It seems that with scandals plaguing Planned Parenthood, new abortion cases in the Supreme Court and a self-proclaimed defender of women's rights running for president, the debate between choice and life has intensified like never before. The arguments swing high and low, questioning the humanity of the fetus, the extent to which the pregnant woman can choose to carry on or terminate a pregnancy, whether the act itself is justified, and ultimately whether the ending of a pregnancy for whatever reason is murder. This week I talked to conservatives nationally, in hopes of exploring the pro-life movement and the why's behind it.
Why Pro-Life?
There are plenty of reasons to be pro-life and, while it's easy to stereotype pro-lifers as religious fanatics or anti-woman misogynists, the truth is, the overwhelming common denominator between pro-lifers is the belief that human life begins very early on in the pregnancy. After that, it's logical for them to be pro-life because an abortion would be intentionally ending that life. Yes, the pregnant woman is an autonomous being with rights and choices but for pro-lifers, it's a question of the rights that could potentially be denied to the child, another individual.
"People should be able to make their own decisions which affect their health and bodies. But not when it places another human in harms way. An unborn child should have every single right that a born person does." -- Gabrielle, 16, Maryland
"Pro-life does not make me anti-woman or anti-rights." -- Ben Dafoe, 17, Oswego, New York
Science, Religion, and Defining "Life."
Is there a religious aspect to being pro-life? Yes and no. It's undeniable that much of the pro-life movement is focused in religious groups. But at the same time, there are scientific reasons for believing that life begins early on. The most significant thing to remember is this. The baby may be inside of the woman's body but it is an entirely separate entity. Just check the DNA. Besides the fact that DNA defines the child as a separate entity, the unborn exhibit all the biological functions of life in the womb. Response and growth being the most obvious. Ask any expecting mom and they'll tell you how their baby is just kicking a storm at a certain time or doing somersaults and exploring at other times. But that in itself seems to be the focal point of the entire debate: when you personally define the beginning of life defines where you'll fall on the line. The fact is, though, that it seems that scientifically there is little doubt as to when life begins. There is debate as to what the unborn child can feel, think, and experience and about the ethics of abortion based on that but not on when life begins. On that front, no, the mother doesn't decide when her child is alive and when her child is just a clump of cells to abort. That is logically nonsensical. It'd be like having a toaster and saying that because today I don't want the toaster, it is suddenly a microwave or a coffee machine. Legally, it is nonsensical. Laws are not applied subjectively by the person involved and the same should be true of abortion.
"It is the penetration of the ovum by a spermatozoan and the resultant mingling of the nuclear material each brings to this union that constitutes the culmination of the process of fertilization and marks the initiation of the life of a new individual." --Bradley M. Patten, Foundations of Embryology, McGraw-Hill, 1964
"The over-riding message of all this new research is that the life of a baby begins at conception. Informed care of that child must also begin at conception, or even before, if he or she is to have a good chance for healthy life." Chicago Tribune, September 12, 1977
"The human genome is a peal, a model of high performance and reliability. Millions of times a year, egg genome meets sperm genome, and the result is a human baby, its parts all in place, its brain a universe of love and meaning."
-New York Times, June 27, 2000, discussing developments of the Human Genome Project
Personal Responsibility.
It seems you can't talk about abortion without talking about the act that creates the need for one in the first place. While the Bible might be against contraceptives, these millennial pro-lifers were not. Modern medicine and technological innovations have given men and women dozens of options regarding ways to not get pregnant. Condoms, the pill, dental dams, spermicides, the patch and more. In extreme cases like rape or even just cases of momentary indiscretion, there are options like the morning after pill. Pregnancy, in essence, boils down to personal responsibility. Are you having safe and responsible sex or are you putting yourself at risk? And the numbers support that question when a 2005 study shows that less than 15% of women have abortions because of potential health issues. Instead, the majority of these women are electing to get one because a baby would "dramatically alter their lives" or because "they're not ready for a kid yet." On that line, yes it's absolutely your choice to have sex however you want to. But be prepared for the consequences.
"Abortion and birth control are just different. If you want to promote women's rights and choice, morning-after pill, birth control methods, [and] early hormonal stops are all reasonable solutions." -- Carson Phillips, 16, Leonardtown, Maryland
Appreciation of Life.
For some, being pro-life carries another significance. This week I spoke with Tara Thiel, a 28-year-old military wife from Lansing, Michigan. The Thiel's began trying to have a family once Mr. Thiel returned from his deployment to Iraq. The early attempts were rough, to say the least. Tara miscarried three times. When she talks about the episodes, she doesn't talk about it as the termination of a pregnancy. It was the loss of a "tiny little baby." Tara now has 4 sons. She says her experiences, both with her pregnancies and her husband's deployment, have given her a different outlook on life. Especially when she thinks of just how fragile it is. For some, her story may seem irrelevant. She miscarried. She didn't choose to lose her pregnancies, but why would you deny that option to someone else?
This story is relevant because if nothing else it is the story of one person's recognition that a life is a life and that it is deeply precious. Her story is about the 3 little lives that could've been but gave her an even deeper love for the 4 lives she protects now. Getting pregnant is not the worst thing that can happen to you. It can be inconvenient. It can force you to change plans. But it's not the end of the world. Abortion, however, for pro-lifers everywhere represents the killing of a child who will never get to question whether a pregnancy is inconvenient. Who will never get to make any plans. On that front, protecting life and appreciating it is the most important thing we can do as people.
"A person is a person, no matter how small." --Dr. Seuss
I'd like to thank @conservative.feed on Instagram. The personal quotes used in this article were gathered with their help and I'm incredibly grateful to all those who contributed. A note on the quotes: people provided the information they were comfortable sharing which is why some quotes lack an age or specific hometown or full name.
