I’ve seen this meme float around quite a bit. I don’t think it’s challenging to the pro-life position, but it’s popularity has earned a response;

Let’s analyze the assumptions.

The decision doesn’t have to be impossible. If one has a deformity so severe that it’s can’t live at all, (like not developing a brain) that would inform my decision.

Maybe I saved the baby in the petri dish because I know the baby would survive if you’re just standing in front of me in my apartment. You don’t know what choice I would make.

Here’s something that you and I agree on; there is a difference between the baby in the petri dish and the baby in the other hand. It’s a difference in size and development.

A teenager and a mature adult are different in size and development, but that doesn’t make either less valuable than the other. Biologically, they are almost exactly the same, aside from things like fingerprints and personality.

Let’s use an example I know a few hippies can get behind; weed. The difference between a hemp seed and the mature plant you smoke is size and development. Aesthetically, there is more in common with a human embryo and a fully grown person than a seed has with its mature counterpart.

No one denies that the seeds and the plant are fundamentally different. When it’s a question of humans, suddenly the answer changes. Not very consistent.

Let’s bring this situation into the real world for a moment. If you approach someone who is as pro-life as you believe they are with this question, they more than likely have an altar to the Second Amendment in the back of their trailer house.

You will then be in the awkward position of slowly lowering both the underdeveloped baby and the more developed baby onto the floor at the point of a hunting rifle since you don’t have an extra hand for your cell phone. Is committing infanticide really worth that trouble?