{"id":203684,"date":"2019-06-08T09:02:17","date_gmt":"2019-06-08T14:02:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=203684"},"modified":"2019-06-05T16:22:44","modified_gmt":"2019-06-05T21:22:44","slug":"bodily-autonomy-women-violently-kill-humans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/bodily-autonomy-women-violently-kill-humans\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Bodily autonomy’ doesn’t mean women get to violently kill other humans"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Some abortion activists justify abortion by using difficult cases, like a poor prenatal diagnosis or even simply Down syndrome, as if these cases make it acceptable to kill the preborn baby. Yet other abortion advocates, like Elly Lonon in <\/span>an opinion piece published by The Washington Post on May 27th<\/span><\/a>, loudly proclaim that they owe no justification for any kind of abortion whatsoever. <\/span><\/p>\n

Lonon\u2019s piece, titled \u201cI had an abortion. It\u2019s none of your business why,\u201d ultimately relies heavily on rhetoric and self-righteous emotional appeal, but ends up unable to deliver a coherent argument when we examine the main points.<\/span><\/p>\n

Flawed Argument #1:\u00a0<\/b>“<\/span><\/i>I am an adult of sound mind and body. My government has decreed me capable of voting, of operating motor vehicles, of purchasing firearms, of paying taxes. Why is this irrational line drawn at body autonomy?”<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

This argument may sound persuasive at first glance, but it falls apart when one exerts the smallest amount of critical thinking. For instance, regarding the right to bear arms to which the author alludes, the government requires a number of prerequisites for a citizen to be able to exercise that right, including a background check, a criminal record free of felonies in most states, the safe and proper use of the firearm, and specific rules that govern how firearms can be carried to include special permits and training for concealed carry. The government, in other words, sets considerable limits on autonomy in order to balance the rights and safety of others with one’s own individual right. <\/span><\/p>\n

What pro-lifers argue with respect to abortion is no different: that a woman’s right to autonomy must be balanced against the rights of others. An expectant mother has a right to autonomy, but that right doesn’t give her authority to violently inflict death on another living person who infringes on her autonomy. Rights are never absolute abstractions, especially when they infringe on the fundamental rights of another — contrary to what abortion activists imply when they use the loaded term bodily \u201cautonomy.\u201d That’s not only a fundamental principle of our society, it\u2019s common sense.<\/span><\/p>\n

WATCH: Abortion is never medically necessary, and it\u2019s not health care<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Flawed Argument #2:<\/b>\u00a0<\/i><\/b>“<\/span><\/i>For example, as a U.S. citizen, I have the right to refuse lifesaving medical treatment. Unless I give express permission, no one can remove an organ from my body \u2014 even to save the life of another person. Even after death, no one can perform research upon or remove parts of my body without prior consent. Why do my reproductive decisions fall outside of these other condoned health-care choices?”<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Abortion is neither a \u201creproductive decision\u201d nor a \u201chealth-care choice.\u201d Abortion is\u00a0<\/span>violence<\/span><\/a>. Abortion is\u00a0<\/span>never medically necessary<\/span><\/a>. Nothing gives one the right to <\/span>kill, dismember, and tear<\/span><\/a> a living person from his place of existence. On the contrary, the respect for bodily integrity should also extend to the preborn child: he must not be <\/span>refused medical treatment<\/span><\/a>. Nobody should be able to <\/span>remove an organ from his body<\/span><\/a> — even to save the life of another person. And should he die, nobody should be allowed to <\/span>perform research upon or remove parts of his body<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n