“When a woman has an abortion early in pregnancy she's not killing a human being; a potential human being is being killed. Imagine I have all the ingredients to make a cake but I haven't mixed them or baked it. I only have a cake when I've baked it, just like how you only have a human being when they're complete, or born.”
- Student at a Justice For All training seminar sharing a pro-choice argument that stumped her.
After my colleague David Lee gave a pro-life presentation in a small church, “Hanley” wanted to privately share his story. Hanley’s friend, "Amelia," was going to have an abortion. Hanley told Amelia why abortion was wrong and tried to convince her not to have one. Amelia listened, but made Hanley promise that he wouldn't tell anyone. He didn’t. After Amelia had the abortion, Hanley felt like he had done everything he could. David asked Hanley to imagine Amelia contemplating killing her two-year-old brother. Would he still keep her decision a secret? Even though Hanley would call himself pro-life, he realized he was treating unborn children and born children differently.
This got me thinking. Amelia was in the first trimester of her pregnancy. I wonder if Hanley would have kept Amelia’s decision a secret if she had been in the third trimester.
Richard Stith at Valparaiso University wrote an article titled Arguing with Pro-Choicers in First Things that really helped me understand why so many people don't consistently act pro-life, especially regarding first trimester abortions like Amelia’s. Many people, pro-life and pro-choice, believe that the unborn child is like a cake being baked or a car on an assembly line. With a car, you start out with a frame, add an engine, then seats, then a bumper, and you keep adding parts until you have a completed car.
Imagine a Corvette was being built on an assembly line and only the wheels and axle were in place. The pro-choice advocate sees the killing of an unborn child as similar to destroying these basic parts of the Corvette. It's unfortunate, but no one can get upset and scream that you destroyed a Corvette. It’s just an axle and some wheels.
Similarly, many pro-choice activists think people shouldn't be upset that the "basic parts" of a human being were destroyed through abortion. This helps explain why 84% of Americans are opposed to third trimester abortions, because for them the majority of the human being is constructed by that point in time. In the third trimester, it would be like destroying a Corvette that is only missing a windshield. This makes sense...if the unborn child is constructed like a car on an assembly line. But is it?
The unborn child, or any organism for that matter, is not like a car. While it may seem like a heart is being "added" to the unborn child, then a brain, then lungs, and so on, the organs aren’t added. The human being before and after birth goes through a different process altogether. The process is more like that of a Polaroid photo. Once you take a picture with a Polaroid camera, the camera spits out a black square. While all the contents of the picture are on that black square, we can't see them yet. The Polaroid photo needs time to develop. Similarly, unborn children (as well as born children) just need time, adequate nutrition, and a safe environment in order to develop.
Imagine you captured a breathtaking view of Niagara Falls with your Polaroid camera, and your friend, standing next to you, sees the undeveloped photo. He then says "That's just an ugly black smear!" and tears it up. You would justifiably be outraged because he destroyed your picture. Let’s return to the Corvette assembly line where only the wheels and axle have been constructed. Imagine your friend grabs a sledgehammer and destroys the wheels and bends the axle. You would not be correct in telling him that he just destroyed a Corvette. He only destroyed parts that would have been used in the construction of a Corvette.
What's the difference? Objects that are constructed, like Corvettes, are no more than the sum of their parts. If you take a part away, or forget to add it, you may not have the object. That’s why during the construction process it’s hard to determine when a Corvette exists. Is it when you have a running motor or when you have all the seats installed?
Organisms, however, are a different sort of object because they are not constructed. They retain their identity throughout their existence despite changes. Unlike a car or cake, it’s easy to identify when an organism comes into existence. With human organisms, we come into existence at conception. Nothing essential is added after this point. It would be very odd to say someone else or something else existed in your mother’s womb, and you later came into existence when you were born. The ability to retain one’s identity despite changes continues after birth. If Peter loses his arm and is given a prosthetic arm, he is still Peter, even though his body underwent a major change.
The good news is that every JFA training event teaches students the difference between developing organisms and constructed objects. With our tools, students can reject the idea that human beings are constructed like cakes or cars and start caring for the unborn from conception. After learning this key difference, I’m confident they won’t make the same mistake Hanley did.
Your support enables me to teach students this material and then mentor them as they practice it with real college students at exhibit outreaches. Thank you for your prayers and support!
Matt McKinley
No comments:
Post a Comment