TRIGGER WARNING
Abortion
There are many arguments the pro life community uses to justify their stance on abortion and why it should be made illegal. However, each one of those arguments can be refuted with science and practical thinking.
Pro life is synonymous with anti choice for any person with a uterus. It isn’t about protecting a fetus, it’s about control the bodies of a group of people, namely women.
1. When people say a fetus is a being…
- 2/3 of abortions happen prior to 8 weeks. This is when a fetus is not even a fetus, it is still an embryo and unarguably exists on a cellular level. Comparatively, we exist on an organismal level.
- Over 98% abortions happen before 21 weeks. Beyond 21 weeks, a fetus has a very small chance of surviving premature birth. Arguably, you could say THIS is when it should be considered eligible for personhood.
As an aside, until 24 weeks, a fetus cannot feel pain.
2. When people say life begins at conception…
- egg and sperm connect many times, almost 15% of pregnancies result in first trimester miscarriages and that’s of the people who KNEW they were pregnant.
- What about IVF? IVF success rates are optimal with 15-20 eggs. Almost 70,000 babies were born in America in 2016 via IVF. This means at least 1 million embryos were destroyed. 623,000 abortions occurred in 2016 in America and yet no one protests in front of IVF clinics.
3. When people say abortions are killing fully formed babies…
- In the instances of abortion that occur beyond 21 weeks (less than 2%), they are sought due to a health risk to either the mother or the fetus.
- & 3. see points 1 & 2 in the “fetus is a being” rebuttal.
4. When people say a woman consented to sex so she’s responsible for the consequences…
- When you get in a car, are you consenting to a car accident? No because you understand that while cause and effect CAN exist in this example, they’re not intrinsically linked occurrences and both require consent in order for you to be a willing participant.
- 54% of abortions happen when properly used contraceptives fail.
- There are no economic, societal, mental or physical ramifications of pregnancy for the male participant, yet there are for women and many studies have explained this. So it seems like the “consequences of sex” really only apply to women.
5. When people say it’s not right to punish a fetus for a woman’s mistake…
- There are nearly 500,000 children in foster care in America and they spend on average 2 YEARS in the system. 20% spend more than FIVE YEARS in the system. I’ll speak more on this particular issue further on in this article.
- Foster kids live in an average of 4+ homes. Instability in placement among children in foster care increases the likelihood of a child being diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder.
- About 30% of foster care youth are reported to have severe behavioral, emotional, or developmental problems. Suicide is the second leading cause of death for these kids. 18% of 10-18 year old kids kill themselves.
BONUS: When people say “don’t abort, we’ll adopt your baby”…
I saw a viral post of a couple holding a sign that said,’ don’t abort, we’ll adopt your baby.” I have a lot of thoughts on this specific line of thinking.
This is a common solution tossed around by anti-choicers and it speaks volumes to their lack of comprehension on foster care, adoption, human rights and child psychology.
While I like to assume these types of people are simply deeply misguided but well intentioned, that’s simply not possible. If it were, they would have fostered one of the nearly half a million children in the system, or adopted one of the hundred and forty thousand available.
Instead, they make posts on social media about all the hypothetical ways in which they might someday help people that don’t even exist yet. The picture really stuck with me and immediately spurred an emotional reaction.
To which, one anti-choicer asked me why I was such an angry person. It seemed like an opportune time for me to explain myself and hopefully educate them along the way.
Foster Care
“How are you not angered by two people saying ‘have a child you cannot provide for so they can live in one or multiple stranger’s home(s) for YEARS without any stability or ability to attach to a parent, with a greater risk for abuse, all so we can play the hero and rescue them at some point in the future’?”
Translate it however you like, this is the message they’re sending to anyone familiar with the foster care system, adoption process and basic statistical data. It’s a naive hero complex that makes people say dumb things like this.
American children in foster care spend on average 2 YEARS in the system. Almost 20% spend more than FIVE YEARS in the system. Foster kids live in an average of 4+ homes.
Do you have even the slightest inkling to the psychological damage that does to a child? And that’s assuming there’s no abuse occurring.
Unfortunately there are no statistics of use on abuse in foster homes, but this further supports my point that these are children no one is helping and putting more of them into this broken system will not solve any problems. It will only create more.
As I mentioned earlier, instability in placement among children in foster care increases the likelihood of a child being diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder. About 30% of foster care youth are reported to have severe behavioural, emotional, or developmental problems.
Suicide is the second leading cause of death for these kids. 18% of 10-18 year olds kill themselves. This is just scratching the surface of the issue.
Perspective
For anyone seriously thinking foster care is the solution to abortion, I’d ask you how it’s possible for you to claim you care about human life? Asking someone to continue an unwanted pregnancy disregards the life of the woman forced to carry a child she will then have to put into a broken system with dire outcomes and few opportunities.
It also disregards the fetus’ future by asking this being to spend an indefinite amount of time in a disadvantaged institution all so some anti-choicer can hopefully one day swoop in and play the hero.
This blatant disregard for real human lives discredits the entire anti-choicer mantra of the value of human life.
People like this don’t care about human life, they care about social media posts going viral.
Food for thought
In general, what is it that anti-choicers are fighting for? An embryo that exists at a cellular level only? IVF rights that contradict their beliefs? A fetus that cannot even survive a premature birth? A child in foster care that they don’t advocate for?
In any of these battles, they’re sending a clear message that a cluster of cells, or an organism that cannot feel pain or survive without a host (just the same as a parasite by the way) is more valuable to them than any living, breathing human being.
THAT is the heart of the argument. Don’t lose sight of that and allow them to distract you with hypothetical situations or your personal decisions.
