{"id":28470,"date":"2013-03-08T21:48:50","date_gmt":"2013-03-09T02:48:50","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=28470"},"modified":"2013-03-11T10:16:52","modified_gmt":"2013-03-11T14:16:52","slug":"what-if-im-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/what-if-im-wrong\/","title":{"rendered":"“What if I’m wrong?”"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

\"question\"<\/a>The abortion debate rages on because the two sides disagree on what kind of harm abortion poses to whom, but basic decency dictates to humane people of all political stripes that harm is generally something to be avoided. In the past, I\u2019ve argued<\/a> that when people are uncertain about the precise status of the unborn baby, that uncertainty should compel them to err on the side of caution, and oppose abortion to avoid the possibility of murdering children. Today, I\u2019d like to expand upon that concept.<\/p>\n

In any serious moral calculus, people must consider some basic questions: What if I\u2019m wrong? If I\u2019ve made an error somewhere along the way, what would that mean for the consequences of my decision? Would those consequences outweigh the toll of my opponents\u2019 position?<\/i> Whatever their leanings, decent people should put maximizing good and minimizing harm at the heart of their decision-making processes when it comes to ethical conundrums.<\/p>\n

Hopefully, subjecting both sides of the abortion debate to this test will prove extremely illuminating.<\/p>\n

If pro-lifers are wrong, and the entity developing within a mother\u2019s womb is not a live human being and has no soul, essence, or rights, then forbidding abortion would be pointless and would needlessly force millions of women to endure the hardships of pregnancy and delivery against their will. Those who chose to keep their babies after birth would have the rest of their lives drastically changed. A small percentage of these pregnancies would be due to rape.<\/p>\n

This is a significant toll, no doubt, and pro-lifers shouldn\u2019t take it lightly. Nor should we exaggerate it, however. Rape aside, none of these women would be forced to become pregnant in the first place. The power to choose sex and evaluate the consequences of their actions and the reliability of their partners would still be theirs. Nobody would prevent them from acquiring or trying whatever non-abortive birth control methods they choose. And in the event of a life-threatening medical complication, nobody would deny them life-saving treatment that would risk the fetus\u2019s destruction.<\/p>\n

If pro-choicers are wrong, on the other hand, and the baby is a person every bit as human and valuable as the rest of us, then over fifty million state-sanctioned murders have occurred since Roe v. Wade<\/i>. Pro-choicers would be culpable in one of the worst atrocities in the history of Western civilization. Mass violence and death, the suffering of the babies old enough to feel pain, the abandonment and sexual abuse abortion helps facilitate, and the physical, mental, and emotional harm done to women who\u2019ve been led to believe that abortion is far more casual than it really is\u2026all of that has been enabled by pro-choicers\u2019 votes and voices.<\/p>\n

Which scenario holds the greatest potential for harm? It\u2019s no contest.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s understandable to be uncertain about some of the heavier philosophical and theological concepts surrounding personhood, and uncertainty can be fertile ground for appeals to moral relativism to take root in. But when considered logically and paired with the elementary ethical principle of minimizing potential harm, uncertainty should only strengthen one\u2019s commitment to act with caution and restraint.<\/p>\n

As Jonah Goldberg put it<\/a> in a 2007 column grappling with his own doubts about the sanctity of life:<\/p>\n

In death-penalty cases, \u201creasonable doubt\u201d goes to the accused because unless we\u2019re certain, we must not risk an innocent\u2019s life. This logic goes out the window when it comes to abortion, unless you are 100-percent sure that babies only become human beings after the umbilical cord is cut. I don\u2019t see how you can be that sure, which is why I\u2019m pro-life \u2014 not because I\u2019m certain, but because I\u2019m not.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In any serious moral calculus, people must consider some basic questions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":17315,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n"What if I'm wrong?" - Live Action News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/what-if-im-wrong\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""What if I'm wrong?" - Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In any serious moral calculus, people must consider some basic questions.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/what-if-im-wrong\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-03-09T02:48:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-03-11T14:16:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/dreamstimefree_10720465.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"4200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2784\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Calvin Freiburger\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Calvin Freiburger\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/what-if-im-wrong\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/what-if-im-wrong\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Calvin Freiburger\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/6eb2bf94c8064b71953ba137bf413c4d\"},\"headline\":\"“What if I’m wrong?”\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-03-09T02:48:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-03-11T14:16:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/what-if-im-wrong\/\"},\"wordCount\":630,\"commentCount\":4,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Opinion\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/what-if-im-wrong\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/what-if-im-wrong\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/what-if-im-wrong\/\",\"name\":\"\\\"What if I'm wrong?\\\" - 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