3. HEAR SOME "PRO-CHOICE" ARGUMENTS
"A woman has a right to make decisions that involve her body."
The Argument: Our government has always respected the individual's right to privacy. A woman's reproductive system should not be subject to government regulation. The Supreme Court used this reasoning as the premise for its decision in Roe v. Wade. In addition, those who assert that the government has a right to intrude (figuratively) into a woman's uterus are subscribing to the antiquated notion that a woman's most important function is to produce children.
The Response: We tolerate government regulation of many parts of the body. One cannot, for example, sell a kidney or take unsafe substances. In any event, the issue here is not the pregnant woman's body as much as it is the individual life that grows inside it. Don't we owe that life the same rights we afford everyone else? Former Presidential candidate Alan Keyes summed up this position when he stated that the Declaration of Independence banned abortion through its assertion that "all men are created equal ... [and] are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights."
"Outlawing abortion would not eliminate the practice, and doing so would have unacceptable consequences. If abortion were banned, women would simply find other illegal and unsafe means of aborting pregnancies."
The Argument: Before Roe, many pregnant women in this country were forced to weigh their respect for the law against their certainty that they were not prepared to be mothers. Many women chose to break the law, putting their own futures at risk, and often settled for unsafe and expensive procedures. Only the wealthiest women could afford to fly to another country where abortion was legal. Do we really want to return to those days?
The Response: Laws on weighty issues like murder are not supposed to be tainted by logistical difficulties. If abortion is murder then we should outlaw it. Period. Although illegal abortions were available prior to Roe v. Wade, the effect of legalizing abortions was dramatic and horrific. Within five years after abortions were made legal in California, they increased over 2000%. The banning of abortions would save the lives of thousands of unborn babies each year.
