Saturday, January 11, 2014

I'm a socially liberal, educated pro-life person. Ask me anything.

Yes, I am pro-life. I am pro-woman, pro-equality, pro-feminism, and pro-choice in all matters except abortion (lol).

Yes, I know the number of women that died in back-ally abortions before it was legal.

Yes, I know that overturning Roe v. Wade will not decrease the number of abortions.

Yes, I agree the number one way to reduce abortions is through sex education and increasing the availability of birth control (which I am in favor of).

However, there is one place where pro-choice arguments stop convincing me: at the "life" question. If science cannot prove the moment when a person becomes a person, then let's ask ourselves more basic questions. Is a zygote living? Well, it is made up of living cells, so you could say it is living. However, that does not make it a person...I'll give you that.

So...if there is no conclusive way of proving when an unborn being becomes a person, we must look at this the way physicists look at tough questions. Shrodinger's Cat is a good way to interpret this. If you look at pregnancy like Shrodinger's cat, you must assume the being is simultaneously alive, and not alive: a paradox. So let me ask you this: if someone told you to stick a sword in a box--but there's a 50% chance there is a person in there, would you do it? I wouldn't. If there is even a 3% chance there is a person in there, I am not going to risk it.

So I do not have all the answers. I am not saying a zygote is a person. But I cannot conclusively say that it isn't a person either. And if I can't say it conclusively, then NO, I am not going to risk killing someone. Those odds are not in my favor!

I do not think use of emotional arguments, pictures of dead babies, or religious arguments are going to help the matter, though. The pro-life movement needs a different approach...an effective one.

Let's work to improve sex education in schools and the availability of birth control. But I am not afraid to say I think Roe v. Wade should be overturned ultimately. Yes, I know women will still get abortions...but the difference will be that they can be legally punished for it. The playground "everybody's doing it" argument is not going to work here. There is just too high of a chance that maybe, just maybe, you are ending the life of a human.

Please, feel free to disagree and/or debate. I welcome it.