Mike Pence picked the right ground on which to argue abortion policy. Partial-birth abortion is an issue that divides the leadership of the national Democratic party from the electorate. The only way he could have done better would have been to be a little less jargony and a little more personal in his rhetoric.

Most Americans don’t spend much of their time thinking about politics. The language of Americans who do care about politics amounts almost to a dialect in itself.

Many Americans who were listening to Pence had little to no idea what “partial-birth abortion” means. Worse, the Americans who do know are the ones who pay the most attention to politics and are most likely to have strong pre-existing commitments. That means that an unexplained reference to partial-birth abortion is most likely to be understood by those who are the least likely to be persuaded. (Pence did effectively remind committed pro-lifers of the abortion extremism of the Democratic party.)

Pence was subject to time limits, but he, and other pro-life politicians, and pro-life organizations that seek to make an impact on public opinion would be well served to slow down a little and invest time in explaining the meaning of the political language they use. An example might be:

Hillary Clinton believes in something called partial-birth abortion. This is done to a seven- or eight-month-old fetus. When you see them on an ultrasound, you see a little boy or girl with a heartbeat, fingers and brain activity. You see a baby. You can see a baby kicking, and crying and sucking her thumb. Partial-birth abortion means someone turns that baby around in the womb, delivers most of her living body, and then destroys the brain before the head is delivered. This way they can call it abortion instead of murder. This is horrible, and my opponent thinks it should be legal and that the taxpayers — that means you at home — should be forced to pay for it.