Report: Associated Press Advises Journalists to use Pro-Abortion Language

The Associated Press recently put out an “abortion topical guide” for journalists — guidance which pro-lifers say “demonstrate[s] even further the extent of the media’s bias in favor of abortion.”

The Associated Press is notably the most used stylebook used by news outlets of all political affiliations and influences how many journalists choose to word and frame various issues. The news organization’s updated abortion guidelines include advising journalists to use the terms “abortion rights” and “anti-abortion,” while foregoing other terms like “pro-life, pro-choice, or pro-abortion.”

The organization additionally advises journalists against using the term “abortionist” because it supposedly “connotes a person who performs clandestine abortions.” However, the dictionary definition of “abortionist” is listed plainly as “one who induces abortions.”

The stylebook states that the term “late-term abortion” should not be used to define an abortion carried out late in a pregnancy. Live Action News notes that the Associated Press has taken issue with term “despite the fact that media has used this terminology for decades to mean an abortion committed late in pregnancy, such as the second and third trimesters.”

“In fact, even abortion business websites themselves have long used that terminology, as have media outlets and the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) is a pro-abortion entity and frequently changes its terminology to match its ideology,” according to the pro-life news outlet.

As far as covering pro-life laws, the Associated Press tells journalists to avoid the terms “fetal heartbeat” and “six-week abortion bans.”

Do not use the term “late-term abortion.” The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists defines late term as 41 weeks through 41 weeks and 6 days of gestation, and abortion does not happen in this period. pic.twitter.com/KjT1k9rDSS

— APStylebook (@APStylebook) December 6, 2022