{"id":259174,"date":"2021-12-20T18:45:34","date_gmt":"2021-12-21T00:45:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=259174"},"modified":"2021-12-20T12:51:01","modified_gmt":"2021-12-20T18:51:01","slug":"wouldnt-know-killed-abortion-fine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wouldnt-know-killed-abortion-fine\/","title":{"rendered":"Op-ed writer: Since I wouldn’t know if I were killed in an abortion, abortion is fine"},"content":{"rendered":"
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During oral arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization<\/em> concerning Mississippi’s 15-week abortion restriction, Justice Amy Coney Barrett\u2019s <\/span>comments<\/span><\/a> in support of adoption as preferable to abortion kindled a debate on the dignity of the preborn baby and what is in the best interest of the child. In response, Kate Cohen attempted to answer the long-debated question, “How would you feel if your mother aborted you?” by arguing in an\u00a0op-ed in the Washington Post<\/a>, that she would feel nothing at all. Therefore, she claims, abortion is justifiable.<\/span>\u00a0In Cohen’s mind, abortion would not negatively affect her or any other human being killed in the womb because she believes each preborn child merely has \u201cpotential existence” and that potential would simply cease after an abortion. She uses this delusional idea of when life begins and how human life should be valued to endorse abortion.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Cohen\u2019s piece is rife with ableism and dehumanization, full of the misleading language and incoherent logic required to underpin such an argument. She states that \u201c[…] people who are happily pregnant might assign complete personhood to a pea-size clump of cells from the moment the pregnancy is confirmed. But how <\/span>we<\/span><\/i> feel about that clump is not the same as how <\/span>it<\/span><\/i> feels.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Potential vs actual persons: A false dichotomy<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

But the comparison of a “potential person” and an “actual person” is meaningless. Cohen labels embryos and fetuses \u2014 preborn human beings \u2014 as merely potential persons because they have not yet developed into what she considers a person to be. But there is nothing “potential” about whether or not a human being exists in the womb once fertilization has occurred. It\u00a0is indisputable that at the moment of fertilization, that new human being is human and will continue to be such for her entire life.<\/span><\/p>\n

When speaking of human rights, we are splitting hairs if we attempt to distinguish between “personhood” and “humanity” \u2014 a dangerous slippery slope. All humans are inherently equal and deserving of the same rights, including the right to life. A newborn is not a separate being than she was moments before birth or even 40 weeks before birth. She didn’t begin<\/em> her existence at birth, but merely changed her label of development from fetus to newborn. The only definitive moment in a human life when that new human begins her existence is fertilization. Birth occurs at various gestational ages \u2014 fertilization occurs once, marking the beginning of a life. As philosopher\u00a0Alexander R. Pruss<\/a> stated:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

… even someone who denies the fetus is a person is bound to feel the force of the claim that we are human beings and that the fetus is a human being, albeit at an earlier stage. Moreover, it is clear that if this is so, then the fetus is\u00a0the same human being\u00a0as I am, since it develops into me continuously and naturally.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

It is the deepest form of discrimination to label any human as a “non-person” or a “potential person” should they not meet our standards.<\/span><\/p>\n

Awareness of death\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Cohen draws a rhetorical line between \u201cactual people\u201d who choose abortion, and those she considers to be \u201cpotential\u201d people \u2014 preborn humans. Cohen essentially argues that a potential person cannot \u201cfeel\u201d anything because they \u201cwouldn\u2019t be anything \u2013 fine or not fine \u2013 because they wouldn\u2019t <\/span>be<\/span><\/i>.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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A post shared by Clump Of Memes (@clumpofmemes)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n