By: Catherine Phillips, Students for Life of America’s 2012 Missionary for Life
The abortion debate can get pretty complicated at times. You and a friend start talking about it, and your conversation can jump around in so many directions—from the facts of fetal development to the language of the Constitutional to the gravity of crisis pregnancy situations to what would happen if abortion actually were illegal—and wind up exhausting both of you to the point that you sigh and move on to a less taxing topic of discussion.
Well, I’d like to have a short conversation with you right now about abortion. And we’ll keep it
simple. Because really, it doesn’t have to be that complicated.
Let’s start here.
Is the fetus in the womb a baby?
There is a clear answer to this. Even those in support of abortion (well, most) don’t try to deny
that yes, there is a baby inside the womb—that is what makes the woman pregnant. If there’s
no baby, why the need for an abortion?
Next question, and really the final question, then: Does a woman have a right to [an abortion]?
Reworded: Does a woman have a right to [kill her child in the womb]? (no fancy rhetoric here,
I’m still working off facts.)
Well, last time I checked, the Constitution does not protect the right for a civilian to kill another
human being, and we’ve already determined that the baby in the womb is a human being.
Could it really be that simple? All name-calling and misinformation and distracting arguments
aside, yes. It really can be.
Consider the following story. A worried woman goes to her gynecologist asking for help. “My
baby is not even one year old and I’m pregnant again. I don’t want kids so close together.”
The doctor asks what she wants him to do. “I want you to end my pregnancy,” she says. The
doctor thinks for a little, and offers another solution to the woman. “Let’s kill the one in your
arms. This way, you could rest some before the other one is born.” The woman is horrified and
exclaims “No, doctor! It is a crime to kill a child!” The doctor replies, “I agree. But you seemed
to be okay with it, so that seemed the best solution.” …what is the difference between killing a
child that’s already been born and killing one that’s still in the womb?
Abortion is killing. Plain and simple. There’s no need to point fingers or place blame, at either
those who perform abortions or the women convinced that they have no other choice. But
there is a need for action. The question for us as a nation, and for you as an individual is: should
the United States, a country which claims to protect each person’s basic human rights to life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, sanction the taking of 3,700 innocent lives each day, all in
the name of this misunderstood “choice”?
If so many women are choosing abortion in this country as if killing their child is the best way
for them to continue with their lives, obviously something needs to change. Pregnant women
need to be assisted with their pregnancies and celebrated, not made to feel like their best
choice is to literally “get rid” of the problem. We need to rethink the way we respond to the
news of a pregnancy. “Are you going to keep it?” should never be a question. Think about it—
you are literally asking a new mother if she is going to kill her baby or not. What if our society
asked this instead: “what can I do to help you?” and then, what if we actually did just that?
What if we devoted our resources and energies into helping women carry their unexpected
pregnancies to term, rather than helping women end those pregnancies?
Just because our society today has accepted abortion as an acceptable “choice” for women,
does not mean that you have to. Take a stand against this injustice. Don’t be afraid to be pro-
life. Certainly you can get a lot more in-depth with your facts and arguments than I just did, but
really, it’s quite simple.
“I dream of a world where we can commit our social resources to the development of human life
and not to its destruction.” –Benazir Bhutto
“If we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people to not kill
each other? Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use any
violence to get what they want.” – Mother Teresa
