We were always counselled to avoid apostates at all costs, so to brand anyone who leaves as apostate is, in a way, s clever tactic by the org. It almost ensures that those still trapped won't have any unnecessary association with them. That's what got me in trouble origjnally - associating with a friend who'd da'd. It would have earned me a jc if I hadn't da'd myself, so I'm an apostate myself now, and happy to be one.
Linda