It’s clear that the abortion industry is based on a lot of lies and a complete disregard for preborn human life. One way that pro-lifers can make progress in the abortion discussion is by arguing against some of the premises and beliefs upon which the abortion industry is based.
One of the things I hear often is, “It’s a woman’s body; she can do whatever she wants.” This premise gets tossed around as if it were the bottom line when it comes to abortion. “Well, I don’t agree with her choice, but it’s her body.” But a little examination makes it clear that this premise doesn’t hold up. It’s faulty. It’s erroneous. It’s wrong. It should not be treated as an acceptable argument for allowing women to have abortions.
See women (and men!) are not free to do whatever they want with their bodies. Thank goodness. This is common sense. Every decent society throughout the course of history has chosen to make illegal certain things that people do with their body. Not a single one of them has ever fallen for this logic of “it’s her body, she can do what she wants”.
There are many things that men and women cannot do with their bodies. It is illegal to prostitute oneself. You are not allowed to inject illegal drugs into your body. You are not free to show your body off in public places. You are not free to use your body to take things from other people. And even were you to argue that all of those things should be legal, you would probably stop short of saying that a person is free to use their body to inflict harm on another human being.
This is where the crux of the absurdity of this statement finds a home. Sensibly, it’s not legal to use your body to hurt others. It’s not okay to rape. It’s not okay to murder. It’s not okay to assault. It’s not okay to steal. It’s not okay to vandalize. It’s not okay to kill your preborn child.
Oh, wait. Yes it is. For some reason, we have chosen to continue to keep legal a woman’s right to make that choice with her body. We have effectively made it illegal to do anything with your body if it harms another human being, except abortion. Abortion is the odd duck of a crime that we are unwilling to delegalize because we have bought into the lie. We have been told that a woman can do what she wants with her body, it’s her choice, and we have believed it.
I cannot help but be curious as to why we continue to legitimize the choice of abortion. I cannot help but wonder as to why we furiously protect human life outside the womb, but fail to protect life inside the womb. Where is the disconnect? A woman who leaves her newborn baby lying outside by himself can be charged with infanticide, the most heinous form of child abuse. Nobody will argue, in her defense, that it was her choice to do that. But were she to choose death by saline injection a week earlier, her choice would be perfectly acceptable. In fact, if her child had a disability or any sort of fetal anomaly, her choice would probably be lauded in all corners of the world. I can hear it now, “Great job sparing the child a life of hardship and pain”. But the same people who say that will conveniently forget that the child has just been killed by his mother. Killed by his mother, in a place, no less, that should be the safest place in the world.
I think it’s time to make this choice illegal. Thank goodness there are countless people working tirelessly to bring about this change. Once we have established that the premise of “her body, her choice” is faulty, we can see that abortion belongs in the category of actions that are illegal. We can see that it’s perfectly logical and reasonable to have laws banning the practice of certain actions, and that we ought to begin looking at enacting some of these laws regarding abortion. May we all grow to respect, honor and cherish life, beginning at the moment of conception. Doing this can help to build a culture of life and give preborn babies the rights and protections that they deserve.
This post first appeared at readytostand.com.
