{"id":23941,"date":"2015-01-18T07:00:38","date_gmt":"2015-01-18T14:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/?p=23941"},"modified":"2015-01-23T09:46:25","modified_gmt":"2015-01-23T16:46:25","slug":"the-born-and-unborn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/2015\/01\/18\/the-born-and-unborn\/","title":{"rendered":"What is the difference between the born and unborn?"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I mentioned yesterday<\/a>, to mark the March For Life<\/a>, this week I’m going to be posting a series of articles<\/a> exclusively on\u00a0the subject of abortion.<\/p>\n

\"Ultrasound\"<\/p>\n

Today I’d like to outlining\u00a0the two main stages I\u00a0pass through when discussing the subject of abortion with those who are pro-choice.
\n<\/p>\n

Stage 1: Human Denial<\/h2>\n

Although most experienced pro-choice advocates will not head down this route, I’ve noticed that it’s\u00a0still extremely common to hear\u00a0people say something like this:<\/p>\n

“The unborn aren’t really human”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The reason why experienced pro-choice advocates shy away from this particular argument is that it is scientifically and philosophically indefensible.\u00a0The unborn are growing biological organisms with human DNA, being as they are the offspring of human parents i.e. human. These are small unborn humans who will grow into full-sized born humans…as long as they are not denied\u00a0time, nutrition or\u00a0a safe environment in which to flourish.<\/p>\n

Stage 2: Human Discrimination<\/h2>\n

In response to the above\u00a0explanation, the person in favour of abortion\u00a0will typically adjust his\u00a0argument\u00a0slightly. He\u00a0will usually say\u00a0something along the lines\u00a0of “Okay, well, it’s human…but it’s not fully<\/strong>\u00a0human”<\/em><\/span>\u00a0or “Okay, it’s human, but it’s not a person<\/strong>“<\/em><\/span>.<\/p>\n

Apologetics\u00a0by numbers<\/h3>\n

In order to justify his\u00a0distinction, the advocate will typically point out some difference between the\u00a0born and\u00a0unborn which he thinks is significant, such as size.\u00a0Regardless of the\u00a0distinction made, I always respond in the following simple pattern:<\/p>\n

(a) Distinction<\/strong>
\nI take the distinction which is being made between unborn and born and then point out\u00a0that similar differences can\u00a0also be found\u00a0between a newborn baby and an adult<\/p>\n

(b) Diversity<\/strong>
\nI point out that there\u00a0is\u00a0diversity found\u00a0within humanity in this particular area.<\/p>\n

(c) Dividing Line<\/strong>
\nI ask for a dividing line, based of the distinction being made, the point at which the unborn transition to become\u00a0“fully human” or “a person”, thereby being worthy of\u00a0continued life<\/p>\n

(d) Discrimination<\/strong>
\nI ask whether\u00a0discriminating on this basis is fair<\/p>\n

This might seem a little abstract, so let’s look at some of the distinctions which are typically made by the pro-choice advocates…<\/p>\n

Different kinds of differences<\/h3>\n

There are usually\u00a0four categories\u00a0of distinction which are made between the born and the unborn:<\/p>\n

1. Size<\/strong>
\nThe point\u00a0made here is that fetuses are\u00a0very small<\/em>. In response to this, I point out that:<\/p>\n

(a) Distinction<\/strong>
\nAn embryo might be tiny in comparison to an adult, but so is a newborn baby in comparison to a grown-up<\/p>\n

(b) Diversity<\/strong>
\nHumans come in all different sizes<\/p>\n

(c) Dividing Line<\/strong>
\nHow big do you have to be in order to be deserving of protection?<\/p>\n

(d) Discrimination<\/strong>
\nWhy shouldn’t we just treat humans of all different sizes with the same dignity?<\/p>\n

\"Size\"<\/p>\n

2. Level of Development<\/strong>
\nThe point made here is that fetuses are in an early stage of\u00a0development<\/em>. In response to this, I point out:<\/p>\n

(a) Distinction<\/strong>
\nAn embryo might be at a lower level of development in comparison to a newborn baby, but then again so is a newborn baby in comparison to a grown-up<\/p>\n

(b) Diversity<\/strong>
\nHumans throughout\u00a0the world are at\u00a0different\u00a0levels of development<\/p>\n

(c) Dividing Line<\/strong>
\nWhat level of development do you have to possess\u00a0in order to be deserving of protection?<\/p>\n

(d) Discrimination<\/strong>
\nWhy shouldn’t we just treat humans of all different levels of development with the same dignity?<\/p>\n

\"LOD\"<\/a><\/p>\n

3. Environment<\/strong>
\nThe point made here is that the unborn are located within the womb<\/em>. In response to this, I point out:<\/p>\n

(a) Distinction<\/strong>
\nAn embryo might be inside the mother’s womb, but how does that alter the value of the child’s\u00a0life?<\/p>\n

(b) Diversity<\/strong>
\nHumans are alive in many different environments. Some are in the womb, some are in incubators, some in cribs and some are in nursing homes.<\/p>\n

(c) Diversity<\/strong>
\nWhat environment must one be in to be counted as a person?\u00a0Do the eight inches of flesh between the womb and the world really change the value of a\u00a0life?<\/p>\n

(d) Discrimination<\/strong>
\nWhy shouldn’t we treat all humans with the same dignity, regardless of geography?<\/p>\n

\"OLYMPUS<\/p>\n

4. Degree of Dependency<\/strong>
\nThe point made here is that the unborn are dependent upon the mother for life<\/em>. In response to this, I point out:<\/p>\n

(a) Distinction<\/strong>
\nAn embryo might need the mother’s body, but so does a newborn.<\/p>\n

(b) Diversity<\/strong>
\nDifferent humans around the world have different levels of dependency: unborn, newly-born, toddler, child, teenager, adult, geriatric…<\/p>\n

(c) Dividing Line<\/strong>
\nWhat level of independence must one have in order to be counted as a person?<\/p>\n

Does dependency mean that one is less<\/em> deserving of care? Or, in fact, if one is more<\/em> dependent, more<\/em>\u00a0vulnerable,\u00a0shouldn’t one be more<\/em> deserving of care? For example, isn’t child abuse regarded as such a terrible crime\u00a0because children are seen\u00a0as defenseless?<\/p>\n

(d) Discrimination<\/strong>
\nWhy shouldn’t we treat all humans with the same dignity, regardless of how much help and protection they need?<\/p>\n

\"Dependency\"<\/p>\n

As you can hopefully see, there is a common pattern to all these responses, which should hopefully make it easier to give a solid response when you encounter these pro-choice objections. This will rarely magically resolve the discussion, but it will often\u00a0help guide you to\u00a0the foundational issue<\/strong> behind someone’s\u00a0reason for supporting abortion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I mentioned yesterday, to mark the March For Life, this week I’m going to be posting a series of articles exclusively on\u00a0the subject of abortion. Today I’d like to outlining\u00a0the two main stages I\u00a0pass through when discussing the subject of abortion with those who are pro-choice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":53585,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[232,2969,801,2985,1728,1601],"class_list":["post-23941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-apologetics","tag-abortion","tag-featured","tag-march-for-life","tag-march-for-life-2015","tag-pro-choice","tag-pro-life"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/FeaturedBornUnborn.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23941"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23941\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53967,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23941\/revisions\/53967"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}