Well, the abortion debate is pretty complex and what I found out this summer is that the FAQ I had been working on for months became an abysmal failure (hence the reason we don’t have one) because everything is so connected with the understanding of everything else. But I will try to address some common pro-life arguments here just off the top of my head. This is not anywhere near a complete list, though.
Abortion is murder. Simple as that *smugly crosses arms*.
No, it’s not. Murder is murder because it infringes on the murdered person’s rights. Fetuses don’t have rights because they lack personhood and autonomy so it is impossible to actually murder them.
- Possible counter argument 1: Babies aren’t autonomous and neither are people in comas!
Yes they are. Babies are not reliant on a person’s organs to breathe, digest, or poop for them. The same is true for people in comas that use machines to assist breathing or some other bodily function. A fetus hijacks the host’s organs without permission. It is not autonomous because it is using someone else’s organ systems.
- Possible counterargument 2: But there are fetal homicide laws!!!!
Not every state has a fetal homicide law and unlike Law & Order would have you believe, many states that do have fetal homicide laws don’t actually apply a second murder charge to a defendant’s list of charges. Usually it just adds time to their conviction or an aggravated charge, not another murder charge. Fetal homicide laws have a minimum gestational age that the fetus must meet in order for the charges to apply, usually it is 12 weeks. Other states just don’t have these laws on the books. So why is it not murder? Because the murderer of the pregnant person doesn’t have a right to terminate the pregnant person’s pregnancy. Only the pregnant person has that right. I see fetal homicide charges akin to tacking on property damages to vandalism charges.
Women just shouldn’t have sex if they aren’t ready to have a baby…those whores!
Some women don’t ever want to have children, so would you honestly expect them to never have sex with their partners? Other women could DIE if they tried to carry a pregnancy to term because of health concerns. Are they also never allowed to have sex? Why is someone else’s sex life even your concern? It’s not normal to think this much about other people having sex, FYI.
- Possible counterargument: Well then they should use birth control…those whores!
Well, most women who get abortions were using some form of birth control at the time they conceived, but let’s ignore that small fact so we can talk about contraception failure rates and restrictions. Using contraception is not 100% guaranteed to prevent a pregnancy and the highest chance of not getting pregnant when using a hormonal birth control pill, for example, is about 99.98%, but that’s only if the person using the pill is using it correctly. That means it was never stored in a hot place, the person wasn’t on antibiotics, it’s not expired, the person is not overweight, the person never forgot to take it, etc. Since we don’t teach our children safe sex and how to accurately use contraception, the likelihood of perfect use actually being the case is probably lower than you think it is.
Women use abortion as birth control and I don’t support those whores!
Nope. And women who get more than one abortion are more likely to use birth control afterward which means women who have repeat abortions use abortion at a higher rate than women who have never gotten an abortion. This implies that women who get abortions make every effort possible to avoid getting another one.
Abortion is against the Bible.
I only think abortion should be allowed in cases of rape or incest or if the woman’s life is in danger.
Why? Do those fetuses have a lesser value than fetuses that are aborted by women who had consensual sex? If not, then why is it only okay to abort them when the woman did NOT have consensual sex? Are you aware of how sex-negative you are? Also, you’re pro-choice since you think some women should be allowed to have abortions meaning you think it should still be an option at least for some women you deem worthy enough.
Getting an abortion just skirts responsibility.
Would you make that argument for someone who gets an STD treated?
But a fetus is HUMAN!!!!
So is a tumor. Are you against chemotherapy or biopsies?
- Possible counterargument: But a tumor is bad a BABEEY isn’t!
How do you make that distinction? A fetus and a tumor are both made up of human cells, they both use the host’s blood system, they both grow exponentially, they can both kill the host. Neither one has personhood or rights.
Women who get abortions have Post-Abortion Syndrome.
Nope. The APA doesn’t recognize that as an actual disorder. They also say that most women feel relief after getting an abortion and those who have trouble coping with their abortion probably exhibited symptoms of mental health problems prior to even getting pregnant and are falsely attributing their inability to cope with the abortion. Also, women who give birth are more likely to experience negative psychological effects than women who get abortions.
Women wait too long to get abortions.
Really? 94.6 abortions take place BEFORE 16 weeks. Those that come after 21 weeks don’t even make up 2% of all abortions and are virtually always wanted but the fetus has severe birth defects or the health of the pregnant person is in danger.
Abortion is the same thing as slavery.
That should be your response but if you truly need some ammo:
- Slaves are autonomous people. Fetuses aren’t.
- Owning a slave is directly in violation of that slave’s rights because it is a person under the government.
Abortion is EXACTLY like the Holocaust!!!! You Nazi!
Again, this should be your response but if you really need an argument:
- The Holocaust was ethnic cleansing. Getting an abortion is not an orchestrated plot of the government’s to create a master race like Hitler wanted.
- Forcing someone to get an abortion is reproductive coercion and is not supported by pro-choicers. Forcing someone into a gas chamber by telling them it’s a shower…not the same thing.
- The Nazis killed people based on their race. No such thing is happening with pregnant people choosing abortion. I’m pretty sure the Jews were not given the choice to watch their children be thrown to German Shepherds and then shot in the head.
- Fetuses aren’t made to wear yellow stars of David and aren’t tattooed with their Auschwitz number.
- Getting an abortion and The Holocaust are not even close to the same thing. People were tortured, starved, and murdered by the Nazis. Fetuses can’t even feel pain.
What about this one woman I heard about who got an abortion at 40 weeks!??
You’ve met this woman?
No.
Okay then. Regardless, those women who get abortions in the third trimester? Yeah, those are the ones you thought deserved to get an abortion because their lives were in danger. When a person gets an abortion in the third trimester, two requirements must be met. The pregnant person WILL die and the fetus has severe birth defects that will prevent it from living outside the womb. If the fetus doesn’t have severe birth defects? It is delivered early and the pregnant person and fetus are both saved.
That’s all for now. I’m sure my followers will add to this.
I’d recommend reading this and this to enhance understanding of certain concepts like autonomy and personhood and what we mean by “choice”.
Love,
Rabble
Super comprehensive guide to every single abortion debate.
-Joe
Really important addition:
Making abortion illegal may not prevent abortion. Making abortion illegal is, instead, a death sentence for some women. The entire debate about abortion laws rests on the false premise that making something illegal (encoding our moral disapproval of something in the law) makes it go away. In fact, making something illegal often drives industries underground and marginalizes the ‘victims’ of the problem.
What are the goals? Fewer abortions, fewer unwanted pregnancies, fewer deaths, and fewer miserable, abusive, or unsustainable families. Criminalization cannot, in fact, solve any of those problems. What can solve them? Regulation, health care, and conversation about sexuality and families. These things make it easier for women to find good information, for men to be informed about their roles, for mothers to feel safe and cared for, and for adoption to be a viable option.
