Bogus Anti-abortion Arguments

Well, it's been brewing, but here is the big long abortion blog post. I think it's necessary for me to post this in its entirety because of the complete lack of sense I'm hearing from the "pro-life" side, and the deep roots of their agenda popping up everywhere. Have you searched Google lately for anything relating to abortion? They've taken over the search results.

So, I'm going to take some anti-abortion arguments and try to do my best to squash them. The arguments I've heard from anti-abortion people are numbered, my argument against them is underneath:

1. Life starts at the moment of conception. Abortion is killing an innocent child.


I'm sorry, but an acorn is not a tree, an egg is not a chicken and a fetus is not a child. It's a potential child, in the same way that an acorn is a potential tree. It doesn't grow on it's own. It depends on many other things in the same way a fetus depends on the body of woman for it's nutrients. If a woman does not wish to let something grow inside her body, she should be able to remove it.

I've heard the argument, "there's no difference between a baby in the body, and one that's born." The difference is that the woman has, in effect, given the fetus permission to take her nutrients and continue to form until birth. It's all a matter of what the woman wants. The reason it's wrong to kill a baby once it has been born is because the choice was already made by the woman to let the fetus grow and develop into a human, not just a potential human. I feel like this is almost common sense.

2. The religious argument; God hates abortion.

If your version of God creates everything, and oversees everything, then how can God be against abortion? He (and I'll use He because that's what it is to Christians), is responsible for miscarriages. God's the biggest abortionist there is. There are many more miscarriages per year than there will ever be abortions. How can God let that happen? Also, God, by extension, also created the abortion doctors and the technology used to perform abortions. How can you account for that if you believe what you say you believe?

Also, who are you to judge? You don't know the circumstances surrounding every woman who gets an abortion. If you don't like abortion, the solution is simple: don't get one. Personally, I would never get one and will probably never have to make the decision, but if I were pregnant, 15, homeless, with no support, then my perspective may be different. Why is this so hard to understand?

Furthermore doesn't this idea of "conception is the point where life starts" make menstruation and male masturbation a huge sin?! Every time it happens (or you make it happen, whatever, I'm not judging) you are potentially killing half a baby. Go ahead Republicans, try to outlaw then enforce that one.

3. Have you seen those pictures the anti-abortion people hold up?!

Most abortions are done when the fetus is smaller than the tip of your pinky finger. These disgusting posters anti-abortion people use are gross exceptions to the rule. Because they know their argument is goofy and makes outrageous assumptions, they are using fear and disgust to try and make a point.

We could use disgusting pictures of back-alley abortions to prove our point. But, largely we don't, unless it's used with respect, and with a nobler purpose than shock value. Why? Because we have respect, both for the women and for the advancement of our argument. If anti-abortion people had any respect for what they themselves defined as "life," then they wouldn't be using those pictures.

I'll agree in one respect; I'm not okay with most abortions, except for medical reasons or case-by-case reasons, after the end of the second trimester. By that point, the woman should have either made the decision to let the fetus grow or not.

4. Planned Parenthood and other abortion-providers perform abortions on girls under 18 without parental consent.

I think that, if you're old enough to have sex, you should be old enough to deal with the consequences. I don't think a parent should be notified if their daughter gets an abortion. It's her decision, not theirs. They should also be understanding and open-minded enough that their daughter doesn't feel like she's keeping a secret. But it's her body, not theirs.

To the "it's easier to convince teenagers to have an abortion" argument, I call bullshit. Who is convincing anyone to have an abortion? It's a choice. You get the facts and make a choice. This also is an unfair assumption to put on teenagers. It's not like they don't have brains capable of thinking through decisions.

If you want more about Planned Parenthood, and the fact they they support a wide range of services other than abortion (like cancer screenings, etc.), check out my other post.

5. Why not just have the kid and put it up for adoption?

This goes back to the notion of allowing something to grow inside of you. If you don't want to allow it to grow, no one should be legally forcing you to. Adoption is great if you want to take that route, but no one should be forced to have a baby.

And what would happen if women were forced to bring their unwanted pregnancy to term? Unless the GOP wants to adopt and provide great homes, schools, support and resources to these children, don't talk to me about adoption. Even if they did pledge to provide these things, it all still defaults to the women's choice to allow the fetus to grow.

6. "What about dads...that baby is half theirs. They should have a say." .... Or basically any other male-centered argument.

I don't like making this argument, but it does have value. If men were the ones that got pregnant, then you could have a say. But you can't get pregnant. You don't have this fetus growing inside of you. Therefore, whether you are the father or not, it doesn't matter. You can try to talk to the woman in question, but ultimately it's her decision. This is why family planning and birth control are so important. If your a man and you don't like abortions, YOU'RE IN LUCK, you never have to get one!! When you guys start getting pregnant, then we'll talk.



7. If abortions stay legal, then more and more people will get them.

Do you really think that we can't trust women to make their own decisions? Abortions are not just done haphazardly. It's a medical procedure and, like all medical procedures, should not be taken lightly. No one just goes to get an abortion for fun....are you kidding me?

8. Women are meant to be mothers. Abortions are defying what it is to be a woman.

If you still define womenhood by domestic capabilities, or by genitalia, then I have absolutely no hope for you. Gender is culturally constructed. Some of what's feminine today was masculine a few years ago. What's feminine in our culture is masculine in another. Personally, if you think this way, I only hope that you never end up in a position where you are overseeing women. Women can be mothers, or not. Housewives, or not. It doesn't make them any less of a woman. This is why choice is so very important in the never-ending battle for equality of opportunity.

9. Abortion is a form of racist population control.

Yes, it's true that minority women have abortions more often than white women. But this isn't just about race. Socio-economic status is embedded in this. Lack of access to birth control, bad health-ed classes and many other factors are also embedded in the racial divide of abortion.

No one's limiting your number of children, or encouraging an abortion. If they are, they're idiots.

I've heard some questionable arguments about Margaret Sanger being a racist. Even if there is truth to this, it doesn't matter. The need for birth control and choice is bigger than just one woman, questionable motives or not.

10. If you don't want to have a kid, you shouldn't have sex.

So if you eat fatty and greasy food and develop a heart problem, then your bypass surgery shouldn't be covered? If you play football your whole life, then your knee surgery shouldn't be covered? If you develop cancer from something avoidable then your treatment shouldn't be covered? If you have type 2 diabetes brought on by diet, then your insulin shouldn't be covered? I could go on. Obviously this isn't the case. So why should we make it the case for sex? It makes no sense.

Want to bring Christianity into it? The Bible may condemn premarital sex. I won't argue with that. But it also condemns people that eat shellfish, wear polyester and trim their beards on certain days (Seriously, read your own book). It also says it's okay to kill your kids of they disobey, to stone women for a whole host of minor offenses, and a wide range of other things that are illegal and/or morally reprehensible today. And Christians, last time I checked, you weren't following these things. Why? They're all from the same book. What makes one thing more important than the other? If it was all presumably written with divine intervention, then what makes one thing more important than another? I'm not trying to be offensive, but why do you get to pick and choose if the entire book comes from the same larger source?

This argument that I stated originally, which is very close to the norm of slut-shaming, may have worked when we didn't have widespread access or knowledge of birth control techniques and when the modern school of thought dictated that women didn't like sex; that they were supposed to be submissive and feel ashamed for having sex. I'd like to think we've come a long way since then. Sex is a personal choice. And so abortion should be too.

11. Edit 3/16 12:41 am: Forgot one.... the"if you get an abortion, you'll die/become infertile/get cancer/ put yourself at other health risks" argument

Any statistics about mental health, cancer risks, or just about any other kinds of bodily harm to a woman resulting from abortion, are able to be manipulated by both sides. Find me one statistic about cancer risk, and I'm willing to bet I can find one that negates it. That said, surgical abortion (an outpatient procedure) is a medical procedure, and like ALL medical procedures, freak things can happen. But it's a case by case basis just like any other type of procedure. One person may react to something differently than another, recovery times differ, etc.

Check out this site if you want more info about infertility.

And, about cancer, I'm copying and pasting something I said in my "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion" post:

Abortion does not cause breast cancer, but it may put a woman at a higher risk. But, so may smoking, genetics, previous conditions, having no children, long-term hormone treatments, getting your period before you're 12, alcohol, being overweight and a whole host of other things. Scientists still don't know what causes cancer, and they still don't agree on whether abortion is a factor. (http://www.cancer.org/Cancer/BreastCancer/MoreInformation/is-abortion-linked-to-breast-cancer)

Some arguments of my own:

1. How is a pill before having sex any different that a pill after having sex? Both are halting pregnancy. I don't understand how people that use birth control can be against abortion. And I have news for you, just about everyone is using birth control. You don't just magically go from an average of 7.0 children per family in 1800, to 3.5 in 1900, to 2.3 in 2000s. It's not like people just stopped having sex. Duh. Which, again, is why abstinence-only education is just beyond ridiculous.

2. There is nothing more big government than trying to tell a woman what to do with her body and limiting her access to abortion clinics and birth control. America is supposed to be the place where anyone can choose their own destiny and make their choices accordingly. For some women, this doesn't involve having children. And for all people, it should involve family planning.

3. Under several different health care plans, Viagra is covered but birth control and abortions are not. This is just ridiculous for obvious reasons.

4. Abortions are not permitted in military hospitals. Obviously, having sex while enlisted may be frowned upon, but it does happen. And rape in the military does happen. Abortions need to be available so women don't feel as though they need to revert to the coat hanger.

5. Whether you outlaw it or not, abortions are going to happen. Instead of being in a sanitary doctor's office where the risk of medical problems from abortion are less than the risk of medical problems from getting tonsils out, the abortion would be performed in someone's house. Or in an alley. With unsanitary equipment. And you can't stop it from happening. If I wasn't so against the use of fear-mongering to gain favor, I would put the graphic pictures of back-alley abortions on signs to use against the people who support revoking the legal status of abortion.

6. I don't support looking at people as thought they were dollar signs, but if you are cost-minded, and not against government-funded abortion based on supposed moral beliefs, then think about how much more welfare money this country would have to give out to women if they were forced to have unplanned children that they simply don't have the means to support.


So, are there any more anti-abortion arguments you've heard? Can you spot any holes in my own arguments, perhaps things I can improve upon? Any other comments?

Edit 3/16: Also, I really recommend checking out the 12th & Delaware documentary if you haven't already.