cannot however choose abortion with moral impunity.

However, there is another choice involved, and it is one that can be made in good conscience. That is the choice of abstinence.

The term forced pregnancy is inaccurate at best when used to describe the pregnancy of a woman who willingly had sexual relations with another man. The term might be applied to a woman who is a victim of rape or incest, but I must add, fewer than two percent of woman cite rape or incest as the reason for their abortions (SOURCE: Family Planning Perspectives, July/August 1988 issue, page 170).