5 Common Arguments Made Against Abortion (And Why They’re Wrong)

I argue on Facebook too much. Mostly with people who just make bold claims but don’t really know what they’re talking about. I know that I shouldn’t even bother, but I can’t help myself. I’m a fighter. And, as a wise lady once told me “sometimes it’s just better to speak your truth”. The most annoying of the Facebook activists I argue with are the anti-choicers. They literally and I do mean literally have no idea what they are talking about. They eat the rhetoric of the so called “pro-life” movement up and refuse to look at the situation logically, or with facts. I wrote this, in part, so that I could refute these misinformed individuals without personally attacking them (it is so hard not to personally attack someone when they are in favor of stripping you of your reproductive rights).

1. “You’re depriving the world of valuable life.”

Yeah, this argument is completely illogical, and can easily be turned the other way. Women who choose to prevent the pregnancy from going any further could be depriving the world of a valuable person. But they could also be saving the world from an evil dictator or serial killer. Have you ever heard the rumor that Hitler’s mother was going to abort him? This rumor is likely not true, but can you imagine if she had? How many lives (true, human lives. Not collections of cells) would that have saved? Of course, I don’t recommend getting an abortion to anyone just because the fetus inside them could turn out to be a mass murderer, but for that same reason you shouldn’t recommend anyone not get an abortion because there’s a minor chance they could have the next Beethoven or the second coming of Christ inside them. Abortion is a woman’s very personal choice. No one should tell her that she should not abort her pregnancy because she may be “depriving the world of valuable life”, because that could easily be countered with “you could also be saving the world from the next Hitler.”

Secondly, if two unmarried people are getting hot and heavy one night but then decide to abstain from sexual intercourse because it is the Godly churchly thing to do, are they at fault for not taking the opportunity to “create valuable life”? Shall we condemn them as we condemn women who decide to get abortions and the people who support them?

2. “You need to keep the baby. God doesn’t make mistakes. He has a plan.”

If God doesn’t make mistakes, then what was he doing with the World Wars? Where was he when we went to Iraq? Why are these terrible acts in “his plan”? I completely understand that “without bad, there would be no good.” And sure, there may have been good that came from all of these things (though it would be hard to convince me that it was worth the lives lost), but then what about abortion? If a woman decides to abort, it must have been a part of God’s plan. He doesn’t make mistakes, right?

3. “Life begins at conception.”

At the time one gets a legal abortion, and certainly at the point of conception, the “baby” you’re referring to is simply a collection of cells. Could those cells be considered life? Of course they could be. But if we’re going to consider those cells life, then we’ve got to consider the bacteria living on your kitchen counter “life”, too. Stop using those Lysol wipes!!! You’re killing life!

Do you eat meat? Any animal you eat is certainly more “alive” than the cells inside a woman’s body at the time of abortion. Those animals feel fear and pain at the time they are slaughtered, but you still eat them, don’t you?

The spider, yesterday, on your bathroom sink. Did you spare her life because you value life so much? Isn’t all life equal? No, I’m certain you killed it and didn’t feel a pang of guilt.

Many pro-choice advocates do concede that life begins at conception, depending of what your definition of life is. But some life holds more worth than others. If it didn’t, you wouldn’t be eating steak for dinner tonight, would you?

4. “Abortions are traumatic and dangerous for the women receiving them.”

No. Just no. This assertion is just a lie. You are actually “14 times more likely to die during or after giving birth to a live child than from complications of an abortion.” Of course, in this day and age, giving birth is not a risky medical venture. Therefore, from this statistic, you can only infer that abortion is almost risk free. Countless studies, including this one by The University of California, San Francisco, have been done to prove that the number one emotion most women (in this case, a full 90%) feel after an abortion is relief, not trauma. On this issue, anti-choicers (as most), the facts are against you.

5. “There are so many couples out there that want babies. Adoption is the best option!”

I think adoption is a wonderful option for those women who choose it. I plan to adopt myself when I get older. But, we must recognize that over a quarter of a million children enter the US foster system every year. And currently, there are over 100,000 children waiting to be adopted by families. This supremely anti choice website asserts that 1.21 abortions are performed in the US every year, can you imagine adding over a million children to that foster system? It can barely handle the 250,000 it has now. And, as a side note, all of the adamant, anti-choice crusaders I know, not one of them has adopted a child that doesn’t have a home. I’m sure that there are some wonderful truly pro-life people out there that adopt homeless children, but the number is very small compared to those who think birth is the only way.

Do you get it now, anti-choicers? No, probably not. Because you refuse to listen to anything about abortion that doesn’t come from www dot abortion is wrong dot com. But, I hope at least, this stays with you in the logical corners of your minds when you’re out picketing to take women’s rights away.