Abortion and Right-to-Life - A Rebuttal
In an attempt to refute my article "Cutting Through Prochoice Rhetoric ," a young woman nicknamed "Aizenald" from Alabama, has written an article called "Abortion and Right-to-Life." I would like to comment on some of her arguments here.
Aizenald said: “Something like 50% of all pregnancies result in spontaneous, natural abortion. These human beings have a DNA code all their own and are of a separate identity from their mother — yet they are not persons and will never become persons — they were 'potential persons.' ”
What about a full-term stillborn baby? The infant has all her own DNA code and separate identity, yet she will never be a toddler. She will never be a teenager. She will never be an adult. Was she a just a “potential person” then? I maintain that a natural miscarriage *is* the death of a human person, just like all other natural causes of death at any age and stage of developement.
Aizenald said: “Consider a very real possibility: a human being that has all the physical trappings of a human body (heart, lungs, circulatory system, etc) and a brain stem to control all these basic functions — but genetically engineered to have no brain — incapable of higher function. . . . It’s an empty shell.”
First of all, this is a strawman. There is no such thing as a genetically engineered human prototype devoid of a brain. Secondly, a fetus does not develop all his/her body parts prior to developing the brain. The brain is developing rapidly at the same time as all the other parts are forming.
Aizenald said: “There is something that makes us people, and working organs aren’t that something.”
Yet you wouldn’t exist at all without working organs. You can’t separate your personhood from your physical body without death. What is your brain if not an organ? Tell me – just what makes us persons? A soul? You can’t say intelligence or consciousness, because our cognitive abilities come from our brains, which are physical organs.
Aizenald said: "...the product of conception becomes a person when it gains the capacity for higher brain function (not complete brain maturity, but the capacity for some semblance of higher function). This happens some time after birth."
Aizenald does not provide any scientific proof to back up this claim. This is just an opinion. If her opinion is correct, then anyone who is born with a mental disability or anyone whose brain is damaged in an accident is not a "person" and has less value than a "actual" person. Dangerous territory here! This is the same mentality that fueled the Nazi gas chambers. Aizenald maintains that "This happens some time after birth. No, that does not make killing newborns okay." Well, why not? And this "some time," when is it exactly? What is the exact moment that a human being becomes a person?
Aizenald said: “I don’t suggest that consciousness is a requisite for personhood — merely the capacity for consciousness and higher brain function, not only in the future, but also in the past and present.”
And what do you base this opinion on? Do you have scientific proof for it? If this were true, then I must conclude (based on your belief) that a fetus becomes a person in the early 2nd trimester. In that case, abortion in the 2nd and 3rd trimester is clearly murder. Nevertheless, you don’t have proof for your claim – it is just an opinion. I would rather stick to science – that is, that a preborn child, from the moment of conception, is a human being/person worthy of equal human rights.
Aizenald said: “I do not contend that intelligence is a requisite for personhood because intelligence is subjective. Children are not subhuman because we’re not worried about levels of consciousness — merely the capacity for consciousness itself.”
The “capacity for consciousness itself” as a requisite for personhood is your own religious belief. It is just as subjective as intelligence. You have no way of proving this claim. What if you are wrong; have you considered the implications?
And what about anachephalic infants? They don’t have much more than a brainstem and yet they can see, they can smile, and they can hear and enjoy music and voices and laughter; they can love. Often they don’t live long after birth but some anachephalic children have lived for several years, some ten years even. I know of a sixteen-year-old who is anachephalic. There is newfound scientific evidence that suggests that consciousness doesn’t necessarily originate in the cerebral cortex as many believe.
Aizenald said: “…to say that one is responsible for the consequences of his or her actions is to leave questions up to debate. What is a responsible reaction to the consequences? Depending on one’s situation, mentally, physically, financially, what-have-you, a termination of a pregnancy is often the most responsible choice a woman can make.”
The same argument could be used for a child of any age. It could be used to justify the murder of a newborn or a toddler. If a woman is unable mentally, physically, and/or financially to care for a child, then she can place her child with a loving adoptive family, or with child services.
Aizenald said: "A zygote/embryo/fetus is not the same as a toddler; it is not physically living within the mother and she can send it to an adoption center or a safehouse at any time."
Here your argument is based on environment. i.e. a fetus is within the uterus, the amniotic fluid, and cannot survive outside the womb until "viable."
Let us make a comparison. An astronaut in space cannot survive without a protective suit and oxygen tank. Yet no one would argue whether or not the astronaut is a person while in space. The same can be said of the scuba diver. Human beings cannot breathe under water as fish can. We need an oxygen tank. Yet no one would contend that a scuba diver ceases to be a human being/person while under water. Now, here you will digress to the concept of "consciousness" again, however, in this argument you are suggesting that the reason a mother can kill her unborn child is because the child is currently reliant on her womb for survival. But this has nothing to do with consciousness! On one hand, you say that a 1st trimester fetus is not a person, but a 3rd trimester fetus is a person. On what grounds do you justify taking the life of a fetus who has consciousness?
Aizenald said: "The trick is preventing unwanted pregnancy in the first place through sex education and contraception."
I agree. However, that being said, hormonal forms of birth control can cause miscarriage should breakthrough ovulation and accidental pregnancy occur. If the zygote/embryo truly is a unique human being and person, than an early chemical abortion is just as immoral as a late-term abortion.
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