Answering 30 Pro-Choice Arguments
Ideological Arguments
1. Abortion is a private decision between a
woman and her physician.
Abortion deeply affects many others besides
the woman and her doctor, the most obvious of which is the unborn child whose
life is taken. Every abortion also takes
a child from both the father as well as the mother.
2. My body, my choice
This phrase would make sense if it could be
spoken by the unborn child. Abortion
does not kill the mother’s body. It
kills the baby’s body. The mother is not
the baby. The baby is not the mother. The baby is not even part of the mother’s body. It is a completely separate human life with
its own unique DNA.
3. Abortion is a “reproductive right”.
Abortion is not about reproduction. The
purpose of an abortion is to end a reproduction that has
already taken place. The
right to not be killed supersedes the right to not be pregnant.
4. Abortion is an empowering choice for the
modern woman.
Many studies
show that women report depression,
anxiety, guilt and other negative consequences after having an
abortion. Even for a woman who reports
feeling relief after an abortion, it is impossible to say she will never
struggle with the decision throughout the rest of her life.
5. A woman shouldn’t be “forced” to have the
baby. The baby shouldn’t be born into a
situation where it is unwanted.
The mother already “has” the baby living and
growing inside her. Outside of cases of rape,
the pregnancy was not forced. The only
thing being
forced is that the baby not be killed.
If she does not wish to raise it, there are many wonderful options for
adoption.
6. I’m personally opposed to abortion but I support
a woman’s right to choose.
It is inconsistent and intellectually
dishonest to be theoretically against killing unborn children while at the same
time supporting laws that allow unborn children to be killed. This would be akin to someone refusing to
abuse their own child for moral reasons, but supporting the right for others to
abuse their children.
Exceptions for the Mother
7. What about rape/incest?
Even though rape is frequently cited as a
necessary exception, it actually accounts for less than 1%
of all abortions. Rape and incest are
horrible crimes, and any perpetrator should be prosecuted to the full extent of
the law. But this does not mean the baby
deserves to die. Too often an abortion
will only cause
more pain for a woman who has already been victimized. Instead she can help her own healing process
by giving the baby the gift of life, and making an adoption plan if she does not want to
be a mother.
8. What about “medically necessary”
abortions? Or exceptions for life of the mother?
Requiring an abortion to save the mother’s
life is virtually nonexistent. Only a clinic with a vested interest in
abortion would make this case, and it would be prudent to seek a second
opinion. In rare cases in which a
mother’s life may truly be in danger, an abortion actually puts her at higher risk,
as the procedure can take 24-72 hours to perform. Time is of the essence in a life-threatening
emergency. The safest solution would
typically be to perform an immediate C-section, which usually takes less than
an hour, and deliver the baby. But there
is no need to kill it.
Ectopic pregnancies are another frequently cited
reason for abortion. A baby will not
survive an ectopic pregnancy, and without intervention the mother will also
likely die. The removal of this doomed
pregnancy then is not an elective abortion, but rather a lifesaving procedure
for the mother.
9. The mother is too young/too old.
A very young or very old mother can be a
difficult situation, but if she does not want the baby or is unable to care for
it, she can make an adoption plan and choose to place her child with a loving family.
The mother can go the rest of her life knowing she gave the baby a
chance for life, instead of a life of regret for choosing an abortion.
Medical Arguments
10. Abortion is a “medical procedure”, or “health
care”.
Medicine is the diagnosis, treatment and
prevention of disease. Pregnancy is not
a disease that needs to be cured. The
goal of medicine or health care is to preserve and improve life. Abortion is the opposite of medicine. It is a violent, barbaric procedure
which ends a human life.
11. It’s not human. It’s just a clump of cells.
There is no minimum size to be considered
human. There is no moment in fetal
development in which a non-human suddenly transitions into a human. A new human life is started at the moment of
conception with a DNA combination unique in all of history, never to be
repeated. The blueprint for every characteristic the baby will exhibit is
present from the very beginning. Limbs,
eyes and blood vessels start to form in the first few weeks. A heartbeat can be detected by 5 weeks. Embryo, fetus, newborn and toddler are all
just various stages of a human life.
12. I’m opposed to late term abortions, but
in the first trimester it’s not a big deal.
Regardless of size, every abortion ends a
human life. The morality of ending a human life does not depend on the stage or
size of that life.
13. My baby will have birth defects or
physical challenges.
People with birth defects or physical
challenges overwhelmingly report
having loving, meaningful lives. A major
2011 study showed that 99% of parents of down syndrome children love them, and
97% are proud of them. If a person with
disabilities is not worth living, what terrible message does this send to those
with disabilities who are already born? This
eugenic type of justification is a small step away from aborting babies based
on gender or other physical characteristics deemed unworthy.
14. Natural miscarriages happen all the
time. Abortions are basically the same
thing.
Although miscarriages are relatively common,
this is not a reason to intentionally take a life. By this logic it would be acceptable to kill
a grown person because people die every day anyway.
15. Viability—the baby can’t survive on its
own yet, so it’s ok to abort.
Just like the baby in the womb, a newborn is also
not viable left on its own. A human baby
is more
helpless at birth than virtually any other species on earth. It requires food and warmth, which most often
comes directly from the mother. But this
dependence does not mean the mother should have the right to kill it. The unborn baby also should not be condemned
to die simply because it depends on the mother while in the womb.
16. It can’t feel pain/it’s not sentient yet.
The value of human life is not determined by full
cognitive awareness or ability to feel pain.
By this logic someone under anesthesia or in a coma could be
killed. It could be argued that the
person in these cases will come out of anesthesia or wake up from the coma, and
therefore should not be killed. But the
same logic is also true for an unborn child.
They will feel pain and become sentient at some point in the near
future.
17. A medical abortion is a quick and easy
way to have an abortion.
Women frequently experience severe pain, cramps, nausea and
prolonged bleeding for up to several days after taking the RU486 pill
combination. This is followed by the
horror of passing her deceased unborn child at home, often into the toilet or a tub. There is no protocol given for how to dispose
of these human remains at home.
18. Abortions help provide stem cells for
valuable lifesaving research.
Stem cell research has great potential, but this
is not a justification for abortion. Aside
from the fallacy of intentionally ending a life in order to research how to possibly
help other lives, abortions are not the most reliable source of useful stem
cells. The time frame for collecting
useful cells from a fetus is usually past by the time a woman discovers she is
pregnant. On the other hand, after a
normal delivery the placenta
provides a plentiful source of useful stem cells without the need to kill. Placental donations for this purpose are
becoming more common.
Legal Arguments
19. Abortion is legal.
Legal does not mean moral. Slavery, segregation and gender
discrimination have all been legal throughout history. The very legality of abortion itself is
confusing and inconsistent. The Unborn
Victims of Violence Act recognizes
an embryo or fetus in utero as a legal victim if they
are injured or killed during the commission of a crime. The law defines
"child in utero" as "a member of the species Homo sapiens, at any stage of development."
Therefore in many states the value
of the human life in the womb is determined solely by the opinion of the
mother. If she wants her baby and
someone harms it, it is a crime. If she
doesn’t want it, she can have it legally killed with no recourse. This double standard is inconsistent with the
ideal that every human life has intrinsic value, and should not depend on the
judgment of another.
20. A woman’s right should not be taken away
by a “bunch of men”.
The gender of legislators has no bearing on
the morality of the laws they make. Roe vs. Wade was decided
by a “bunch of men”.
21. We can’t overturn Roe v. Wade. We need to honor judicial precedence.
Some of the greatest movements in history
have come about by overturning judicial precedence (ending slavery,
segregation,
etc.).
22. No uterus, no opinion/ Keep your laws out
of my uterus.
A uterus is required to become pregnant. It is not a moral compass. A man is involved in every pregnancy, and
excluding all men from this important discussion is sexist. Nor would it make
sense to exclude women who have had a hysterectomy.
Socioeconomic Arguments
23. The goal is to make abortion rare.
Although there has been a slight decrease in
the overall number of abortions performed per year, this does not make it
rare. Abortion is the leading
cause of death in America. Over 60 million
abortions have been performed since 1973 in the United States--roughly 3,000
every single day.
24. We can’t return to unsafe back alley
abortions. Many women will die.
This argument rests on the false premise that
women have no choice but to abort—an interesting condemnation from those who
call themselves “pro-choice”. Putting
this fallacy aside, the idea of thousands of women dying due to unsafe
abortions prior to Roe vs. Wade is a falsehood.
In 1972, the year prior to the decision, 36 women in America died due to
illegal abortions, while 24 died during
legal abortions. The overall
mortality rate of both groups is greatly reduced today mainly due to the
widespread use of antibiotics.
Isolated studies can be found showing a decrease in
the number of abortions following the practice being made legal in specific
locales, but more broad and comprehensive studies show
the opposite—abortions numbers decrease as restrictions are increased.
25. The pro-life movement is a war on women.
The
pro-choice movement is the true war on women.
Roughly 30 million female babies have been aborted in America since 1973,
and over 100 million girls have been aborted worldwide by sex-selective abortions—not
just in China and India but also in America. These are millions of girls who never
got the chance to grow up and become proud productive women in our
society.
In
addition, abortion supporters demean women by suggesting they are incapable,
too young, too old, too poor, too weak or otherwise unfit to be a mother. On the other hand, pro-life supporters
believe women are strong, brave, capable and ready to be the mother of their
precious child, or to make a life-saving choice of adoption.
26. Restrictions on abortion unfairly target minority communities.
It is
abortion itself that targets minority communities. One of the many horrible things uttered by
Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger was her goal to user her
organization to “exterminate the negro population”.
Planned Parenthood today is tragically succeeding in that goal. Black children are aborted at three
times the rate of
white children, and Hispanic children at one
and a half times the
rate. In 2018 more members of the black
community were killed by abortion than by all other causes
combined.
27. Overpopulation—there are too many people
in the world today.
The world population has increased nearly
700% since 1900. Yet by virtually any
measure-- life expectancy, poverty, crime, literacy, health, wealth, happiness,
convenience, etc. we are dramatically
better off now than at any time in world history. If we are to face problems with overpopulation
someday, the answer is to continue to improve technology and our way of
living—not to kill.
28. Restricting abortion leads to more homelessness,
poverty, abuse, neglect, etc.
Unborn children should not be condemned to
die simply because the world is not perfect.
It is not an all or nothing proposition.
Whatever difficulties
a child may face in their future, none could be worse than being intentionally
killed by their own mother, robbing them of a chance to experience life and
learn and grow by overcoming challenges.
29. Provide sex education or free
contraception instead of outlawing abortion
Education and contraception certainly play a
role in decreasing unwanted pregnancies, though their effectiveness can be debated. Whether this is taught in the home, in public
schools, or the confusing
and dangerous
ideas taught by Planned Parenthood, none of this justifies taking an innocent
life.
30. Conservatives say banning guns won’t stop
mass shootings, but they think banning abortions will stop all abortions.
The gun debate is completely separate from
the abortion debate. However, a gun is
designed to fire a bullet. Whether that
act is a murder, self-defense, or recreational target practice, is up to the
user.
On the other hand, abortion by definition is
the very act of taking a human life. Nobody believes that making abortion
illegal would stop all abortions, but
it would certainly have an impact in decreasing
abortion overall. Things that are
dangerous or wrong should always be outlawed, even if some people may still
break that law.