Bob Beanblossom
9 September 2021
The popular argument for legalized abortion is that a woman has an inherent right to exercise control over her own body. This seems legitimate on the surface. It falls apart, though, when it is used to argue that a mother right to choose to kill her unborn child is no different than her choice to have cosmetic surgery.
It seems to me that this argument has at least one fatal flaw: the unborn child is developing in its mother’s body, but is not part of it. Science has gotten beyond the “lump of flesh” theory to acknowledge what non-scientists have known since Creation: From the moment of conception, the fetus is an unborn human baby. Rather than an aberrant piece of tissue, it is a complete developing human being, individual and with a unique personality. Every unborn boy and girl is a developing body containing all of the organs and appendages of all human beings. More importantly, this unborn infant has a mind. As every mother will attest, this child-under-construction moves and acts independently, turning, kicking, and responding to stimuli. Every unborn child is a human being from conception. That it changes significantly from conception to birth does not make it non-human—we all continue to change considerably from birth to death.
To argue that this squirming, wiggling boy or girl only becomes human at some magical point during its nine-month sojourn in its mother’s womb only shows the desperation of the abortion-rights position. Every baby conceived by the procreative acts of human parents—intentionally or unintentionally--results in a human child that will soon squeeze its way through the mother’s birth canal kicking and screaming to join the rest of us in the “outside” world.
Going back to the original argument, it is often overlooked in today’s society that “rights” always come with responsibilities. Pregnancy is not the result of a virus or other random medical problem. It is the result of a male and female engaging in the procreative act. It is the result of a choice followed by a distinctive action. Since this is most often consensual, it is the first point at which pregnancy can effectively prevented—abstinence works 100% of the time. To simplify—if a potential mother does not want children, do not engage in the single natural activity that produces children.
I will discount rape victims in this discussion since fewer than 1% of all abortions take place because there has been a rape. Some 85% of rape victims choose life for their child. This is not to minimize the serious nature of rape and its impact on the victim, only to show that concern about unwanted children as the result of rapes is highly overstated—a smokescreen. For the younger reader, rape was at one time considered to be the same level of crime as murder, and punished as such. We should return to that standard.
That the mother “wants” or does not want the child of her intentional procreative act is immaterial. Since the baby is clearly separate from the mother, keeping her child is responsible and honorable while killing her own offspring is murder. If the pleasure of the procreative act overrides responsible behavior, one would think that preventive measures would be better than mothers murdering their own children. The first thing that comes to mind is to realize the since Creation the procreative act is designed to produce children, and it often does. For those addicted to this particular type of recreation, preventive surgery might be a viable alternative to murder. Since this is not about abstinence or contraceptive methods, I’ll leave this line of thought for others to pursue. When irresponsible recreation results in pregnancy, choosing to carry the baby to birth and releasing her or him for adoption is a viable alternative. Actions have consequences, and the procreative act as recreation is no exception. At any rate, abstinence, effective contraception, or adoption are far better choices than murdering your child.
If this seems a bit harsh, I suggest that you engage your favorite search engine to learn what abortion means in real terms to your unborn child. Don’t be bashful. Dig into the data to see what happens to the child during the procedure. One should be informed about the subjects that one strongly supports.
Women certainly have the right and the responsibility to enjoy and maintain their bodies just the same as men do. Here, however, an additional person is involved, one who has no voice in exercising the rights and responsibilities that his parents do. Here, the child’s mother has been entrusted to responsibly exercise those rights on behalf of the child of her act of procreation. Until birth, she is the only voice that her child has. Please exercise that responsibility wisely. It is the Christian thing to do. It is the moral thing to do. Even rejecting those, it is the normal and reasonable act of a mother. It is what your mother did.