The Patriot Post® · NPR: Don't Call a Baby a Baby

National Public Radio is seeking to suppress the truth. That’s the only conclusion to be drawn after the publicly funded radio network recirculated longstanding instruction to its staff to avoid referring to pre-born babies as “babies” or “the unborn” and rather only use the term “fetus.” Moreover, “fetal heartbeat” is “their term” — meaning, those pro-life yokels — so don’t refer to it that way when discussing laws like those in Georgia and Alabama. This is yet another example of the word games leftists play to obfuscate clear and objective reality, while at the same time claiming that it is conservatives who are guilty of engaging in a lie.

NPR editor and Science Desk correspondent Joe Neel gave the following instructions to staff:

The term “unborn” implies that there is a baby inside a pregnant woman, not a fetus. Babies are not babies until they are born. They’re fetuses. Incorrectly calling a fetus a “baby” or “the unborn” is part of the strategy used by antiabortion groups to shift language/legality/public opinion. Use “unborn” only when referring to the title of the bill (and after President Bush signs it, the Unborn Victims of Violence Law). Or qualify the use of “unborn” by saying “what anti-abortion groups call the ‘unborn’ victims of violence.” The most neutral language to refer to the death of a fetus during a crime is “fetal homicide.”

Talk about your classic straw man. When have pro-lifers ever claimed that an unborn baby was not a fetus? What pro-lifers have consistently pointed out is the scientific fact that a fetus is a baby. As The Federalist’s Joy Pullman notes, “The plain truth is, fetuses are babies. Pro-lifers saying so doesn’t make it false, even if NPR’s speech police don’t like to hear it or feel it’s a particularly effective pro-life argument.”

The truth is there is no scientific middle or neutral ground on the question of whether a developing human fetus is a baby. To say otherwise is to engage in a lie. While NPR likes to claim that it’s simply maintaining some neutral journalistic middle ground, in reality, Neel’s terminology rules are design to bias listeners against the humanity of the unborn child.