Abortion is a hot topic in our society, but it basically boils down to one question: When does an embryo or fetus deserve basic human rights? People who are pro-choice believe that this change comes later in the pregnancy or at birth, while those who are pro-life believe that this important change comes at conception. It is easy to see how someone’s answer to this question would indicate his or her stance on abortion. It is possible for someone who is pro-choice or pro-life to be consistent in their beliefs. It also is very common for them not to be.
Someone who is consistent in their pro-choice beliefs would see the few cells that make up the beginnings of human life as something of such little importance that it can be killed on a relative whim. People have that sentiment when it comes to other forms of life. After all, people kill billions of living organisms every day when they brush their teeth or use soap, and animals are slaughtered every day for food. To them, there is not a real difference. Therefore, no other reason than convenience is needed to kill these cells.
Others who are pro-choice are not as consistent in their beliefs. They somehow see a fetus as a life seemingly worth as much as any other, and yet simultaneously as a part of the mother’s body and the mother’s choice. This is kind of a strange idea: There is human life worth so little that it is worth killing for the sake of convenience. If someone believes there is a life deserving of basic human rights, and that simultaneously someone should be able to take that life, then they are doing no less than condoning legal murder for an entire group of people.
Alternatively, people who are pro-life say that a fertilized egg is just as human as any other human on earth and killing it would be equal to killing you or me. Some pro-lifers are consistent in their opinions on the subject. They believe that all fetuses are worth saving by their own right; the smallest and youngest of human life is just as precious as any of our lives. If this is true, than the same rights, protections and laws should be extended to these new members of the human species as to the rest of us. Obviously then it should be against the law to kill any fetus, because it would be equal to murdering an adult.
However, if all laws apply to fetuses, what about contributing to the delinquency of a minor? Mothers who drink or smoke while pregnant are, through their blood, feeding alcohol or nicotine to a child. If a fetus has equal rights to a baby, smoking or drinking while pregnant would be comparable to forcing alcohol down a baby’s throat or sticking a lit cigarette in a baby’s mouth. A pregnant woman who does either of these actions should be guilty of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
Some people who call themselves pro-life believe people should only be able to get an abortion when rape is involved. These people seem to have a firm understanding of how awful rape is. Unfortunately they don’t seem to understand anything else.
They attempt to validate this position by saying that people should take responsibility for their actions and that rape victims didn’t have a choice. The problem with this is that it treats babies as some kind of punishment for irresponsible sexual behavior.
It also treats the fetuses of rape victims as expendable and unimportant while every other fetus is treated as important as fully grown human life. Fetuses that result from rape are no different than other fetuses, so therefore there is no reason that one is worth saving and another is not. Finally, if the only way for a woman to get an abortion were to claim that she were raped, women wanting an abortion would claim they were raped even if the sex was consensual. This would clog the justice system and send innocent men to jail, while making it harder for victims of a real rape to get justice.
Inconsistencies in ideology indicate that a person has not fully thought out their opinion on an issue. It is possible to be either pro-choice or pro-life and have a consistent position, although neither side is immune to inconsistencies.
Alex Freitag is a State News columnist and political science and history major. Reach him at freitaga@msu.edu.
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