Big Abortion's 'Sleight of Hand' Tactics: Dehumanize humans not yet born

The abortion industry often utilizes 'sleight of hand' tactics, dehumanizing the preborn child when attempting to sell abortion as acceptable to both mothers and the general public.

Key Takeaways:

• The abortion industry, or "Big Abortion," sells abortion as acceptable; it does so, in part, by dehumanizing preborn children. This is the industry's "sleight of hand," using manipulation and misdirection for its own gain.

• Some in the industry have described preborn children as "nothing" and "nobody."

• Many have referred to a preborn human being as "the pregnancy." At other times, they refer to that same preborn human being as "pregnancy tissue." And they dislike use of the terms "baby" and "heartbeat," claiming that more "medically accurate" terminology should be used (but typically only when the woman's decision is to abort the baby).

• Some claim the preborn child looks like a "blood clot," a "cotton ball," a "dot" or "dryer lint."

• Others know that women seeking chemical abortions might see the body parts of their preborn children — but they attempt to minimize this by comparing the child's developmental size to candy instead of showing or describing to them the actual heads, hands, and feet they may see.

Background:

According to a database describing the meaning behind various idioms:

The phrase “sleight of hand” has been used for centuries to describe a type of skillful deception or manipulation. While its exact origins are unclear, it is believed that the term was first used in medieval times to refer to the tricks performed by street performers and traveling magicians.

Over time, sleight of hand became associated with more sophisticated forms of deception....

... Today, this idiom can be applied to a wide range of activities that involve skillful manipulation or misdirection – from card tricks and stage magic to political maneuvering and corporate espionage.

The Details:

Big Abortion markets death by dehumanizing the preborn child, when in fact, the child in the womb is very much a human being.

'House' with 'No People Inside'

Instead of "trusting women" with the truth that abortion targets a living human baby for violent death, Gabi Theard, a patient coordinator at the Women's Reproductive Clinic of New Mexico (a "pill only clinic," operated by her abortionist father Franz Theard), claims in an Instagram post that she tells her patients there is "nothing" and "nobody" in the womb during an abortion.

Of course, if "nothing" was in the womb, there would be no abortion. She wrote:

"The house is going through a demolition but there are no people inside... Nothing is in there right now - at all. All we're looking for is the house that it would have grown, but there is nobody inside that house."

"It's the way I like to position it, for especially for the ones that are just terrified of the process or feeling a lot of guilt of shame."

In other words, use whatever works to get a woman to agree to an abortion.

Viewing 'baby' terminology as 'medically inaccurate'

To get a clearer look at the deliberate deception implemented in selling women abortions, we can examine the TEACH curriculum (Training in Early Abortion for Comprehensive Healthcare), which partners "with Planned Parenthood affiliates, telehealth medication abortion providers, Family Medicine residency programs, and physicians and Advanced Practice Clinicians (APCs)...to train the next generation of clinicians in comprehensive reproductive healthcare."

TEACH's 8th Edition (2025) states:

• "We use gestational 'duration' rather than 'age”'which personifies the fetus, and we focus on weeks gestation rather than trimesters" (Upadhyay 2023).

• "We use 'medication abortion”'instead of 'medical abortion' to represent medication-based methods and avoid implying medical necessity" (Upadhyay 2023, Weitz 2004).

• "We avoid 'elective' and “'herapeutic' abortion, which imply moral judgment on who is entitled to abortion care" (Watson 2018).

When discussing ultrasounds, TEACH advises, "Use clear and simple language when discussing US findings; avoid triggering language that is medically inaccurate (ie “baby,” “heart beat,” etc.)."

For abortion, TEACH advises providers say "pregnancy" rather than "baby." However, if the woman refers to the "pregnancy" as a "baby" then the provider is allowed to "mirror" her language.

(How noble of them.)

In reality, a "pregnancy" is not dismembered or poisoned in utero, and a "pregnancy" cannot die. Women do not lose "pregnancies." They lose their children in utero. "Pregnancy" is the state of being pregnant with a preborn child.

'Blood clot' or 'cotton ball'

TEACH advises that abortion providers describe the embryo or fetus as resembling a 'blood clot' or 'cotton ball.'

When an abortion client asks if an abortion with "hurt the baby," TEACH suggests telling her:

“No, this will not hurt the baby. The fetal nervous system is not developed enough to feel pain at this point in the pregnancy. Still, it may be comforting to know that any pain medication you receive will also reach the fetus.”

... Before 9 weeks, it is difficult to visualize fetal parts. You can say, “The pregnancy may look like a blood clot or a cotton ball.” [emphasis added]

If asked, "What will I see when the pregnancy passes?" TEACH curriculum also advises:

• At <9 weeks LMP, blood and clots are usually visible, and a gestational sac may be seen (white frond-like material in clumps), but it is unlikely to identify an embryo. [emphasis added]

• At >9 weeks LMP, a fetus may be identifiable; counsel people accordingly.

TEACH adds separately:

At >9 weeks gestation, one may see a recognizable embryo or fetus. Visualization of pregnancy tissue is available at the MYA network and size and characteristics are available at Perinatology.com. [emphasis added]

In reality, as Live Action News previously documented, the pro-abortion MYA Network deceptively portrays the embryo/fetus as a "cotton ball" type of substance. However, before the MYA Network's photos were taken, the actual embryos were removed, and the gestational sacs were rinsed.

The MYA Network images look eerily similar to images included in the TEACH Curriculum to represent a "gestational sac."

Interestingly enough, the website Perinatology.com, listed by TEACH, states that at 7 weeks "embryonic age" which is "Gestational age 9 weeks," the "heart is beating at about 170 beats per minute." But if you search the TEACH curriculum, the beating heart is never mentioned (and, of course, "heart beat" is a term not to be used).

At "Gestational age 10 weeks (2.3 months) — fetal age 8 weeks" Perinatology.com states:

• Fingerprints are being formed... and bone cells are replacing cartilage.

• The adrenal glands are starting to produce catecholamines and the pituitary is starting to release ADH and oxytocin.

• The fetus can make IgM. [Note: According to Cleveland Clinic, "immunoglobulin M) is a type of antibody that your body makes to help you fight off infections."]

• The average fetus at 10 weeks is 1.22 inches (3.1 cm) long and weighs about 1.2 ounces (35 grams).

At "Gestational age 11 weeks (2.5 months) — fetal age 9 weeks" the website states, "The fetus is starting to have breathing movements. It can open its mouth and swallow" and "weighs about 1.6 ounces (45 grams)."

'Pregnancy' looks like a 'dot' or 'dryer lint'

Planned Parenthood's website markets two different ways to discuss the preborn child, depending on the desired outcome.

On its pregnancy month to month web page, the organization gives details about the growing embryo. Yet, as documented multiple times by Live Action News, Planned Parenthood has been shown to use deceptive marketing.

For example, on Planned Parenthood’s “How Pregnancy Happens” web page, the corporation’s video clearly shows the embryo inside the pregnant mother.

However, when Planned Parenthood is attempting to sell a woman the abortion pill (which is, according to the organization, about 70% of the over 400,000 abortions they committed last year alone), the abortion corporation does not give women this same information.

Instead, Planned Parenthood's abortion pill video compares the embryo or fetus to a "dot."

In both instances, Planned Parenthood refers to a preborn child unscientifically as "the pregnancy."

Separately, however, Planned Parenthood's blog tells women that "early in pregnancy" ("pregnancy" being used not to refer to the child but as the state of gestating a child in this case), preborn children are merely "pregnancy tissue" that "looks similar to dryer lint."

(Apparently, to Planned Parenthood, the child is both "the pregnancy" as well as the "pregnancy tissue.")

Planned Parenthood wrote:

Some people are worried their medication abortion didn’t work because they’re expecting to see more blood, tissue, or large clumps to come out.

But at the early stages of pregnancy when taking abortion pills is an option, it’s very likely that all you’ll see is what looks like a period. This is because early in pregnancy, the pregnancy tissue looks similar to dryer lint, which, mixed in with blood, is often not very noticeable.

The exact same deceptive language was documented in Live Action News' series, "A Nation Deceived," where researcher Sheena Rodriguez detailed Planned Parenthood's comprehensive sex-ed curriculum:

Utilizing debunked photographs, Planned Parenthood’s curriculum aims to dehumanize the preborn human child living and growing inside of the mother’s womb by depicting him/her as nothing of consequence. But this intentional distortion of reality perpetrated by Planned Parenthood could never actually replace the truth. 

The truth is that from the moment of conception, an individual human being is human and is alive, evidenced by the continued growth and further development of trillions of unique human cells and DNA.

Showing candy instead of a baby

The website INeedanA.com — linked to by many in the abortion industry, including abortion pill manufacturers Danco Laboratories, GenBioPro, and Evita Solutions — acknowledges online that the growing fetus may have a "head, arms, and legs" and notes that "see[ing] the fetus" may have "surprising" effects.

Yet, instead of showing what women may expect to see (because showing a preborn child with arms and legs and a recognizable human appearance could hurt their bottom line), they show... candy.

Asked, "What should I expect if I take the pills after 12 weeks? Will I see a fetus?" INeedanA responded:

It can vary a lot, depending on how far along the pregnancy is. The further along the pregnancy is, the larger and more developed the fetus will be (with a head, arms, and legs). It can be surprising to see the fetus, so it’s good to be aware of this ahead of time.

Here's what the website doesn't show when a woman takes the abortion pill around 10 weeks:

Instead, INeedAnA writes, "To give you a sense of how large the fetus might be based on how long you’ve been pregnant, we’ve broken down size ranges with candy since candy is easily available and a consistent size." 

The Bottom Line:

Abortion is the violent taking of human life. Abortion profiteers are using sleight of hand deception to manipulate women into purchasing death for that child.

While the deceptive marketing tactics employed by the larger abortion industry are beginning to catch the attention of some state attorneys general, more needs to be done.