For the most part, abortion advocates try to hide their undying love for abortion. They don’t want to scare off the vast majority of Americans who find abortion distasteful or immoral, so they have to be very careful to not come across as pro-abortion — a label that many so-called “pro-choicers” say is offensive.
But every now and then, you’ll get one who is completely willing to own up to the fact that they aren’t pro-choice, they’re pro-abortion. Valerie Tarico, a writer for Salon, has come up with an op-ed explaining why abortion is “a positive social good,” complete with a list of 10 reasons why.
Recently, the Daily Kos published an article titled I Am Pro-Choice, Not Pro-Abortion. “Has anyone ever truly been pro-abortion?” one commenter asked.
Uh. Yes. Me. That would be me.
I am pro-abortion like I’m pro-knee-replacement and pro-chemotherapy and pro-cataract surgery. As the last protection against ill-conceived childbearing when all else fails, abortion is part of a set of tools that help women and men to form the families of their choosing. I believe that abortion care is a positive social good. I suspect that a lot of other people secretly believe the same thing. And I think it’s time we said so.
Her reasons why consisted of the usual pro-abortion talking points:
1. I’m pro-abortion because being able to delay and limit childbearing is fundamental to female empowerment and equality.
2. I’m pro-abortion because well-timed pregnancies give children a healthier start in life.
3. I’m pro-abortion because I take motherhood seriously.
4. I’m pro-abortion because intentional childbearing helps couples, families and communities to get out of poverty.
Tarico begins with the ever-familiar argument by implying first, pregnancy will destroy a woman’s future. Secondly, she suggests pregnancy is something that mysteriously happens to women that they have absolutely no control over.
It’s interesting that people who claim to believe in strong, empowered women also claim that women are incapable of getting an education or building a career if they are pregnant or have children. It shows just how little abortion advocates actually think of women —they are weak, pathetic women who are not capable of accomplishing anything if they are also mothers.
Abortion is required for them to be able to meet their goals —that’s the pro-abortion definition of “empowerment.”
Tarico makes the argument that abortion is needed so that women can control their fertility and space pregnancies. But the implication is, as usual, that pregnancy is a mysterious disease that women have no control over — not the result of an action that the woman chose to take.
However, pregnancy does not happen to women unexpected and without warning, yet proponents contend that it is a cruel fate from which only abortion can save them from. But that’s the way that abortion advocates try to frame the debate, even though there are a number of birth control methods women can use, including abstinence if a pregnancy is not wanted. Abortion is not the only way a woman can control her fertility, but that doesn’t help the argument for abortion as a social good, does it?
5. I’m pro-abortion because reproduction is a highly imperfect process.
This is a troubling argument that very few pro-abortion extremists have been willing to make. But the idea is simple: some babies will die in childbirth, be born premature, or be miscarried.
And somehow, this is considered an argument for abortion. Babies are going to die anyway, so we might as well give moms the OK to kill them, too. If not, then some babies might be born with birth defects, or have to be in the NICU (or any other number of “horrible” things), so we should encourage parents to beat the baby to the punch and abort them first.
It’s a horrible, despicable mindset to have, and it goes to show how deep the inherent depravity of the abortion movement goes.
6. I’m pro-abortion because I think morality is about the well-being of sentient beings.
This is another particularly disturbing argument. Tarico says that we should abide by the idea of: “Do unto others as they want you to do unto them.” And therefore, beings that are incapable of thinking, feeling, or wanting do not, in Tarico’s words, count as much as “real” people. Therefore, the “non-persons” can be killed at the pleasure of the “real” people.
While Tarico is talking about abortion, the implication of her argument is chilling, with potentially far-reaching effects beyond just abortion. With Tarico’s line of thinking, only some people can be counted as real — and the ones that don’t meet her personal definition of that are free to be killed.
7. I’m pro-abortion because contraceptives are imperfect, and people are, too.
Yes, contraceptives are imperfect and sometimes fail. But you know what is 100 percent perfect? Abstinence. There’s always that option, though strangely, abortion advocates never mention it. But in the case of an unplanned pregnancy, the option given is always, always abortion.
Adoption is never brought up because, somehow, that’s not fair to the pregnant woman. And as so often explained by pro-abortion extremists, keeping the baby is obviously a terrible option because babies are life-ruiners that shatter dreams and destroy hopes. Nope, the solution to an unplanned pregnancy is always abortion.
8. I’m pro-abortion because I believe in mercy, grace, compassion, and the power of fresh starts.
9. I’m pro-abortion because the future is always in motion, and we have the power and responsibility to shape it well.
It’s hard to understand how someone can claim to believe in things like mercy, grace, and compassion while arguing about the virtue of abortion. Where is her mercy and compassion for the preborn baby whose life will be snuffed out?
Likewise, she talks of shaping the future, but there are hundreds of millions of preborn people who will never have a future because of abortion. Not only have these innocent preborn children been robbed of their futures, who knows what kind of difference any one of these hundreds of millions of people would have made if they had been given the chance?
Tarico speaks of altering the future, but that is what abortion does. Abortion undeniably changes the future because a person that would have been born, had a life and a future has been killed.
10. I’m pro-abortion because I love my daughter.
Tarico speaks of her grief after having her own abortion, and how upon becoming pregnant again, she thought, “I want that baby, not this one.”
Tarico claims that if those who mourn missing people were in her position (where she stopped missing her aborted child and fell in love with the daughter she chose to keep) they would understand. All they have to do, apparently, is have a replacement baby and everything will be all better.
That tragic thought aside, it’s equally sad to think that a mother would look at her daughter and think of an abortion. It’s also sad to know that someone who has carried life within them, who has seen and heard the heartbeat, has felt movement and kicking, seen the indisputable proof of the life in her womb, could so callously be willing to snuff that life out.
Tarico says that she wishes people could experience what she did, looking in the eyes of the baby they created and fall in love. But if women continue to have abortions, they’ll never get that chance, will they?
