No Uterus, No Opinion: The Struggle to Justify Abortion

The election of Donald Trump has already proven to be a huge victory for unborn children and the American pro-life movement. President Trump has reinstated the “Mexico City policy” first put in place by President Reagan in 1984, which bans federal funding for foreign non-profits who provide abortions or information about them. This policy was repealed during the presidencies of both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, and upheld/reinstated under the leadership of both Bush Administrations. It is unclear why Democrats have historically felt that the American taxpayer should bankroll abortion abroad, but for at least four years, that practice will be discontinued. Trump is also expected to nominate Neil Gorsuch of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, who has stated that the Supreme Court has admitted that no “constitutional basis exists for preferring the mother’s liberty interests over the child’s life.”

Leftists are aghast. Over the past eight years, pro-choice advocates have grown accustomed to their anti-life stances being hailed as “reproductive justice.” The Women’s March on Washington one day after Trump’s inauguration focused heavily on abortion. Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice America were sponsors of the event. Meanwhile, pro-life groups that tried to participate were shunned. Many women at the event itself brandished signs with the tagline “No Uterus? No Opinion!” Another sign read “Never Again” and had a crossed out coat hanger on it. What these signs lacked is a cogent argument. Don’t blame the women who haphazardly put together these homemade signs though; there is no good argument for abortion. It is true that women deserve control over their own reproductive organs. The good news is that they do have control! When women choose to engage in unprotected sex, they know that they risk pregnancy. This is the choice that they are entitled to make. They do not deserve the right to terminate a life post-conception. Furthermore, the “No Uterus? No Opinion!” “argument” is reflective of the fact that pro-choice activists lack any real, evidence based arguments for their stance. First of all, last I checked, both male and female unborn children are victims of abortions. Secondly, our society as a whole deserves a say in how we value life and how we treat the most innocent among us.

Scientifically, ultrasounds and other technologies are making it more and more obvious that the so-called “clump of cells” or “fetal tissue” are actually a growing, developing, living human beings. It is intellectually dishonest to claim that an abortion is simply the removal of a recently fertilized egg. Most women are not even aware that they are pregnant until four, five or six weeks after the egg is fertilized. At week three, the heart begins to beat. At week four, the baby is 10,000 times bigger than it was immediately after fertilization and eyes, legs and hands have begun to develop. At week six, brain waves are detectable. “At what point is it acceptable to kill a baby?” seems to me an ethically dangerous question.

Having said this, there are certain reforms that should be put into place alongside pro-life policies. For example, the fathers of children born out of wedlock need to be held just as financially responsible for the welfare of the child as the mothers. Rapists who impregnate their victims must be held financially responsible for their children and should not retain any visitation rights whatsoever. Finally, better, more efficient welfare programs are needed in order to help support single mothers, and low-income/teenage parents. However, the absence of these reforms does not make abortion any more justified. Two wrongs do not make a right.

I was born to two nineteen year old college sophomores. My dad is a doctor. My mom graduated from Cornell. I’ve followed her here. I acknowledge that it is the support of my parents’ families that has allowed my family to thrive. I acknowledge that in many instances, that support doesn’t exist, and in those instances, society should, nay, has a responsibility to pick up the slack. Unborn children deserve rights regardless of their socioeconomic status. Human life is a miracle, not an inconvenience. Babies are blessings not burdens. Over forty years after Roe v. Wade, it’s time to once again count, and protect our blessings.