Apropos of the issue of the definitional power of euphemistic language, the NY Times today has an article on a growing movement among opponents of abortion rights and embryo research to “adopt” unused embryos left over from IVF procedures (i.e., to arrange to transfer them to women who are not the ovum donors, who will gestate them in order to prevent them being discarded or used in research). While the practice itself is not necessarily problematic, the organized movement in favor of such transfers is rife with manipulative language and demonstrative grandstanding. President Bush’s recent awkward baby-kissing was staged among a group of “adopted-embryo” children, and apparently such displays have become popular among right-wing politicians.

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