If you read my previous article, I finished discussing how science appears to be divided on abortion and that the ethical character of pro-choice individuals are more questionable than pro-life individuals in general. Now, I get to the philosophical part of my analysis.
As noted before, abortion deals with the question as to whether it is taking a life or not? This leads to another question: is it right or wrong? If it is taking a life, then it is wrong. I would hope that everyone agrees that all lives matter, regardless of your age, gender, religion, etc. Based on scientific sources I have heard, the life of a fetus does begin in the womb, not outside of it. I am Christian and believe that it begins at conception (I did read a claim that the science proves it, but I have not researched it). This is a heated point of the debate, but I did hear of one bill called the heartbeat bill which sounds reasonable. If you find a person laying on the ground, one way to determine if they are alive is by checking for a pulse. In a hospital, the doctors monitor the heartbeat of patients. So why not set the rule of no abortions once a heartbeat is detected?
Another pro-life explanation you may have heard is simple, yet profound. If you don't get the abortion, another human being enters the world. The abortion stops that human being from entering the world. Think about yourself, if your mom got an abortion, you would not be here right now. I have heard pro-choice people say that it saves a child from growing up in a hellish environment. My response to that is yes, life can really suck. I can say for myself that having Asperger's Syndrome made a big part of my life depressing and frustrating. At the same time, I really enjoy life. I have friends and family that love me. I live in the freest country on this planet. We take it for granted, but there are thousands of things, big and small, we enjoy in life. I believe everyone has a right to enjoy those things. Our Declaration of Independence says the right to "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." Who are we to take away that opportunity from another person, born or unborn?
Now I get to the pro-choice stance of "my body, my choice." I have considered this argument several times, but it has never persuaded me abortion is right for several reasons. The first is that the reasoning does not make sense and is inconsistent. Pardon me, I am going to get graphic here. If that stance is morally correct, then men should be allowed to masturbate in public because it is their body and their choice. I highly doubt most people would support that, I sure as heck don't as a guy. Men have gotten arrested for that behavior. Second, as the commentator Dennis Prager put it, that fetus is not the woman's body, it is another body. Third and final, just because you can do something to your body doesn't make it right. You can smoke cigarettes, overeat fast food, over-exercise, etc. I respect free-will, but just saying it is your choice doesn't change whether something is right or wrong.
I will concede one point to pro-choice women. My mother told me how back in the day, society shamed women for having sex before marriage and gave a free pass to men who slept around with whomever they please. It is not fair that a woman should have to face the consequences of pregnancy all alone while a man runs off to the next woman. So I understand why abortion is seen as a way to fix that. This leads to the issue of unplanned pregnancies. Pro-choice speakers often make the case of abortion for victims of rape or incest. Actually, that makes up a small percentage of total abortions. This means the rest are due to consensual sex between a man or a woman. If that is the case, the main reason for abortions is actually so that neither person faces the consequence of a pregnancy. And if abortion is taking the life of a human being, that is selfish.
A side note, if there is an unplanned pregnancy from consensual sex, then it is both the man and woman's fault for the "accident." I only say this because I have heard women make it sound like it is all the guy's fault. Unless it is rape or incest, the woman bears equal responsibility as the man.
Another way I have looked at philosophical problems is looking at the effects it has on society as a whole. People can see how robbery, drugs, violence, and other bad behaviors hurt society. Has abortion hurt society? Well, it contributes to lower population growth, which a healthy country needs. Interesting enough, abortions are affecting the population growth more in non-white communities in America. It also encourages more people to engage in sexual activity since there is no consequence, which actually leads to more unhealthy relationships if it is premarital sex. I know that birth control also does the same thing, for now, I am just focusing on abortion. The more I consider it, the more it appears that the bad consequences outweigh the good.
The next and final article of this series is my conclusion on abortion. I hope you are willing to read it and hear what I have to say. I want to restate that the goal of these articles is not just to share my opinion, I want to show that we can have a civil and honest conversation about it.
