“If we ban abortion, it won’t stop abortion, it will just cause women to have unsafe abortions.”
Abortion advocates will often state the obvious: outlawing abortion will not stop every single abortion.
Just like when we outlaw anything else, like other forms of murder, it does not stop every instance of that thing happening. No one should be disillusioned enough to believe the alternative. The law will stop many people from doing certain activities, but hardened criminals may still do them, nonetheless.
Following the logic of this pro-abortion argument, should we then legalize kidnapping, rape, murder, arson, etc. since after all laws prohibiting those things will not fully erase them from existence?
Of course not.
The same is true in the case of abortion. The unborn deserves the same legal protection as anyone else.
Now what about the secondary claim, that by outlawing abortion we will force women into getting dangerous abortions?
First, we must acknowledge that every abortion comes with risks to the mother including but not limited to:
- Infection
- Adverse mental health outcomes
- Severe bleeding
- Future fertility issues
- Death
As the chemical abortion pill becomes more prevalent, studies show approximately 1 in 10 women who take the drug will face serious adverse medical events.
Clearly abortion comes with serious risks no matter the setting. Of course, should a woman decide to pursue a dangerous illegal abortion she would incur greater risks of bodily harm, but that is not the fault of a pro-life law.
Individuals who choose to engage in dangerous illegal activities of their own free will cannot blame the consequences of their actions on the government. Again, this is obvious in other parts of the law.
For example, it is illegal to kidnap a child. This means that would-be kidnappers cannot do so in broad daylight where it would be easiest/safest. Instead, if they want to kidnap a child, they must avoid detection. Suppose that for this reason a kidnapper attempts to climb into a second story window. This is obviously much more dangerous than kidnapping a child in the street, but if the kidnapper falls and breaks their leg, they cannot blame the law which banned kidnapping for their injury.
In the case of abortion, we should not make it legal to kill a child to make it safer for someone to kill a child.
As we continue to expand our growing catalog of pro-life answers to pro-abortion arguments, please feel free to submit suggestions at info@lifeissues.org. We will happily refute any arguments that you need help with.
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