{"id":39850,"date":"2013-08-24T09:31:16","date_gmt":"2013-08-24T13:31:16","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=39850"},"modified":"2013-08-24T09:37:08","modified_gmt":"2013-08-24T13:37:08","slug":"personally-opposed-abortion-well-see","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/personally-opposed-abortion-well-see\/","title":{"rendered":"“Personally opposed” to abortion? We’ll see about that"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

We know that \u201cI\u2019m personally pro-life, but can\u2019t make that choice for anyone else\u201d is one of the most cowardly and thoughtless ways<\/a> to weasel through abortion discussions, because it ignores all the salient facts of the issue and pretends there\u2019s only one person at stake in it. Whenever a kid-killing apologist deploys it, pro-lifers have a field day demolishing the mess it makes of morality, science, and rights.<\/p>\n

\"march-for-life6\"

Crowds rally at the 2013 March for Life.<\/p><\/div>\n

However, the claim to be reluctantly pro-\u201cchoice\u201d is also highly susceptible from the other end of its logic. And in working toward abolishing abortion, it is invaluable to systematically demolish our opponents\u2019 every rhetorical hiding place.<\/p>\n

Usually the admission that they find abortion distasteful in some way isn\u2019t an earnest, considered conviction, but rather a halfhearted disclaimer meant to seem reasonably moderate and deflect unpleasant character questions before directing the subject away from that messy \u201cmorality\u201d stuff as soon as possible.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

So let\u2019s hone in on that for a while. Put aside the question of legality and temporarily assume for the sake of argument that the \u201cright\u201d to abortion will never be uprooted.<\/p>\n

People have the right to do plenty of shameful things, and legality doesn\u2019t mean immunity from criticism. People have the right to throw out perfectly good food they\u2019re never going to eat, but we wouldn\u2019t be afraid to call that a rotten thing to do if they could have just dropped it off at the local food bank.<\/p>\n

So let\u2019s ask: how deep does your \u201cpersonal opposition\u201d to abortion truly run?<\/p>\n

In your mind, is there any such thing as a bad reason to abort? (Shockingly, lots of Jezebel readers say no<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Are you willing to call it selfish and cold-hearted to have a developing fetus destroyed because giving birth would be inconvenient to one\u2019s financial situation or social life?<\/p>\n

If someone chooses to abort because her baby has been diagnosed with a disability or deformity<\/a>, or justifies an abortion on the grounds that the child would just be \u201cunwanted\u201d anyway, can you recognize the arrogance of presuming to know the full worth of anyone else\u2019s life and future?<\/p>\n

Can you recognize that the overwhelming majority of abortions are for pregnancies that were entirely preventable<\/a>, and therefore result from irresponsibility? Whatever else you may favor to reduce unplanned pregnancy, are you willing to acknowledge that personal behavior is a necessary component of the solution?<\/p>\n

And when you see abortion cheered<\/a> and celebrated<\/a> and joked about<\/a>, when you hear people claim there\u2019s nothing to regret<\/a> about it, how do you react? Would you criticize people for being callous and thoughtless, or credit their perspectives as reasonable?<\/p>\n

If so, then hopefully we can have a productive conversation about the right policies to pursue, and perhaps find some common ground on which to reopen the legality question.<\/p>\n

But if not, if you can\u2019t bring yourself to say anything<\/em> negative about the choice to abort even after banning it has been tabled, then it seems your \u201cpersonal opposition\u201d isn\u2019t so personal after all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We know that \u201cI\u2019m personally pro-life, but can\u2019t make that choice for anyone else\u201d is one of the most cowardly and thoughtless ways to weasel through abortion discussions, because it ignores all the salient facts of the issue and pretends there\u2019s only one person at stake in it. Whenever a kid-killing apologist deploys it, pro-lifers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n"Personally opposed" to abortion? 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