The absurdity of the anti-abortion argument.
Hypothetical situation: some random child attacks you at random with a knife and slashes open your belly in front of dozens of witnesses. Somehow, while holding your guts in with one arm, you manage to kill the child in clear self-defense, and you somehow manage to get to the hospital in time to survive. That kid was a sentient, talking human being and somebody's child, but in that situation it would take a serious miscarriage of justice for the verdict to be anything other than "not guilty (of murder) by reason of self-defense." The law would be on your side, the witnesses would have to be toweringly stupid or crazy to not be on your side as well, and probably the parents would understand too.
So why is it any different when somebody needs to terminate a life-threatening pregnancy?
Okay, second hypothetical situation: A random kid randomly runs at you and bites your femoral artery so hard they start drinking your blood, again with witnesses. It's not immediately life-threatening, they're just a human parasite, but you'd still be well within your legal and moral/ethical rights to go to any means necessary to stop that kid, even if you have to kill them. It would be a weird case, but it would still be clear self-defense because hey, body autonomy and assault! Again, "not guilty by reason of self defense."
So why is it any different when the unwanted parasite is a non-sentient clump of cells?
If killing the kid is not legally murder in those two hypothetical situations, then why do so many people have this absurd notion that abortion is any different? Either way, it's your body and it's got something in it you neither asked for nor wanted, and either way anyone who would deny you your right to get rid of the intruder is an immoral bastard.
Third hypothetical: Somebody injects something into a person against their will that causes a giant cancerous tumor to form. While not malignant, if it grows too big it cannot be safely removed, at least not until it's ready, and until then it's this unwanted bulge in the person's body that is hurting their joints, making their legs cramp, putting pressure on their organs, making them ill, and generally making them miserable. Anyone who would deny that person the right to remove that tumor before it got too big to be safely removed would have to be the most vile, loathsome excuse for a human being on the planet.
So why is unwanted pregnancy any fucking different? Why is it considered moral, and noble, and good to be in favor of condemning someone to something so painful, dangerous, and debilitating as pregnancy against their will? How are these people considered anything other than detestable, disgusting perverts sticking their noses in where it doesn't belong?
And you know, the fact that these idiots value the life of something that isn't even anywhere near being sentient yet says a LOT about what they think about women, and nothing good. Like, "Yeah, I'm a pro-lifer, I value some unthinking wad of tissue more than a human woman, but like that's somehow totally not utterly demeaning to women. *scratches groin* " (And before you mention it, No: female anti-choicers are no better. Never heard of internalized misogyny, I take it?)
So seriously, people, stop butting in to other people's business. If it isn't your fucking body, it's NOT your fucking concern!
This was cross-posted from http://alex-antonin.dreamwidth.org/229602.html
You can comment either here or there.
So why is it any different when somebody needs to terminate a life-threatening pregnancy?
Okay, second hypothetical situation: A random kid randomly runs at you and bites your femoral artery so hard they start drinking your blood, again with witnesses. It's not immediately life-threatening, they're just a human parasite, but you'd still be well within your legal and moral/ethical rights to go to any means necessary to stop that kid, even if you have to kill them. It would be a weird case, but it would still be clear self-defense because hey, body autonomy and assault! Again, "not guilty by reason of self defense."
So why is it any different when the unwanted parasite is a non-sentient clump of cells?
If killing the kid is not legally murder in those two hypothetical situations, then why do so many people have this absurd notion that abortion is any different? Either way, it's your body and it's got something in it you neither asked for nor wanted, and either way anyone who would deny you your right to get rid of the intruder is an immoral bastard.
Third hypothetical: Somebody injects something into a person against their will that causes a giant cancerous tumor to form. While not malignant, if it grows too big it cannot be safely removed, at least not until it's ready, and until then it's this unwanted bulge in the person's body that is hurting their joints, making their legs cramp, putting pressure on their organs, making them ill, and generally making them miserable. Anyone who would deny that person the right to remove that tumor before it got too big to be safely removed would have to be the most vile, loathsome excuse for a human being on the planet.
So why is unwanted pregnancy any fucking different? Why is it considered moral, and noble, and good to be in favor of condemning someone to something so painful, dangerous, and debilitating as pregnancy against their will? How are these people considered anything other than detestable, disgusting perverts sticking their noses in where it doesn't belong?
And you know, the fact that these idiots value the life of something that isn't even anywhere near being sentient yet says a LOT about what they think about women, and nothing good. Like, "Yeah, I'm a pro-lifer, I value some unthinking wad of tissue more than a human woman, but like that's somehow totally not utterly demeaning to women. *scratches groin* " (And before you mention it, No: female anti-choicers are no better. Never heard of internalized misogyny, I take it?)
So seriously, people, stop butting in to other people's business. If it isn't your fucking body, it's NOT your fucking concern!
This was cross-posted from http://alex-antonin.dreamwidth.org/229602.html
You can comment either here or there.