{"id":92782,"date":"2016-05-21T09:28:31","date_gmt":"2016-05-21T13:28:31","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=92782"},"modified":"2016-05-21T22:42:38","modified_gmt":"2016-05-22T02:42:38","slug":"pro-choicer-sex-selection-abortion-is-no-big-deal-because-fetuses-arent-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/pro-choicer-sex-selection-abortion-is-no-big-deal-because-fetuses-arent-people\/","title":{"rendered":"Pro-choicer: Sex-selection abortion is no big deal because fetuses aren’t people"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

Currently, PRENDA (the Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act) has been introduced to\u00a0the Senate and is now in committee. The bill would ban abortions that are done on the grounds of race or sex. It is particularly aimed at preventing sex-selection abortions, in which a couple wanting a boy, for example, aborts a baby girl.<\/p>\n

With all the rhetoric from pro-abortion people about the bill, I am reminded of a 2012 Slate<\/em> article. <\/a>In the article, pro-abortion writer\u00a0<\/a>Allison Benedikt cautions fellow pro-choicers not to be swayed by qualms about sex-selection abortions. She argues\u00a0that being pro-choice means accepting every possible reason given for an abortion, no matter how trivial it seems. And while I would never argue that most<\/em> women abort for trivial reasons, there have been women who have aborted in order to go on a vacation<\/a>, in order to preserve a tummy tuck,<\/a> and to be thin enough to look good in a\u00a0wedding dress.\u00a0\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

I found this bit interesting:<\/p>\n

\n

…[L]et\u2019s just remember that we are talking about fetuses. No matter how many ultrasound pics get posted to Facebook, these are fetuses with female genitals or male genitals\u2014not little girls and little boys. If pro-choicers object to aborting because of the sex of the fetus, aren\u2019t we then saying that abortion is \u201cmurdering\u201d girls? Aren\u2019t we basically arguing that a fetus is not a blank slate but a future possibility? That is not the case to make if your goal is to protect abortion rights. Gulp for a second if you must, then get over it.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Benedikt knows that the concept of aborting baby girls because they are girls makes feminists uncomfortable. To get past this, she resorts to dehumanizing preborn babies. \u00a0Using the term “fetus” as a dehumanizing, derogatory \u00a0term, she claims that fetuses are not people. They may look like people. They may have all the parts people have. They may have the same type of\u00a0DNA as people. They may have two people as parents. \u00a0They may have a heartbeat, a circulatory system, a blood type different from the mother, a brain, even a gender – just like people do. But they are not people. She gives no arguments as to why<\/em> they are not people. She just asserts it.<\/p>\n

\"levatino-ad-LAN\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Dehumanization of preborn babies is common in the pro-abortion camp, and this is only one (although a very blatant) example. But what exactly makes a human “fetus” not a person? \u00a0In law, a nonhuman, nonperson, disposable fetus becomes \u00a0a person with inalienable rights when he or she is completely outside of her mother, when she is born.<\/p>\n

It raises the following questions. What is she when she is partially born? \u00a0Can we choose a percentage based on her position and how much of her body is outside the birth canal – 25% of a person, 50%, 75%? Is it required that the umbilical cord be cut? What if just a toe is inside the mother?\u00a0In fetal surgery, the fetus is sometimes lifted from the woman’s body to be operated on and then lowered back inside. Does she become a person during the operation, when she is\u00a0outside the womb, and then become, once again, a nonperson after she is replaced?<\/p>\n

In no sane, logical world is someone’s humanity determined by where they are located. \u00a0By logical extension, can we say that I am not a person at home, but when I walk out my front door I suddenly become a person? \u00a0There is no rational\u00a0argument that can support the belief that a baby two seconds before birth is not a person but a baby two seconds after birth is.<\/p>\n

The reason why Benedikt argues that preborn “fetuses” are not people is simple. It is the same reason why slave-owners argued that slaves were not people. (And, in fact, on July 12 of 1707, slaves were ruled to be three fifths of a person <\/a>in the Constitution.) \u00a0The preborn “fetus” is not a person because pro-choicers don’t want her to be.<\/p>\n

They don’t want to believe that preborn babies are people, any more than slave-owners wanted to believe that slaves were people –\u00a0because of expediency. \u00a0It is useful for both slave-owners and those promoting abortion to declare that some people are not people. If slaves were acknowledged as people, they would have had to set them free. If fetuses were acknowledged as people, they\u00a0couldn’t arbitrarily be killed.<\/p>\n

It all comes down to expediency.<\/p>\n

Benedikt tells pro-choicers troubled by their consciences that killing baby girls for being girls is okay. Because they are not really<\/em> girls. \u00a0Pro-lifers should rightly, and always, reject this “reasoning” – if one can even call it that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Currently, PRENDA (the Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act) has been introduced to\u00a0the Senate and is now in committee. The bill would ban abortions that are done on the grounds of race or sex. It is particularly aimed at preventing sex-selection abortions, in which a couple wanting a boy, for example, aborts a baby girl. With all the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":153,"featured_media":60912,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[19,8832,8194,623,6501,1543,6498,382],"yoast_head":"\nPro-choicer: Sex-selection abortion is no big deal because fetuses aren't people<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The reason why Benedikt argues that preborn "fetuses" aren't people is the same reason why slave-owners argued that slaves were not people. Expediency.\" \/>\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\/pro-choicer-sex-selection-abortion-is-no-big-deal-because-fetuses-arent-people\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pro-choicer: Sex-selection abortion is no big deal because fetuses aren't people\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The reason why Benedikt argues that preborn "fetuses" aren't people is the same reason why slave-owners argued that slaves were not people. Expediency.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/pro-choicer-sex-selection-abortion-is-no-big-deal-because-fetuses-arent-people\/\" \/>\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=\"2016-05-21T13:28:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-05-22T02:42:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/boy-girl2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"672\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"343\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sarah Terzo\" \/>\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=\"Sarah Terzo\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/pro-choicer-sex-selection-abortion-is-no-big-deal-because-fetuses-arent-people\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/pro-choicer-sex-selection-abortion-is-no-big-deal-because-fetuses-arent-people\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sarah Terzo\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/2f32fb25f4ca350784baf5509b1b6eb2\"},\"headline\":\"Pro-choicer: Sex-selection abortion is no big deal because fetuses aren’t people\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-05-21T13:28:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-05-22T02:42:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/pro-choicer-sex-selection-abortion-is-no-big-deal-because-fetuses-arent-people\/\"},\"wordCount\":788,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"abortion\",\"Allison Benedikt\",\"dehumanizing\",\"DNA\",\"Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act\",\"PRENDA\",\"sex-selection\",\"Slate\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Issues\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/pro-choicer-sex-selection-abortion-is-no-big-deal-because-fetuses-arent-people\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/pro-choicer-sex-selection-abortion-is-no-big-deal-because-fetuses-arent-people\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/pro-choicer-sex-selection-abortion-is-no-big-deal-because-fetuses-arent-people\/\",\"name\":\"Pro-choicer: Sex-selection abortion is no big deal because fetuses aren't people\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-05-21T13:28:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-05-22T02:42:38+00:00\",\"description\":\"The reason why Benedikt argues that preborn \\\"fetuses\\\" aren't people is the same reason why slave-owners argued that slaves were not people. Expediency.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/pro-choicer-sex-selection-abortion-is-no-big-deal-because-fetuses-arent-people\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/pro-choicer-sex-selection-abortion-is-no-big-deal-because-fetuses-arent-people\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/pro-choicer-sex-selection-abortion-is-no-big-deal-because-fetuses-arent-people\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Pro-choicer: Sex-selection abortion is no big deal because fetuses aren’t people\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Live Action News\",\"description\":\"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, & Pro-Life Issues\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Live Action\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"width\":701,\"height\":710,\"caption\":\"Live Action\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/2f32fb25f4ca350784baf5509b1b6eb2\",\"name\":\"Sarah Terzo\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/be2e9491114fa98a73c4031634f89b2b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/be2e9491114fa98a73c4031634f89b2b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Sarah Terzo\"},\"description\":\"Sarah Terzo is a pro-life author and creator of the clinicquotes.com website . She is a member of Secular Pro-Life, Pro-Life Humanists, and a board member of Pro-Life Alliance of Gays and Lesbians, and Consistent Life.. You can reach her at https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sarahl.terzo. https:\/\/twitter.com\/PLClinicquotes\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/sarah-terzo\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Pro-choicer: Sex-selection abortion is no big deal because fetuses aren't people","description":"The reason why Benedikt argues that preborn \"fetuses\" aren't people is the same reason why slave-owners argued that slaves were not people. Expediency.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/pro-choicer-sex-selection-abortion-is-no-big-deal-because-fetuses-arent-people\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Pro-choicer: Sex-selection abortion is no big deal because fetuses aren't people","og_description":"The reason why Benedikt argues that preborn \"fetuses\" aren't people is the same reason why slave-owners argued that slaves were not people. Expediency.","og_url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/pro-choicer-sex-selection-abortion-is-no-big-deal-because-fetuses-arent-people\/","og_site_name":"Live Action News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","article_published_time":"2016-05-21T13:28:31+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-05-22T02:42:38+00:00","og_image":[{"width":672,"height":343,"url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/boy-girl2.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Sarah Terzo","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@liveaction","twitter_site":"@liveaction","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sarah Terzo","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/pro-choicer-sex-selection-abortion-is-no-big-deal-because-fetuses-arent-people\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/pro-choicer-sex-selection-abortion-is-no-big-deal-because-fetuses-arent-people\/"},"author":{"name":"Sarah Terzo","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/2f32fb25f4ca350784baf5509b1b6eb2"},"headline":"Pro-choicer: Sex-selection abortion is no big deal because fetuses aren’t people","datePublished":"2016-05-21T13:28:31+00:00","dateModified":"2016-05-22T02:42:38+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/pro-choicer-sex-selection-abortion-is-no-big-deal-because-fetuses-arent-people\/"},"wordCount":788,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"keywords":["abortion","Allison Benedikt","dehumanizing","DNA","Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act","PRENDA","sex-selection","Slate"],"articleSection":["Issues"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/pro-choicer-sex-selection-abortion-is-no-big-deal-because-fetuses-arent-people\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/pro-choicer-sex-selection-abortion-is-no-big-deal-because-fetuses-arent-people\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/pro-choicer-sex-selection-abortion-is-no-big-deal-because-fetuses-arent-people\/","name":"Pro-choicer: Sex-selection abortion is no big deal because fetuses aren't people","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-05-21T13:28:31+00:00","dateModified":"2016-05-22T02:42:38+00:00","description":"The reason why Benedikt argues that preborn \"fetuses\" aren't people is the same reason why slave-owners argued that slaves were not people. Expediency.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/pro-choicer-sex-selection-abortion-is-no-big-deal-because-fetuses-arent-people\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/pro-choicer-sex-selection-abortion-is-no-big-deal-because-fetuses-arent-people\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/pro-choicer-sex-selection-abortion-is-no-big-deal-because-fetuses-arent-people\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Pro-choicer: Sex-selection abortion is no big deal because fetuses aren’t people"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","name":"Live Action News","description":"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, & Pro-Life Issues","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization","name":"Live Action","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","width":701,"height":710,"caption":"Live Action"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/2f32fb25f4ca350784baf5509b1b6eb2","name":"Sarah Terzo","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/be2e9491114fa98a73c4031634f89b2b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/be2e9491114fa98a73c4031634f89b2b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Sarah Terzo"},"description":"Sarah Terzo is a pro-life author and creator of the clinicquotes.com website . She is a member of Secular Pro-Life, Pro-Life Humanists, and a board member of Pro-Life Alliance of Gays and Lesbians, and Consistent Life.. You can reach her at https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sarahl.terzo. https:\/\/twitter.com\/PLClinicquotes","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/sarah-terzo\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92782"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/153"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92782"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92782\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94732,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92782\/revisions\/94732"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}