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Week of November 1, 1999

Pro-Life 101: How to refute common pro-choice arguments

By WCR Staff
Dryaton Valley

Here is pro-life advocate Scott Klusendorf's view of how to refute some of the most frequently-used pro-choice statements.

1) Abortion should be illegal except for cases like rape.

Does rape involve one victim or two? It there are two victims involved, the mother and the child, is it right to kill one victim?

"You can't ask the unborn to forfeit their lives to make the mother feel better. Hardship does not justify homicide. You're not being insensitive by not caring for (the mother); you're being inclusive, you're caring for both."

2) An unborn is not a human yet, so you're not killing a human being.

This confuses functioning as a person with being a person, said Klusendorf. Being human is not what we currently can do but what we have the ability to do. One can be a person without functioning as one, like those who are asleep or comatose.

3) You men can't get pregnant, you have no right to talk about abortion.

This statement is irrelevant because it doesn't justify the real issue, which is that abortion kills a human life. It is in the same context as saying "You're not married so you can't tell me not to beat my wife."

"It's a way people skip the issue at hand, by bringing in irrelevant statements," Klusendorf said.

4) Would you force a baby on someone who can't afford one?

Should we kill off human beings when they become too expensive?

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