Human Rights

3 ways to make the pro-life argument to people who don’t care about the child

We’ve all been there, in conversation with an abortion supporter, showing them as best we can the obvious reality that life begins at the beginning, when it becomes shockingly clear that the facts make no difference. While pro-choice rhetoric has happily softened from ‘abortion-on-demand-no-regrets!’ to ‘abortion as a morally significant event‘, it doesn’t seem to be morally significant in any particular direction. Simply put, many are able to ignore the striking fact of the unborn child. Ultrasound images bounce off their eyes. Embryology textbooks – it seems – evade their grasps. They grow faint and distant at any confrontation over where life begins. Are we to give up on these individuals?

No. The beautiful thing about Truth is that it is a thing overflowing; it applies to more than just the immediate issue. Thus, if we cannot meet these individuals in their avoidance of the child, we can meet them in their stance of care for the woman. Similarly, the terrible thing about Evil is that it is a thing that truly sucks. Abortion is a black hole that pulls in and tears apart not just a human person, but our society, our culture and most importantly, women.

Here then, are three arguments to make in defense of women, and thus against abortion.

1. Abortion increases the risk of breast cancer. This truth, evidenced in prestigious, peer-reviewed cancer-research journals is a very important truth to disseminate. Why? Because the anti-breast-cancer movement – in its walks, marches, fun-runs, pink ribbons, shirts – is one of the most pro-woman movements in existence. Breast cancer is a modern plague on the women of our society, and abortion is augmenting its power. To support women – one assumes – is to be against that one disease that so effects women, to stand strongly against the cancer that has caused such tragedy in the lives of our sisters. To be pro-abortion and simultaneously set against breast cancer is to say that the lack of a child is worth the risk of terminal illness. I don’t claim that this position cannot be maintained – perhaps one could weigh the various costs of feeding a baby versus having chemotherapy treatment. No, I simply claim that this position chips away at the pro-choice foundation, that their’s is a movement in defense of the woman.

2. Abortion makes women sad. I do not mean that in some vague way. A study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, synthesizing data from 1995 to 2009, shows that “women who had undergone an abortion had an 81% increased risk of mental health problems.”

From the European Journal of Public Health 2005: Researchers examining deaths among the entire population of women in Finland found that those who had abortions had a 3.5 times higher death rate from suicide, accidents, or homicides in the following year. Suicide rates among aborting women were six times higher compared to women who gave birth and two times higher compared to women who miscarried.

Have you ever brought up the issue of abortion, not knowing some one has experienced it? Now there’s a heartbreaking situation, akin to speaking flippantly about the death of a family member to someone who has experienced such a loss. I can only speak from experience: Away flies the tolerant “we all have our beliefs, you your own, and me mine” position. Instead, post-abortion women react violently, shakily, and tearfully, full of anger, or guilt, or both. If abortion makes women sad, which seems to be readily apparent, then once again, the pro-choice movement is placed in the awkward position of claiming to have the health of women as their highest priority, while attempting to increase the availability of that-which-makes-women-sad.

A study that has never been carried out: Suicide rates in mothers who were strongly considering abortion, but chose life. Why not? Probably because it would be a very boring study, with lots of not-depressed mothers being not-depressed.

3. There are other women in existence! And no, I’m not talking about the fact that most children aborted are girls, though it is an interesting question to ask: When, exactly, do women’s rights begin? I’m talking about mothers who want to adopt! A 2008 study by National Center for Health Statistics found that 33.1% of women have at some point considered adoption. Of that number 4.9% were currently seeking adoptions. That’s 901,000 women looking for babies. By most recent statistics, there are approximately 129,000 children seeking adoption. Now I’m no mathematician, but that’s 772,000 women who want to adopt a child, but will not. It seems that if we killed less of our children, this would not be a problem. Shoot, even if we take the women who were currently seeking adoptions AND had already begun taking steps – 560,000 – there aren’t enough children to go around.

Why, oh why, do we put women at risk of cancer, depression, and in the terrifying position of violence against their own children, when there are so many women looking for children to adopt? It seems obvious that between hurting one woman and helping two, the most pro-woman action one could take would be to counsel a woman to consider adoption. The most pro-woman action one might take would be to rapidly reduce abortions in America, and thereby increase adoptions.

Though I understand why there exists the rather insane idea that the better choice for all women would be an abortion: Abortion brings in cash. Who is going to pay for all those Planned Parenthood ‘don’t-defund-us’ campaigns if everyone’s putting their children up for adoption?

So there you have it. Three effective ways to make the pro-life argument to people seemingly unconcerned with the moral question surrounding the unborn child. I plan on bringing up a few more, so if there any you would like discuss, just let me know!

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  • Tom

    I don’t know why you think that repeating your untruths over and over again will suddenly make them truths. Must be analogous of faith I guess.

    The claimed link between abortion and breast cancer has been found to be invalid.

    The link between abortion and mental illness and suicide is associative, not causative.

    Turning women with unwanted pregnancies into incubators for others – nice.

    • Marc Barnes

      lol, great use of evidence tommy.

      • Tom

        lol, the evidence is out there. I have already demonstrated previously that the links to ‘evidence’ for  the alleged abortion/breast cancer connection provided on this site are biased, outdated and superseded.

        The mental health/ abortion study stated itself that the reasons had not been identified.

        Do some legwork instead of just swallowing what your like-minded propagandists feed you.

        • Marc Barnes

          lol, great use of evidence Tommy

        • JB

          Tom, could you offer some evidence that the link between breast cancer and abortion is invalid?

    • Cheri

      Top scientist finally admits abortion-breast cancer link

      http://www.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=121749
      Why do abortion supporters continually call pregnant women “incubators?” It’s a degrading term with misogynistic tones. Carrying a child in-utero does not make a woman a machine, it makes her a Mother. :)

      • Tom

        WorldNutDaily! An avid anti-choicer’s column! Funny.

    • enness

      Also, try to not be a jerk.  I mean really, finding a way to insult both pregnant women and adopting women in one sentence?  Congrats.

      I hope my sex starts to see through this crap and recognize that the people who could even conceive of referring to us as mere “incubators” (you said it Tom, not those awful pro-lifers) are probably not our friends.

      • Tom

        Actually, telling women they should continue with an unwanted pregnancy is the insult.

        • Jordan Elizabeth

          Is it? How insulting of me to tell murderers that they shouldn’t kill people.
          And even if it were insulting, that does not mean you get off scott-free for being a jerk to half of the population.

    • Guest

      Tom,
        Why, may I ask, are you on a pro-life site if you are so firmly pro-choice? I understand you thought something might be “convincing”, but since you obviously found it not to be so, why are you remaining to only instigate an argument? Argumentativeness and insults (” Must be analogous of faith I guess”) is almost never an effective way to bring someone around to your position. That, by the way, was an insulting stereotype that isn’t true. 
        Now, I won’t try to convince you to believe in God or become pro-life, because I know it won’t be effective, but please at least be a polite pro-choice atheist. By the way, if the link between abortion and mental instability is associative, what are they a common response to?

      • Tom

        I just think it wise to see misinformation and biased ‘stories’ to be spread in the public domain without them being challenged.

        As to your last question, the originating study actually stated that this had yet to be investigated.

        • Jordan Elizabeth

          This would be great if you had, you know, some information. Or something crazy like that.

      • Tom

        That should read ‘unwise’.

    • Jordan Elizabeth

      Wow, how pro-woman of you! I love it when people call me an incubator!

      Also, the associative v. causative argument works either way. Either abortions create mentally ill, suicidal women, or women have abortions because they are mentally ill and suicidal. I don’t know about you, but if someone says, “Hey, our group is scientifically right!! Also, a huge ton of us have documented mental disorders!”

  • Xia

    Nice points! Especially the last one  was a nice perspective. Also,
    not sure if you found sites like this but http://www.secularprolife.org/ is a nice non-religious resources so that close-minded people don’t assault you with the “bible thumper” argument…. though I think it silly because not just the bible, but the Torah… and I believe the Qur’an even specifically addresses the word “Embryo” (I know right? they don’t say baby but embryo! I believe Sura 23:13-14 addresses it – it’s quite graphic…) So abrahamic religions that covers the majority of the world…and then if we take Buddhism – they believe generally that life begins at conception and that destruction of life should be avoided….Hinduism – traditional Hindus practice the path that is chosen is one that causes the least amount of harm to mother/father/child/society and the destruction of that soul’s current incarnate body would be harmful. That covers a lot of it - then the above covers seculars  (not to mention the medical and socio-economic arguments agianst). So it gets to the point…. where does the argument for abortion come from – we can’t point to Catholics and say that they’re the religious wet rag in this party – because many theists and non-theists see ACTUAL truth when they are honest with themselves. I guess some people were absent when God was handing out the brains… (haha, sorry I apologize, I’ll go to confession for that comment :D)

    • Tom

      I’ve been aware of secular pro-life for some time. I actually thought it may have something that would give me cause to contemplate my position.
      Unfortunately it is inundated with theists, their articles and their approach to things. As you yourself have demonstrated above.
      Nothing in the least bit convincing on their site.

      • Anonymous

        Yeah, Tom… When you’re so dead-set in your position that you refuse to consider actual, you know facts… There’s really nowhere to go from there. You most likely won’t accept reason because you’ve already decided that abortion, infanticide, and whatever else, are better than the dark, nebulous “alternative.” Which YOU assume can be no other than a life of poverty and rejection. The truth is that you pretend to care about “unwanted children’s” futures because it sounds nicer than just admitting that you want to be able to engage in sex without risking having to pay child support. 

        I won’t lie and deny that I’m a believer. But my position on abortion isn’t informed by my religion. My position on abortion is informed by actual, undeniable biological facts. And by a reverence for human life because I happen to be human. It’s not a religious position.

        My religious position on homosexuality is that homosexual acts are wrong. But I don’t take the position that I should interfere in another person’s choice of sex partners, as long as they are consenting adults. Consensual sex typically doesn’t victimize another person, so it’s really none of my business.

        Then there’s abortion, which results in (at least) one butchered human being and (most often) another who is emotionally wounded for life by the experience. That’s not a “religious position.” That’s a fact, and there is no shortage of evidence to attest to that.

        So go ahead and stick to your guns. Just don’t sit there and pretend that YOUR position is the one with facts and logic on its side. It clearly is not. The funny part is that you know it. You don’t even bother to argue because you have not one fact favorable to your position. You just sit there with your eyes squeezed shut and your fingers in your ears, all proud that your mind and heart are sealed tight against anything that might sneak in and corrupt your perfect blissful ignorance.

  • JB

    You have made good points here, another approach could be to point out how the unborn child has its own life and the mother does not have a right to decide another human’s value. 
        
    Naturally, pro-choicers will argue that the unborn is not human so it doesnt have any value but even by arguing that, you are assuming the right to decide who should have personhood and who shouldn’t.  If there is any uncertainty about who is a person you have to err on the side of caution and not kill them, you shouldn’t let people have the right to decide who should be able to live.

    To people who don’t care about the child, you can just ask them, does personhood matter?  If it does matter then you should be against abortion because you’d be at risk of killing a person.

    If it doesn’t matter then you are basically saying that you are okay with killing a person.

  • LY112

    To be pro-abortion and simultaneously set against breast cancer is to say that the lack of a child is worth the risk of terminal illness.

    If you actually find it rational to argue that women should have children to provide some possible future health benefit to themselves, why stop there?  A woman might also someday need a blood transfusion or a bone marrow or kidney transplant.  By your logic, having a baby is a great idea because you might need its spare parts sometime.
    When, exactly, do women’s rights begin?  I’m talking about mothers who want to adopt!
    Well, when do they begin?  If you are saying that a childless woman’s desire to adopt gives her the right to put a pregnant woman’s body to a use that the pregnant woman does not want (carrying a pregnancy to term), then you’re not going to get a lot of traction with pro-choicers.  Nor do I believe that most women who want to adopt would consider themselves entitled to a forced surrogate.  If you’re not claiming that childless women are entitled to someone else’s unwanted child, then “women’s rights” don’t really have any relevance to your argument.  Such as it is.
    Now I’m no mathematician, but that’s 772,000 women who want to adopt a child, but will not.
    It’s higher than that, because many of the children seeking adoption will not be adopted because they aren’t what potential adoptive parents want.

    • Anonymous

      “It’s higher than that, because many of the children seeking adoption
      will not be adopted because they aren’t what potential adoptive parents
      want.”

      Still a lie, no matter how many times you repeat it. I know a mom who found out that there was a chance she might be having a daughter with Down Syndrome. She was very worried how she would cope, as she had other children and wasn’t sure how she would handle one with special needs. Then she discovered that there are parents on waiting lists to adopt children SPECIFICALLY with Down Syndrome, because they are typically happy, affectionate children.

      I know two foster mothers who are in the process of adopting sibling groups, including infants who were born addicted to drugs. My neighbors have adopted one boy with Cerebral Palsy and microcephaly, and a group of sisters, one of whom has developmental delays, sensory disorders, and life threatening episodes of apnea due to her mother’s drug use during pregnancy. They’re planning to adopt another daughter soon.

      I have an aunt and uncle who waited FOUR YEARS to adopt their first baby. It wasn’t because they wanted a “white baby.” They finally were able to adopt a little baby boy who happened to be black, and then they later adopted his little brother.

      It is true that some adopting parents have understandable hesitations to bring into their homes children who have behavior problems from the abuse they have suffered at the hands of their biological parents, especially if they already have children who might be affected. The answer here, then, is to promote adoption for at-risk babies, not eliminate them. Abortion has not in ANY way reduced the numbers of abused children in the world, and that is evident to anyone with access to a newspaper or television set.

      • 12angrymen

        But a large problem is that most couples only want to adopt babies. The older children in the system are therefore often overlooked. How do I know this? Well I just happen to have a sibling who was passed on by many couples simply because she was “too old,” (she was only 10 when my parents adopted her). In addition, speak to adoption lawyers and look at the facts, there are still hundreds of thousands of children in the foster care system. 

  • Guest

    I agree with much of what’s written here.  However, I think that removing emphasis from the child is a bad strategy for ending abortion.  Items one and two are not necessary or sufficient reasons for outlawing it.  There are other legal activities that have health risks, with more documented evidence.  Smoking is still legal despite the undeniable harm it causes.  I do agree that women considering abortion should be aware of these studies however.

    Item 3 also doesn’t work for people who don’t care about the child.  If the child is morally insignificant, then there is no difference between choosing to abort and choosing not to conceive in the first place.  However, it is indeed worth mentioning that there is a perpetual shortage of babies to adopt.  More women would choose life if they knew these facts.

    So while I appreciate the author’s creativity in finding novel ways to make effective dialogue with abortion proponents, the title of his piece is wrong.  There is only one way to make the pro-life argument to people who don’t care about the child: convince them to care about the child.

    • 12angrymen

      Trust me, the one about the shortage of babies for adoption never works. 

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  • Evelyn

    a very well written article! Thank you! :)

  • Barb

    Present facts — facts about the child in the womb, facts about the impact on women and don’t worry about converting pro-aborts.  Present the facts and by doing so, you expose the the abortion advocates as the extremists that they are.  Because only extremists would refer to women as “incubators” and children in the womb as “parasites”.  And only extremists would argue that denying a woman an abortion is more violent that dismembering a fetus.  People who wouldn’t injure a dog (or a sea turtle) don’t bat an eye when it comes to torturing helpless human beings.  That’s extremism.

  • bubbalouwee

    When does our society allow women to grieve the death of their child when it has convinced them that to kill their child is acceptable behavior?  RachelsVineyard.org is an excellent place to go to get healing, as a person needs to turn to Jesus Christ to receive His forgiveness and mercy.  How many souls are scarred by this tragedy and suffer indefinitely because their conscience screams “Why did you kill your child?” and the mass media says it is a fundamental right in our society to kill one’s own children.  To ignore the sad satistics of the mental trauma abortion does to a mother, is to turn your back on souls deeply wounded and in need our our empathy and compassion.  Planned Parenthood, the pro death mass media, and those individuals who support their agenda, ignore the mental trauma done to the mother like they ignore the child’s right to life.  The mother is also a victim.  A victim of deception. 

  • Jazzmaher

    Giving three reasons against abortion are great – but I just don’t understand the 3rd one!

    Surely you can explain better that the demand for adoption is greater than the demand for abortion?

  • http://twitter.com/gabi532 Gabi Gaenicke

    THAT’S WHY I USE BIRTH CONTROL AND AM EDUCATED ABOUT SEX!!!!

  • Anita

    Marc John Paul, can you please email me at your earliest convenience?  I need to ask you for permission to use this article… Thank you, Anita adbagnall@oxford.k12.ms.us

  • Michelle S

    To completely empty out the orphanages, I think every pro-life person should be given an orphan every single year for the rest of their life.  No picking and choosing.  They will have to take the orphan regardless of age, race, gender, mental problems, health problems, or handicaps. They will have to accept the orphan no matter what their income is and raise them till the orphan is 18. No money should be wasted on providing for the pro-life adopted parents, because as long as they are alive, that’s all that matters.  Quality of life means absolutely nothing. Living is absolutely everything. If someone dies in such horrible conditions, well, it was just God’s will.

  • Wade Felty

    well la di da.

  • Eddie

    Just because I am pro-life doesn’t give me the right to tell women what to do with their bodies. Don’t like that they use our tax money to fun abortions? Elect someone different. Just cause I think drinking is bad doesn’t mean I get to take the booze from someone else. I am pro-life but also pro-rights.

  • Free Thinker

    Only 3% of Planned Parenthood’s services each year are abortion-RELATED (this includes women who simply have an appointment to discuss this option). It is literally their lowest source of income, so you are painfully exaggerating when you state that “abortion brings in cash”.

    Your article is filled with purple prose and other logical fallacies, which is extremely unprofessional, manipulative, and thus begs any free-thinking reader to question your integrity as a writer.

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