Monday, May 20, 2019

Why I'm against abortion

I am one of the last people you would expect to be pro-life. I'm a feminist, bleeding heart libertarian, biromantic, spiritually eclectic, goth/alternative person. Not exactly the image that comes to mind when you think of the average pro-lifer. But here I am.
I am against abortion because I am against the non-defensive killing of people. Usually when pro-choicers justify their position, they deny the personhood of the unborn. This can mean one of two things: either the fetus is not human and not alive, or the fetus is human and alive, but doesn't have rights. Both of these views are problematic. The first ignores basic science, which is pretty clear that a new human organism begins at fertilization. The second implies that some humans aren't persons.
I'd like to focus specifically on the belief in human non-persons. This view is incredibly dangerous. Dehumanization has only led to horrible acts of violence. What makes it okay in this instance? Since it is wrong to deny people their rights on the basis of race, ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability, it is also wrong to deny a person their rights because of their stage of development.
It is also ableist to imply that a human being isn't a person because they are unable to function in a certain way. Many arguments against fetal personhood, if applied consistently, would deny the personhood of people with disabilities.
While this alone is not why I am opposed to abortion, it is also worth noting that abortion hurts the people it is supposed to help. Too often, problems such as pregnancy discrimination, poverty, and irresponsibility are not fixed because abortion as seen as a solution. It has been pointed out by feminists that society makes women bear the burden of avoiding rape more than it holds rapists responsible for their actions. Similarly, pregnant people are forced to bear the responsibility of adjusting to a system that doesn't accommodate their needs. The opposition to crisis pregnancy centers also leaves abortion as a poor person's only option, which is not at all pro-choice. Abortion is not the solution to the problem; it is part of the problem.
Some people argue that, even if a fetus is a person, abortion is morally acceptable because no one has the right to use another person's body without their consent. In “A Defense of Abortion,” Judith Jarvis Thomson uses this thought experiment: a violinist is attached to a person, and the person must choose between staying attached to the violinist for nine months until he recovers and “unplugging” from the violinist, resulting in the violinist’s death. However, this analogy still doesn’t justify abortion. Abortion isn’t merely “unplugging” from the fetus to preserve the mother’s bodily autonomy; the goal of abortion is to kill, whether through starvation, poisoning, or dismemberment (abortion sucks, literally). Furthermore, parents have an obligation to care for their children, whereas the violinist is a stranger.
That is why I'm pro-life. Thanks for listening to my TED Talk.

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