To conclude this series on abortion, I offer a few final points followed by my overall conclusion:
This is Part 7 in a series on the abortion issue by editor/owner Justin Stapley. Click here to read Part 6.
- The arguments for unrestricted abortion have shrunk to a near-exclusive reliance on the idea of a woman’s right to choose.
- The idea that abortion should be “safe, legal, and rare” is no longer preached by abortion advocates or practiced by abortion clinics.
- The argument that abortion reduces poverty has not played out over the decades. This is evidenced by the perpetual nature of generational poverty despite the dramatic increase of abortions among impoverished Americans.
- The assertion that abortions would happen regardless does not jive with an honest assessment of statistics. Abortions are clearly occurring that would not happen otherwise due to the encouragement and processes of a large abortion industry.
- The only argument still viable and in vogue for unrestricted abortion is the belief in a woman’s right to choose. This belief relies upon the non-personhood of the human fetus for the consideration to not be one of an intersection of rights.
- The non-personhood of the human fetus and the necessity of abortion to allow a woman to have a choice in pregnancy are increasingly contrary to the new realities of medicine, healthcare, and technology.
- There are numerous options for birth control, which have become affordable for most Americans.
- The evidence of life, such as brain activity, a beating heart, physical animation, cognizant response to outside stimuli, and viability are all observable within the womb.
- An argument against banning third-trimester abortions and even against considering a fetus with a heartbeat as a person with unalienable rights is increasingly becoming an immoral disregard of scientific realities.
Conclusion: Between the increasing viability of preterm birth in earlier stages of pregnancy and the increasing options, effectiveness, and affordability of birth control, justifying unrestricted abortion based primarily on a woman’s right to choose is becoming less philosophically and morally sound.
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