(Mercator) When the topic of abortion came up at the 2024 Democratic National Convention, truth got dismembered.
How so? By lots of talk about justifying abortion as “reproductive freedom,” “reproductive rights,” and “reproductive health care.”
Thinking people should, well, think.
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Reproductive freedom justifies abortion?
No, it doesn’t.
Reproduction, i.e., the creation of a child (pre-natal human being/person) conceived via sex, occurs before abortion takes place. Reproductive freedom is exercised before abortion takes place.
The late Michael Bauman, Professor of Theology and Culture at Hillsdale College, observes: “When pro-choicers have unforced sex, they are choosing. That is freedom of choice. When they decide to kill the child conceived during that sexual encounter, that is freedom from choice. They chose; now they want to be free from the consequences of that choice, even if someone has to die.”
In other words, justifying abortion via “reproductive freedom” is a ruse.
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Note: The hard cases — rape, incest, threat to life of the mother — to which many abortion-choice proponents point as justification for abortion account for fewer than 5 percent of all abortion cases. In his 2015 book The Abortion Wars ethicist Charles Camosy reports that the number for the hard cases is 2 percent. But here (and at the DNC) we’re not talking about the hard cases, so don’t get sidetracked.
Again, to justify abortion — i.e., 95–98 percent of all abortions — via “reproductive freedom” is a ruse.
Reproductive rights justify abortion?
No, they don’t.
Every adult has a right to reproduce. That is, every adult has a right to reproduce via consensual sex if they are biologically capable and, preferably (for the sake of the children), if they are married.
But, again, reproduction occurs before abortion takes place. This means that the exercise of one’s right to reproduce occurs before abortion takes place, too. (If this is unclear, re-read previous point about reproductive freedom.)
So justifying abortion via “reproductive rights” is also a ruse.
Reminder: Along with reproductive rights come reproductive responsibilities. Parents have duties to their children. The first duty is to care for children, not kill them. Other duties include provision of food, clothing, shelter, education — and lots of love.
Reproductive health care justifies abortion?
No, it doesn’t.
Dr Kendra Kolb, a neonatologist, states this: “There is no medical reason why the life of the child must be directly and intentionally ended with an abortion procedure.”
Kolb adds: Yes, treatments for ectopic pregnancies occur, but they’re not abortions per se, if we use language accurately. Yes, treatments for heart disease or cancer can involve pre-term deliveries that might result in the death of a child, but they’re not abortions per se, if we use language accurately. When we accurately define “abortion” as the direct and intentional ending of a pre-natal human being’s life, abortions are not medically necessary.
Abortion, then, is not health care at all, let alone reproductive health care.
So justifying abortion via “reproductive health care” is yet another ruse.
Don’t be fooled
That the premeditated killing of pre-natal human beings via abortion is justified by reproductive freedom, reproductive rights, or reproductive health care is simply not true.
Folks, don’t be fooled by the falsehoods.
Editor's note: Hendrik van der Breggen, PhD, is a retired philosophy professor (formerly at Providence University College, Manitoba, Canada) and author of the book Untangling Popular Pro-Choice Arguments: Critical Thinking about Abortion. This article was originally published on Mercator under a Creative Commons Licence and is reprinted with permission.
