Abortion: The Debate Where Both Sides Are "Pro-"

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One of the most contentious issues of our time is about an extremely specific yet very personal issue, that of abortion. The purpose of this blog is to break down very heated issues into their rational core, and this seemed a good issue to start with.

Let us start by looking at the rhetoric of each side.
Pro-Choice: Protect a mother's right to choose how to conduct her own reproductive decisions. Unwanted pregnancies forced to go to term will lead to children who are unwanted, abused, and neglected.

Pro-Life: Protect the life of innocent unborn children. Every life is precious, and to kill a child, even one who has not yet been born, is an abominable act.

With rhetoric like that, is it any wonder that there can be no reasonable debate on this topic? Those on the pro-choice side think that their opponents are trying to take control of women's bodies away from them, to be
controlled by the government. The pro-life side thinks that their opponents are trying to kill children.

Let's break it down to just the bare bones of each side's objective.

Pro-Choice: To keep abortion legal, safe, and available to women who need it.

Pro-Life: To make abortion illegal in order to stop abortions from taking place.

Any reasonable discussion has to start with common ground, so let's consider what both sides agree on.

Common Ground

• Children are precious
• Abuse and neglect of children is undesirable
• Abortion is a terrible thing which should be avoided if at all possible
• Unwanted pregnancies are the result, not the cause, of other problems

Points of Disagreement
The point at which life begins
Most pro-life people believe that life begins at conception, while most pro-choice people believe that life begins at birth or viability (the point at which the fetus could survive outside the womb with or without medical assistance).

The cause of unwanted pregnancy
This is a much more varied opinion within both camps, but the pro-life side as a whole tends to see unwanted pregnancies as the result of a moral failure on the part of the mother while the pro-choice side tends to see unwanted pregnancies as the result of factors external to the mother such as poor education, rape, or bad luck.


I would now like to take us through an exercise that I will use extensively in this blog in the future. That is the exercise of considering what philosophical shift it would take to convert an individual from one side to the other.

The key difference between most pro-choice and pro-life people is when they believe life begins. Most pro-lifers put it at conception, and others put it at birth/viability. I suggest that if an average pro-choicer were to have it revealed to them that life began at conception, they might well change sides. Likewise, if a pro-lifer became convinced that life began at birth rather than conception, much of the wind would come out of her sails to oppose abortion. Frankly, the people on the opposite sides of this issue are not that different.

Regarding viability, that is also a very slippery topic. In the foreseeable future, we will have uterine replicator technology, meaning that an embryo could be placed in a machine which would gestate it until "birth". On the other hand, a 3 month old infant is almost completely helpless, completely unable to find food or conduct any other basic life functions without assistance. So, what really is the point of viability?

Law vs. Reality
Most of the debate over abortion is what the laws should be on it. As we know, making something illegal ends it completely. That is why no one travels faster than the speed limit, the drug market has completely vanished, and domestic violence is unheard of in America. The law has an effect, but not always the one that is intended.

When a woman decides that she needs an abortion, she will find a way to get one, regardless of what the law says. A ban would certainly prevent many abortions, but those who are desperate would do whatever they needed to, including risky back-alley procedures or dangerous drug combinations to end their pregnancy.

On the other hand, a great deal can be done to reduce the number of abortions that women get without using the law to make it more difficult. Abortion is a terrible and traumatic choice for anyone who faces it. Taking steps to reduce unwanted pregnancy through effective education would make a difference. These programs must include both making good decisions about when and with whom to have sex as well as reliable, accurate information on how to have sex more safely. Improving the adoption system and giving women better education about it would also encourage more women to take unwanted pregnancies to term.

The law, whether around abortion, drugs, or motor vehicles, is a blunt and imprecise instrument. When considering public policies to achieve a desired end, simply passing a law is rarely the correct solution. Instead, we must carefully consider the problem, its root causes, and the solutions which will alter the causes, not just the effects.