1. Abortion is only an operation. The fetus is not a human life so why not operate?

The fertilized egg is a human life. Each of a woman’s body parts contains her personal genetic code; the growing embryo/fetus has a unique genetic code of his or her own. He or she may not look like a grown human being as he or she is still developing but all of us began in the same manner.

2. We have no right to impose our morality on others.

We have laws that forbid against stealing, rape, murder, etc. All laws impose morality; it is necessary that they are in place to protect people. However, some laws are immoral laws – such as those that used to uphold slavery. Our society should protect its tiniest citizens. Hopefully our society will equally recognize the rights of unborn children under the human rights clause in the US Constitution.

3. I am personally against abortion, but I believe it should be a woman’s personal choice to have an abortion or not.

The reason that someone would be opposed to abortion is because they acknowledge that it kills babies, hurts women and men and negatively  affects society at large. What if someone said that they personally wouldn’t kill the kid who sits next to them in class but it would be alright for someone else to kill them? The result of the choice to have an abortion is a dead baby, a wounded mother and father and a hurting society. Often times a woman is coerced into having an abortion by the child’s father or her parents. It is not a free choice for her. Also, if the baby’s father does not want her to have an abortion he has no right or choice to prevent the abortion of his child.

4. A woman has a right to do what she wants with her own body.

There are laws against drugs and ones that require people to wear seatbelts or bike helmets because people will do things that harm their own bodies. Abortion does not involve just one body but two. Being inside something is not the same as being a part of something. Approximately half of abortions violently kill unborn females, and these female babies don’t have a say over their bodies.

5. Better for the child to be dead than unwanted.

There are many people who were adopted because their birth parents decided it would be best for their child. Thousands of people are waiting to adopt children into their homes. The average wait to adopt a child is 2-10 years. There are people who were created through rape or incest. We all know someone who came from difficult beginnings – what if someone had decided to not give him or her  the chance to live? Additionally, child abuse has not decreased since legalized abortion. Abortion has not improved the lives of children and families.

6. Those who promote abortion as the primary option have the best interest of the woman in mind.

Abortion is a violent, unnatural procedure and according to women who have had abortions is very painful and humiliating. There are numerous physical health risks to women, including a greater risk of breast cancer. Post-abortion stress disorder affects millions of women and men. Clinical treatment and healing from a past abortion is a long process for many. Additionally, the abortion industry is a huge business earning billions of dollars each year for performing abortions.

7. Abortion can’t be a big problem, I don’t know anyone who’s had one.

About 1.2 million abortions are performed each year in America; one in four women between the ages of 15 and 45 has had an abortion. About 1/3 of our generation were killed by abortion. You’d be totally surprised if you knew how many people you interact with on a daily basis have been wounded by the abortion experience.

8. Abortions are performed before the blobs of tissue grow into babies

Abortions are legal throughout all nine months of the pregnancy. All surgical abortions are performed after the baby has a beating heart, which is at 18 days. At week 6, still before when most abortions are performed, the baby has brain waves that are detectable. Unborn children feel pain for certain by the 13th week, and perhaps even as early as the 8th week. An abortion would be excruciatingly painful to the unborn child. Advancements in technology since the legalization of abortion in 1973 scientifically prove the unborn child is not a blob of tissue, but a living, growing, unique person.

9. The baby may be born mentally disabled or handicapped – and what kind of life would that be anyway?

The use of this argument would imply that handicapped or mentally disabled people have no value. This expresses ignorance and extreme prejudice against a minority and believes that we can eliminate those who don’t meet some kind of cultural standard. We are all handicapped in different ways; some are just not as obvious as others. Plus many people feel called to adopt special needs children.  Families with Down Syndrome and other mentally-handicapped children testify consistently that these children bring great joy to all family members and teach them patience and humility. 

10. If abortion becomes illegal, unsafe, back-alley abortions will occur and just hurt the mother. Women are going to have abortions anyway so at least make them safe and legal.

“Safe” and legal abortions cause serious physical damage to the woman, emotional pain to women and men and cause a violent death to an unborn child. We don’t want “coat hanger,” abortions either. The solution is not legalizing “safe,” murder, but assisting people to opt for the life-giving alternatives of parenting or adoption by helping them meet their personal material and psychological needs.