transcription, транскрипция: [ prəu ]
prefix (People and Society) In favour of; used in a number of adjectives relating to the abortion debates of the late seventies and eighties, especially: pro-choice, in favour of a woman's right to choose whether or not to have an abortion; pro-family, promoting family life and a return to a Christian moral code based on the family unit (and therefore opposed to the legalizing of abortion); pro-life, in favour of upholding the right to life of the developing foetus (and therefore against abortion). Etymology: The Latin prefix pro- used in its usual sense 'in favour of, on behalf of'; in all of these formations, whichever side of the issue they represent, there is an attempt to present a positive approach by choosing a term containing this prefix rather than a complementary term containing anti-: see the comments at anti-choice. History and Usage: All of these terms arose in the US in the seventies and by the early eighties had become central to an understanding of political debate there and important election issues in many States. Pro-choice was first used in the mid seventies, sometimes as a noun (short for pro-choice movement) as well as an adjective; by the end of the decade a supporter of this view was regularly known as a pro-choicer. Pro-life was a more positive adjective which the anti-abortion lobby applied to itself from the late seventies onwards (see the discussion under anti-choice); a supporter of this view is a pro-lifer. The pro-family campaign was a rather broader political issue (also a product of the late seventies), advocating a return to the values of family life and the moral standards of biblical Christianity, but this, of course, also embraced a stand against abortion. Some 'pro-family' activists...noisily pressed their antiabortion and 'morality' platform. Bob Frishman American Families (1984), p. 15 Right-to-life groups, re-energized by the ruling, press for new laws limiting abortion, and their pro-choice counterparts rally to protect the gains embodied in Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision. New York Times Magazine 6 Aug. 1989, p. 18 Abortion was legalized in 1973, but with 1.5 million women annually opting for the procedure during the '80s, the issue flared anew. Right-to-life advocates fostered shows of civil disobedience while a lunatic fringe bombed clinics. Last July the Supreme Court retreated from its landmark Roe v. Wade decision by allowing individual states to impose restrictions. [Photo caption] Cleveland: Steven Green, 25, is hauled from the entrance of an abortion clinic that he and other members of Operation Rescue, a national 'pro-life' group, had been blocking. Life Fall 1989, p. 98 See also right-to-life