Wednesday, December 29, 2010

A bad argument for abortion


Among the four listed in this blogpost:

The last bad argument for abortion is that it should be legal because women will keep having abortions even if it’s not, and we should at least ensure that they will have them in safe environments (instead of in back alleys with rusty equipment). By now, the flaw in this argument should be clear. Would you be in favor of safe murder? People are going to keep committing murder even though it’s illegal, so we should legalize it to ensure that they’ll be safe while doing so. Of course we shouldn’t; that’s absolutely ridiculous. And the same is true of abortion. If it really is murder, then we shouldn’t legalize it just to ensure the safety of mothers who kill their children.


If certain abortions are fatal to the mother, then warn women of the risk they incur so that they can avoid them.

But Suzanne, women will have abortions anyway.

Aren't we supposed to trust women?

If a woman can't be responsible, we can't be responsible in her stead. She has to value her own life to want to live.