Despite the famous Roe v. Wade ruling establishing abortion as a woman's right in 1973, the topic is still controversial today. Many people still believe abortion is murder. Many see it as being wrong because it ends a life and others see it as wrong because a fetus "can't defend itself." Many people, including president Trump, are pushing to make abortion illegal again in the US. Women in other countries, such as Argentina, are still fighting for their right to terminate a pregnancy.

1. Abortion is murder.

"Abortion is murder" is one of the most common phrases by pro-life people. Going by the definition of murder, abortion is not. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines murder as "the crime of unlawfully killing a person especially with malice aforethought." Therefore, murder by definition has to be illegal and is usually committed out of mal-intent. Abortion is a legal medical procedure up to 21 weeks in most states, so it isn't murder. There is also never sadism or pleasure taken from aborting a fetus; it is done out of necessity.

Not only that, "pro-life" people are more often than not completely okay with killing other life forms; even ones much more sentient than a fetus. Most people who are against abortion say "life is precious," yet have no problem slaughtering animals who actually have sentience, memories, and families. I understand that humans are more advanced than other species, but at the fetal stage of life, they're not. A fetus objectively has much less value than a grown animal in terms of intellect and contribution to society.

2. You're killing a baby if you get an abortion.

For some reason, people think that newborns and fetuses are synonymous. The use of the word "baby" in pro-life arguments is emotional propaganda used to put a fetus at an equal place to a born baby, as we usually hear the word and think of newborns or infants. I'm not going to refer to an unborn human organism as a "clump of cells" either, but I am going to call it what it is: an embryo (from the 2nd to 8th week,) or a fetus (8 weeks and after.)

Approximately 92% of abortions are performed within 13 weeks of gestation, and 2/3rds occur before the embryonic period is over (before 8 weeks). To add some perspective, a 13 week fetus is about the size of a prawn, while a newborn baby is typically 20 inches. The most notable difference between the two isn't in size; but in development levels. At 13 weeks, a fetus is not able to survive outside of the womb. While it does have a heartbeat, it has no sentience. A newborn baby is capable of surviving outside of its mother's body and its brain is developed (a fetus' brain develops mostly in the third trimester).

I've had many pro-life people say to me in discussions "well, a brain dead person isn't sentient, is it okay to kill them?"

Brain dead people don't grow and survive off of someone else's body, so although they rely on the care of others to live, they're still an independent life form because they physically have their own body.

In short, a fetus or an embryo is not the same as a newborn or an infant and shouldn't be treated as such. Not to mention, born babies have rights under the constitution while unborn human organisms don't. They are not considered a person by any legal or scientific source.

3. Choose adoption.

This is commonly considered an "alternative" to abortion.

Both abortion and adoption are options a pregnant woman should have. I don't judge any woman for choosing to give birth to a baby and give them up for adoption. However, given the current state of the foster care system, adoption may not be the best or most responsible option. Not only is there already a very unsustainable amount of children up for adoption, but the foster care system is not a safe place for the children who do get adopted. In the foster care system, children are subjected to disproportionate amounts of neglect and abuse.

On top of that, giving a child up for adoption just makes an unwanted child the government's responsibility, so the burden and expense of giving birth to a child you can't care for is only shifted somewhere else. Adoption only takes the responsibility off of the biological mother and shifts it onto society instead. While the intention of pro-lifers is just to send unwanted children to homes that "do want them," that's not often the result, and socioeconomic research proves time and time again how unwanted pregnancies are detrimental to the economy due to a mix of public funding programs and high poverty rates for children raised in the foster care system.

Therefore, adoption may not always be the right thing to do.

4. Use birth control/just don't have sex!

In my opinion, this is by far the most irrational argument against abortion.

It seems that many people are unaware that birth control is not always effective. Not only that, people make common mistakes that can make birth control less effective without realizing it. If someone takes the precautions to not get pregnant, but does anyways accidentally, is it really rational to tell them they now are forced to go through 9 life-altering months of pregnancy when there are other options?

Is it reasonable to tell people not to have sex because the life of a fetus, who can't even comprehend its own death, is somehow more important than the sex life of a grown woman?

Sex doesn't exist solely for the purpose of reproduction and neither do women.

5. Getting an abortion is irresponsible.

As I brushed upon earlier, getting an abortion is much more responsible than giving a child up for adoption. Abortion doesn't have a negative impact of society like adoption does, and aborted fetal cells can be used to aid in scientific research that makes the health and quality of life better for born children.

It's also certainly more responsible than choosing to raise a child you're not capable of caring for. The child won't have the quality of life that they deserve.

Again, I'm not trying to condemn whatever choice a mother decides to make though. Ultimately, she has the last say for what's best for her child. I'm only stating that based on statistical evidence, abortion is usually the more responsible choice.

6. How would you feel if you were aborted?

This is one of the questions I get asked, and whenever it comes up, I just have to take a step back and say "what?"

The idea that abortion is wrong because fully developed people are grateful for life, and would choose to live if given the choice, is a complete fallacy. Obviously, I wouldn't feel anything if I was aborted as a fetus, because I wasn't capable of comprehending the difference between life and death. Sure, I might care if I were killed now that I have experienced life and have relationships, memories, and goals. Most people would. However, a fetus doesn't have the capacity to care.

The only reason our lives matter so much to us is because we've lived them and have created our own value. This argument relies on the idea that hypothetical questions or what-ifs matter, but they really don't. What if the fetus wasn't aborted and turned into a serial killer? What if a person who wasn't aborted seriously wishes that they were? After all, many people do use the phrase "I didn't choose to be born." I could essentially use the same argument and say it's wrong to give birth because a fetus can't consent to being born.

Arguing from a hypothetical standpoint gets us nowhere.

7. Abortion is not a woman's right; it's a baby's right to live.

As I mentioned earlier in the article, a baby doesn't have rights under the constitution until they are born. Legally, they don't have the right to live. However, that isn't the reason that this claim is wrong. From an ethical standpoint, I can understand why someone would think a fetus should have rights.

This is really a matter of what's more important. If you are pro-choice, you think a grown woman's happiness and quality of life is more important. If you are against abortion, you think the fetus being born is more important.

In order to think a fetus's life is more important, you essentially have to think that an organism growing off of a woman's body has the right to do so, simply because it's a human organism, and that the woman gets no say in what grows in her body. You have to think that a woman should be forced to go through 9 months of morning sickness, hormonal changes, contractions, childbirth pains, and a permanently altered body in the name of procreation; while our population is high enough to where we don't even need to procreate to sustain ourselves. According to pro-lifers, a woman needs to go through all of that to protect a fetus that isn't even capable of understanding it's alive in the first place

Nothing about that is ethical or logical. It originates from and is sustained by patriarchal values that promote the idea that a woman's only purpose is to give birth.

All in all, abortion is a topic that will always be debated upon. We will never come to a point where almost everyone agrees on abortion, but whether or not you agree with abortion personally, you shouldn't give the government authority over a woman's body because of your personal values. Making abortion illegal would essentially be making a woman's body property of the government, which any person who believes in freedom shouldn't be okay with.