Pro Life vs Pro-Choice |
Pro Life Abortion
To say that someone is "pro-life" is to say that the person believes that the government has an obligation to preserve all human life, regardless of intent, viability, or quality-of-life concerns.Pro Choice Abortion
To be "pro-choice" on abortion is to believe that individuals have unlimited autonomy with respect to their own reproductive systems as long as they do not breach the autonomy of others.Pro Life vs Pro Choice on the Nature of Preborn Life
- Pro Choice:
- It’s just a blob of tissue, not a baby.
- Pro Life:
- The preborn child has a heartbeat by the end of the third week. When surgical abortions are performed in the mid to late first trimester, the baby has arms, legs, feet, hands, etc.
- Pro Choice:
- We don’t know when life begins.
- Pro Life:
- Embryology textbooks and even pro-choice advocates concede that human life begins when the egg and sperm unite.
- Pro Choice:
- Even though biological life begins at conception, we don’t know when personhood begins.
- Pro Life:
- The point at which rights of personhood should be granted is not something we “know” or “don’t know.” Its something we decide. We grant rights to people we value and deny them to people we don’t.
- Pro Choice:
- The preborn child doesn’t have enough size, ability to feel pain, viability, self-awareness, etc. to be granted rights of personhood.
- Pro-Life:
- Such qualities develop over time. A newborn is smaller, less developed, less aware, and more dependent than a young adult, but that doesn’t make him less of a person.
Pro Life vs Pro Choice on the Rights of Women
- Pro Choice:
- It’s my body, and I have the right to do with it what I want.
- Pro Life: Argument
- When you are pregnant, there is another body ... the baby’s body. Nobody should have the right to tear a baby’s body into pieces.
- Pro Choice: Argument
- Even if the preborn has an inherent right to life, this right is superceded by the mother’s right to autonomy.
- Pro Life:
- Nobody has an unconstrained right to autonomy. We require parents to use their bodies to care for their children. This responsibility lasts for 18 years.
- Pro Choice:
- If a woman is pregnant by rape, compassion demands that she be allowed to abort.
- Pro Life:
- As horrible as abortion is, the baby is still innocent of any crime. Nobody should be killed for the crime of another person. Abortion does not undo or mitigate the rape, and there is evidence that abortion further compounds the harm that has already been done to her.
Pro Life vs Pro Choice on the Role of Government
- Pro Choice:
- Issues of personal morality are best left to individual discretion. The government should not interfere.
- Pro Life:
- The primary purpose of government is to protect fundamental rights. That’s why we have laws against rape, murder, and child neglect.
- Pro Choice:
- There is a Constitutional right to abortion.
- Pro Life Response:
- Abortion is not referenced at all in the U.S. Constitution. Roe vs Wade was not a judicial decision as much as legislation imposed from the Bench.
Pro Life vs Pro Choice on Quality of Life Arguments
- Pro Choice:
- If a baby is horribly deformed, it would be better to spare him from a life of suffering.
- Pro Life:
- Nobody has the right to kill another person because he perceives that the other person might have a low quality of life.
- Pro Choice:
- It’s better to abort a child than for him to live as an unwanted child.
- Pro Life:
- We would never kill a born child simply because his parents decided they don’t want him anymore.
- Pro Choice:
- Forcing people to have children leads to more child abuse.
- Pro Life:
- Dr. Edward Lenowski, professor of pediatrics at USC reported that 91% of abused children are very much wanted before birth.
- Pro Choice:
- If we end abortion, we’ll go back to thousands of women dying from back-alley abortions.
- Pro Life:
- In 1960, Planned Parenthood reported that 84% to 87% of all illegal abortions were performed by licensed physicians. In 1972, the year before Roe vs Wade, 39 women died from illegal abortions. Each of those deaths was a tragedy, but every abortion is a tragedy, because it kills a living human being.
Pro Life vs Pro Choice on Utilitarian Arguments
- Pro Choice:
- There isn’t enough farmland, fossil fuels, drinking water, etc., to care for everybody. Abortion is one way to control the human population.
- Pro Life:
- We never kill born children because we perceive them to be too numerous for the planet.