Why Is Abortion Wrong?

Many of us become confused over the abortion arguments that have persisted in our country since 1973.  The pro-abortion side employs a number of arguments that seem quite strong:

  1. The government should not come between a mother and her body.
  2. If abortion was illegal, there would be back-alley abortions.
  3. Women have a fundamental right to do with their bodies as they please.
  4. Only a woman and a doctor should determine what she should do to protect her health.
  5. Who are we to determine the incredibly painful decisions a mother has to make after a rape that conceives a fetus?
  6. A mother who cannot financially afford a child should not be forced to bring it into a world of poverty.
  7. A mother should not be forced to bear a child with known, serious birth defects.

I am sure there are other arguments, but you get the picture.  These seem like powerful arguments, so how do the pro-life folks counter them?

The pro-life position is quite simple, actually.  Here it is stated in a syllogism:

  1. The taking of innocent human life is morally wrong.
  2. The human embryo (or fetus) is an innocent human life.
  3. Therefore the taking of the life of a human embryo or fetus is morally wrong.

Nobody would argue with proposition 1 above.  So the argument comes down to proposition 2.  Is the embryo or fetus an innocent human life?  Well, medical science has answered this question.  At conception, when the sperm and egg meet, all of the DNA – all of the genetic information – is present that will ever be present in the life of the embryo.  All that is needed is food, water, and air for the embryo to develop into a full-grown human.

If you understand this argument, then you understand that the pro-abortion arguments above all fail.  None of them trump the taking of innocent human life.  At rock bottom, we all recognize that taking innocent life is fundamentally wrong.  After all, if we don’t have a right to live after we are conceived, then all arguments over other rights are pointless.  I’m sure the fetus about to be aborted would not find the pro-abortion arguments above very convincing…