One of the more contentious political issues of our day has to do with the morality and legality of abortion. Regardless of which side you take, there are certain arguments that you should stop using because they’re really, really bad. Be sure to also check out the companion piece, Three Pro-Choice Arguments That Really Suck.
1. What if Beethoven (or Jesus, or Gandhi) had been aborted?
This argument assumes that humans are only valuable insofar as they contribute something to society, which is pretty much the opposite of what the pro-life position is saying. If Beethoven had been a janitor instead of a famous composer, would it have been okay to proactively abort him? Not all fetuses grow up to be Beethoven; most end up being regular people. Some even grow up to be Adolph Hitler.
This is a bad argument, and you should feel bad for using it.
2. Abortion is murder
From a pro-life position, the unborn are living human beings. That would mean abortion is the taking of a human life.
However, not all taking of human life counts as murder. Murder is the intentional and unwarranted taking of human life. However, some women have had abortions either without believing themselves to be taking life or having a justification that most people would find acceptable in any other circumstance.
A woman who gets an abortion because she has been persuaded that the fetus isn’t a living human being but a clump of cells has not intentionally taken a human life.
Similarly, a woman who has an abortion because she has been told by her doctor that to do otherwise would result in her own death is acting in self defense. While people may object to lethal self-defense from a religious or philosophical perspective, it’s still a legally protected action.
Finally, even if a woman has an abortion believing what she’s doing to be murder, taking a strident or condemning attitude toward her is not going to change her mind. Showing grace very well might, though.
3. Outlawing abortion will stop abortion from happening
Remember when alcohol was illegal and everyone stopped drinking, or when marijuana was illegal and your older brother didn’t get stoned all through high school? Me neither. While outlawing abortion might stop some women from seeking them, others will continue to do so.
This means that a pro-life solution which only makes abortion illegal is probably not a solution at all. Pro-lifer, is the goal to virtue signal through legal proclamations or to save what you believe are innocent human babies? If it’s the latter, then the common pro-choice argument that supporting birth control availability should be part of your strategy to stop abortions is one that doesn’t suck.
In addition, you can be the friend, the aunt, the uncle, or the parent who helps the frightened young woman who just found out that she’s pregnant so that she knows there are other options besides abortion. Not only might it be a way to save a life, but it will also take away any excuse for a pro-choice dialogue partner to accuse you of not being sincere in your beliefs.