There are certain words that become quite detrimental to the art of consensus building.

Words such as Nazis, genocide, weak, blind, godless, fanatical, coo coo for coco puffs, etc. will usually not help your cause in any argument or debate.

That’s just the way it is.

So when pro-life protesters labeled abortion as slavery during the March for Life, a yearly demonstration against Roe v. Wade, I have to wonder how this kind of rhetoric helps achieve anyone’s goals.

The Washington Post quoted Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) as wanting President Barack Obama to realize “that the reason we built that monument to President Abraham Lincoln is because he saw the humanity in a slave that the Supreme Court said was not human.”

This of course goes against the fact that the Emancipation Proclamation only ended slavery in the Confederacy — Union border states still had slaves. In addition, the executive order was also seen as a military tactic to disable the Southern war machine.

While I think Franks’ claim actually distracts us from other, less contentious human trafficking, we need to analyze the effects of this divisiveness in the pro-life movement.

After 35 years of showing pictures of fetuses and yelling genocide, Roe v. Wade still stands and shows little signs of disappearing completely within the next 8 years.

Implying pro-choice citizens are oppressive slave drivers will not end abortion in the U.S. In fact, overturning Roe v. Wade will not end de facto abortions in the U.S.

Instead, we need to focus on policy options where consensus and compromise will easily thrive.

This agreement starts by acknowledging that almost everyone does not want to get an abortion or have a significant other get one. Thus, we need to start with mutual understand and patience, and focus our energy and resources on lowering abortion rates, not overturning a court case.

Action does not have to be done in Washington, and action taken on the more local level will probably be better received than action taken by polarizing actors in the current debate.

We need better, more affordable healthcare to pregnant women, especially teenagers. Adoption laws need to lose red tape and more money needs to be invested into sex education. Some of these goals have found increased support in the pro-life movement.

More fundamentally, we need to approach the problem with empathy, compassion and understanding. Being a pregnant, unwed teenager, for example, is a difficult position with many stigmas. For one, according to BabyHealth.net, the average belly height of a pregnant women is 13 inches. Just imagine how that extra 13 inches feels squeezed into a Rigge 120 desk.

The abortion issue is a sticky one with strong emotions. But this doesn’t mean two cannot find a common ground for improvement.

Let’s end the name calling, from both sides, and begin a discussion with practical solutions.