Abortion
The progressive position against abortion is formed by the following ideas:
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[1] Abortions suffocate, starve, poison, or dismember living human fetuses and embryos.
[2] “Fetus” and “embryo” are stages of a whole human individual early in their development.
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[3] Any being that is actively and inherently relating to our collective humanity is a person.
[4] Embryonic humans are full and equal people like us on account of sharing our nature.
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[5] There’s no proof that fetuses are the only exception to the rule that humans are people.
[6] All people have the equal right to not be deliberately, violently killed.
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[7] Using developmental dependency to dehumanize the preborn is ageist and ableist.
[8] Justifying violence against a person by circumstances beyond their control is oppressive.
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[9] A disproportionately brutal response to a passive human presence is abusive violence.
[10] No one has the right to choose to violently sacrifice a helpless dependent in their care.
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[a] We accept abortion in cases of medical triage, and we trust doctors will do everything reasonable in their ordinary power to save all lives before resorting to harm.
[b] PAAU members and leadership have mixed principles on whether abortion is justified in pregnancies resulting from rape, and on what methods are acceptable in such cases.
[I] Elective human abortion at all stages of development is literally murder.
[1] Abortions suffocate, starve, poison, or dismember living human fetuses and embryos, causing death by depriving oxygen and sustenance, draining blood, or hijacking vitals.
Abortion is not a humane procedure: we do not euthanize fetuses. Abortion suffocates, starves, poisons, burns, abrades, exsanguinates, or dismembers a human organism. When a human organism is a person (which they always are), any of these methods is considered a human rights violation. Their execution is deliberate violence. Abortion is not mere refusal of support; rather than self-defense or benign neglect, the act of abortion is much closer in nature to the abuse of a powerless victim. This is not ethical treatment of people, and most certainly not of defenseless children entrusted to our care, voluntarily or by chance.
[2] “Fetus” and “embryo” are stages of a whole human individual early in their development, a process of self-directed organization and integrated growth following a human body plan.
Human embryos meet NASA’s criteria for the characteristics of distinct living organisms. By week 3 LMP, the embryo has a spine and a developing nervous system. By week 5 LMP, the embryo has a rudimentary brain that controls their pulse. By week 8 LMP, the embryo has pain reflexes and can move their limbs. An early human organism isn’t dependent on a mature brain to organize her vital functioning. In contrast, tumors and gametes do not follow an organized body plan because they are only parts of a body, rather than whole bodies, and a human who is brain-dead is dead; it’s an oxygenated corpse, the remains of a person.
[II] All living human organisms are people, no exceptions.
[3] If a being is in the dynamic process of bonding with us as kin, then that being is a whole actual person by the manner of actively and inherently relating to our collective humanity.
“The humanity of the embryo is always objectively present and active: the embryo is stamped from conception with the design of a human being, and that design is not just some sort of passive blueprint. It is a directing power gradually revealing its nature. Though the embryo can linguistically be said to have a hidden potential, its active inner design already gives the embryo a species identity and an individual identity… To call its future merely “potential” is thus misleading at best, in that the word can refer ambivalently either to a passive potential or to an active potential.” – Richard Stith
[4] Embryonic humans are full and equal people like us because they latently embody our same capacities and are manifesting them as we are, on account of sharing our nature.
What makes you matter more than a corpse is not temporary access to rational capabilities; it’s your retainment of them. Retainment gives us an active and inherent relation to the collective humanity of humankind. Because we are always in the dynamic process of bonding with other people as kin, we are people too. Embryonic humans are whole beings who actually embody all the intrinsic essentials needed to be human. As such, human kin at fertilization begin attaining expression of latent rational capacities as manifest capabilities, so they are also relating to our humanity! This means all humans are full and equal people!
[III] Abortion is not compatible with human rights and social equality.
[5] There is no sound evidence or consistent logic that proves the preborn are the only class of human beings exceptional to the rule that humans are people with equal rights.
If we wager that preborn humans are not persons, then there are two possible outcomes of abortion: a person is killed unintentionally, or nothing is killed. The unintentional killing of a human is manslaughter, and to deliberately risk manslaughter is criminal negligence. Therefore, unless we are certain that preborn humans are not persons, abortion is not ethically acceptable. Within the human species, personhood is the norm: its absence, not its presence, calls for special explanation. It is the responsibility of abortion advocates to prove that abortion doesn’t kill a human person.
[6] All people have the equal right to not be deliberately, violently killed, regardless of their lack of power or the power of others over them.
Most people agree that killing other humans is wrong. It’s not a religious idea. The right to life is widely cited by secular governments, human rights documents, and cultural traditions. This does not mean that the idea of supporting the right to live free from violence has been applied consistently; personhood as the criteria for human rights, rather than humanity, will always exclude certain humans, which is how throughout history powerful aggressors have justified targeting certain groups for discrimination, torture, and extermination. As long as some of us are in danger from targeted violence, all of us share the same threat.
[IV] We may not discriminate against people for currently being fetuses.
[7] Using developmental dependency to dehumanize the preborn in order to justify denial and violation of their human rights is ageist and ableist.
The female body would not actively try to make pregnancy happen if it were parasitic. Not only is it dehumanizing to call preborn humans ‘parasites’, but it is also misogynistic pathologization of the female body. A pregnant person’s body takes care of the prenate, and this care is ordinary and instinctual. Bodily sustenance is a reasonable accommodation for preborn people, as it is normal and healthy for their age to be bodily dependent. It’s unethical to discriminate against the preborn for their age-appropriate bodies, abilities, and needs. The belief that the inabilities of a person should entitle us to exterminate them at whim is ableist.
[8] Justifying a person’s murder by aspects of their extrinsic identity or temporal circumstances that are beyond their control is oppressive and eugenicist.
If you force a person to become reliant upon your body as a foreseeable outcome of your consensually chosen action, and that person is powerless to change their temporary circumstance, then you have an ethical duty to not kill them in order to end their unwilling dependency on you. It’s not progressive to support the systematic exploitation of tiny people with less power than you and to uphold the status quo of systemic oppression against the most vulnerable members of the human family. Abortion enables a society where only the perfect, the privileged, and the planned have the right to live.
[V] Abortion is unjustified violence against preborn people.
[9] Bodily autonomy does not justify excessive force over a powerless person, so abortion, a disproportionately brutal response to a passive human presence, is abusive violence.
The creation of a bodily dependent is a foreseeable risk of consensual coital intercourse. Pregnancy isn't a transactional relationship; it is a fiduciary relationship, a type of aconsensual relationship, meaning that consent is not applicable to it because it is obligatory. Every born person alive today is the beneficiary of a pregnancy, and in reproductive symmetry we are obliged to provide the same benefit to the next generation. Prenates never directly cause pregnant people harm, so they are not aggressors. Instead, we become aggressors when we directly harm preborn babies entrusted to us, betraying them.
[10] No one has the right to murder a vulnerable person who is captive and utterly at your mercy, and you may not choose to violently “sacrifice” a helpless dependent in your care.
You may not violently “sacrifice” a helpless person to mitigate an outcome of your freely chosen action. Abortion is not like refusing aid to a dying person, it is slaughtering a healthy captive child in exchange for our freedom. We effectively sell the bodies of children as commodities to the abortion industry in trade for freedom from familial bond. You have no right to make your child a “martyr” for your lifestyle, present circumstance, or future trajectory. If you are not willing to pay the ultimate price for your own liberation, you may not force your child to purchase it for you with her life. Forced “martyrdom” is simply murder.
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Abortion to save the life of the parent is NOT elective and we do not oppose it. We accept abortion in cases of medical triage, and we trust doctors will do everything reasonable in their ordinary power to save all lives before resorting to harm.
Some procedures coded medically as abortions aren’t legally or ethically classified as abortions. For example, ectopic pregnancy treatment occasionally kills a preborn child whose death is ultimately inevitable in order to save the parent. These procedures are not performed in abortion clinics, they are done in hospitals.
As of Summer 2023, every abortion ban in the US has exceptions for if the mother’s life is in grave danger, and doctors in AAPLOG report that bans have not impeded their ability to treat patients. Lawmakers must work with medical professionals to make sure the language in abortion legislation is clear and easy to understand so doctors won’t hesitate to make legal triage calls.
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PAAU members and leadership have mixed principles on whether abortion is justified in pregnancies resulting from rape, and on what methods are acceptable in such cases. We all hold that the circumstances of conception do not change the value of the child. Many of us hold that a child should not be condemned to death for their parent’s violence. Others hold that victims have the right to abort conceived children in order to mitigate the ongoing effects of the violence.
Rape exceptions to legal abortion restrictions are effectively defunct, as bureaucratic barriers to access do deter abortion seekers. While rape exceptions are impractical and many pro-lifers consider them unethical, they could be a compromise that help us pass urgently needed bans to save lives.
Regardless, abortion is not evidence-based treatment for trauma from rape. If you or someone you know has experienced sexual assault or abuse, there are people able to help. Visit RAINN.org or call 800-656-HOPE (4673).