The Most Basic Human Right

I have four objections to Amy Huynh's blog post on abortion, which can be found here.

First, Ms. Huynh said that we should not force a mother to raise a child, especially since they will most likely lead a life of poverty. While it is true we cannot force a woman to raise a child, there are other options that do not include abortion. She could give the child for adoption. Ms. Huynh also said that since they will live a life of poverty, they will not have a good life. This is a very quick judgment that denies a human child the opportunity to live their life and make something better for themselves. Steve Jobs’ parents gave him up for adoption, and he became one of the most successful people in history.

Secondly, Ms. Huynh said rape was a valid reason for abortions. I do understand that this is a very complicated and awful situation and I wish we never had to talk about it. However, rape is not a valid reason to kill a human being. If a mother kills the baby because the father is a rapist, then we are allowing the baby to be punished rather than the father himself. If the mother had the child, and then decided when he was 5 that it reminded her too much of the father, we wouldn’t let her kill the child then. It is a horrific situation but it not make it okay to kill a human. Also, situations of rape make up less then 1% of all abortions, which means 99% of abortions are just because the mother doesn’t want the baby.

Thirdly, Ms. Huynh said that if we make abortions illegal, we would force women to have back alley abortions. However, making abortions illegal does not mean we are forcing anyone to have abortions. We are not forcing anyone to have abortions, legal or illegal. If a woman wants to have an abortion and they are illegal, she will have to make the choice to do it illegally herself. Also, illegal things will happen whether they are illegal or not. We won’t make murder legal simply because people will do it if it is illegal anyways!

Lastly, Ms. Huynh said we can’t force a woman to carry the baby to full term because it’s her body and only she can make choices about it. But the fact it, it is not her body that she is making a decision about. She is making the decision to kill another human being, who has their own body. An unborn baby does not become its own person only after it is born. It is a human being from the moment of conception and therefore has the human right to live its life without fearing its mother will kill it before it even has the chance.