Apologia

Pro-life Replies to Pro-choice Arguments

  • Hendrik van der Breggen, Author
  • Retired Associate Professor of Philosophy, Providence
Apologia

Below are some popular arguments for abortion choice followed by some pro-life replies. These pro-choice arguments are real (from a critic of one of my recent articles) and so are the replies (which I presented as responses).

I hope the interaction between this critic and me will encourage careful reasoning in Canada’s public discourse on abortion.

1. Pro-choice argument: Bodily autonomy alone is enough of a reason to keep abortion legal.

Pro-life reply: But there are two bodies.

2. Pro-choice argument: The fetus is a potential human being.

Pro-life reply: No, it’s not a potential human being. It’s a human being with potential. The fetus is a human being with the potential to become its subsequent developmental stages.

3. Pro-choice argument: A fetus is no more human than a cluster of skin cells is human.

Pro-life reply: Nope. A cluster of skin cells is a cluster of skin cells, not a human being. The cell at conception constitutes something different. It’s the first stage of a new individual human being (which later has skin cells). A fetus is a subsequent stage of the development of this human being. Other subsequent stages are baby, toddler, adolescent, teenager, adult. Biology – don’t they teach biology at school anymore?

4. Pro-choice argument: The fetus is a parasitic organism.

Pro-life reply: Nope. A parasite is an organism of a different species which invades the host. The fetus, on the other hand, is a new human being invited (created) by the host via having sex or IVF (in vitro fertilization).

5. Pro-choice argument: “I’m not saying the fetus is a true parasite, only that the nature of the relationship is parasitic… Don’t be petty.”

Pro-life reply: But your parasite metaphor/analogy is problematic at the get-go. Why? Because the fetus and its relation to mother is by nature/biology NOT parasitic. (To point this out isn’t being “petty,” it’s being logical and evidence-based.)

6. Pro-choice argument: Consent to sex is not consent to pregnancy. Condoms break and pills fail, so the fetus’s creation is not always invited.

Pro-life reply: Not true. Consent to sex (whether condoms or other forms of contraception are used or not) involves consent to risking the outcome, which is to risk – and thereby invite – pregnancy. Saying no to or “disinviting” the deliberately risked outcome (we KNOW contraception isn’t 100% foolproof) is like gambling at Las Vegas and demanding one’s money back after losing it. Taking a risk entails taking responsibility for that risk.

7. Pro-choice argument: “a fetus that is not viable outside its mother’s womb is not human.”

Pro-life reply: This is simply false. Viability is a measure of whether an unborn child or fetus can survive outside the womb. In effect, viability is a measure of our medical/ technological sophistication to help the pre-natal child live if born prematurely. Viability is NOT a determinant of whether the fetus is human. Being human depends on whether a creature is an individual entity belonging to the biological species of human, which is what the fetus is, whether viable or not.

8. Pro-choice argument: A fetus “is a part of the mother.”

Pro-life reply: This is a popular and easy mistake to make, but it’s still a mistake. A fetus is CONNECTED to the mother, but not a proper part of the mother (like a piano is connected via straps to a mover’s truck but isn’t a part of the truck). To think the fetus is part of the mother leads logically to absurd/ contradictory results – e.g., a woman has eight arms and three penises if pregnant with male triplets – so is problematic. (For more on this topic, see here.)

Conclusion: Please think, for the sake of children.

For additional reading and study

Here are two short but deeply insightful books:

Francis J. Beckwith, Abortion and the Sanctity of Human Life. (Beckwith has a helpful discussion of the notion of “person.” Christians might be particularly interested in chapter 7, “Christian Faith and Abortion.”)

Gregory Koukl, Precious Unborn Human Persons. (Koukl has a helpful discussion on body and soul.)

Also, I suggest Scott Klusendorf’s The Case for Life: Equipping Christians to Engage the Culture. (Interested readers might appreciate these chapters: “What makes humans valuable?” and “Dead Silence: Does the Bible justify abortion?”)

Advanced readings:

Robert P. George and Christopher Tollefsen, Embryo: A Defence of Human Life.

Patrick Lee, Abortion and Unborn Human Life.

Past Apologia columns concerning abortion

Hendrik van der Breggen, PhD, is a retired philosophy professor (formerly at Providence University College, Manitoba) and author of the book Untangling Popular Pro-Choice Arguments: Critical Thinking about Abortion, and Untangling Popular Pro-MAID Arguments: Critical Thinking about Medical Assistance in Dying (in Canada).