One of the most wicked arguments the authors give in favor of quick abortions is this: “Such a patient might interpret her pregnancy as a baby and feel love for it and a desire to be a mother. She might believe that by having an abortion she is killing her baby… Rapid [abortions] also lessen the emotional burden of anticipated love” (pp. 543, 542). Why should we kill these babies? Because they might be loved, and love gets in the way of having a normal childhood. 

Just this week, an article was published in the medical journal Ethics calling for the forced abortion of any child conceived in a mother under the age of 18. This article went on to call abortion the moral imperative of caregivers and doctors, even against the express wishes of the mother. They stated that any person under the age of 18 was a child, and that “gestation” was harmful both in terms of long term physical effects and psychological trauma of having their childhood stolen from them. And while the article focused on rape and pregnancy in the extremely young, they nevertheless doubled down on even consenting 16+ year olds stating that they didn’t have the decision making skills necessary to choose to have a baby. They expressly said that for caregivers, the “morally appropriate” option is that they should view pregnancy “as a malady and take steps to terminate it” (p. 517). They explicitly say, “caregivers have a moral duty to provide impregnated children with abortion care” (p. 546).

Moral and Just?

Not only is this wicked and vile, but it is deceptive, arguing that these abortions are done in the name of justice and morality. They rightly despise rape and bemoan the tragic loss of childhood innocence, but their solution is far from just and moral. They claim to desire justice for the girls whose childhood has been hijacked by trauma, but they choose a punishment for the innocent instead of the wicked. The article proudly asserts that it is just to kill a child in the womb, but not once does it mention justice against the offender. No mention of the death penalty for rapists, but a swift death sentence on the innocent newly formed child. This is the height of injustice. Tragic as an unwanted pregnancy from rape — especially in a child — is, two injustices don’t create justice.

Abortion as the moral choice is even more problematic. “By what standard?” is my question. Moral according to whom? Morality is defined as the principles that help us decide between right and wrong, but morality must be determined by a standard. These authors argue rightly that these are moral concerns, but they offer no standard for their moral assertions.

Read More