Yoest explained that while pro-life advocates have been consistent in delivering a message of "defending life," the abortion movement has changed the way it framed its arguments numerous times.
In the 1970s, she said, abortion advocates relied upon the "right to privacy" and emphasized that banning the procedure would lead to an increase in "back-alley abortions" and dangerous illegal procedures.
Today, however, abortion is seen as "reproductive freedom" and the "irreducible minimum of feminine empowerment," she continued. The procedure is now supported as necessary for "equality and opportunity for all women," and some have even tried to rebrand it as a means by which women can feel connected to one another.
In a further push to make abortion appear "morally neutral" and universal, the idea of "choice" is now being abandoned as well, Yoest said, pointing out that if abortion is necessary for women's empowerment, it is logical to have every American pay for it, leaving behind any "choice" in the participation.
"What they could not win through choice they intend to impose through coercion," she commented.
These rhetorical changes have also affected the debates around fetal personhood, said Laura Garcia, professor of philosophy at Boston College. From the 1970s through the 1990s, she observed, a large portion of the abortion debate centered upon whether or not a fetus was a person.
Now, because of advances in prenatal imaging, Garcia explained, "no one really denies" that a fetus is a human person. Widespread use of 3D sonogram pictures has helped establish the humanity of the unborn, particularly among young people, she said.
As a response, abortion is now promoted as an unfortunate but necessary reality, the panel speakers noted, adding that the word is increasingly being abandoned altogether in favor of the term "reproductive rights."