The Most Important Question About Abortion | 5 Minute Video — Transcript

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1. 0:00Let's talk about one of the most emotionally charged subjects there is -- abortion -- but
2. 0:07in an unemotional way. Also, let's not touch on the question that most preoccupies discussion
3. 0:14of the subject -- whether abortion should be legal or illegal. The only question here is the moral one:
4. 0:23Is ending the life of a human fetus -- moral?
5. 0:28Let's begin with this question: Does the human fetus have any value and any rights?
6. 0:35Now, it's a scientific fact that a human fetus is human life. Those who argue that the human
7. 0:41fetus has no rights say that a fetus is not a person. But even if you believe that,
8. 0:49it doesn't mean the fetus has no intrinsic value or no rights. There are many living beings
9. 0:56that are not persons that have both value and rights: Dogs and other animals, for example.
10. 1:03And that's Moral Argument Number One: A living being doesn't have to be a person
11. 1:09in order to have intrinsic moral value and rights.
12. 1:14When challenged with this argument, people usually change the subject to the rights of the mother
13. 1:20-- meaning the right of a mother to end her fetus's life under any circumstance,
14. 1:26for any reason, and at any time in her pregnancy. Is that moral? It is only if we believe that
15. 1:35the human fetus has no intrinsic worth. But in most cases, nearly everyone believes that
16. 1:42the human fetus has essentially infinite worth and an almost absolute right to live. When?
17. 1:50When a pregnant woman wants to give birth. Then, society -- and its laws -- regard the
18. 1:55fetus as so valuable that if someone were to kill that fetus, that person could be prosecuted for homicide.
19. 2:03Only if a pregnant woman doesn't want to give birth, do many people regard the fetus as worthless.
20. 2:10Now, does that make sense?
21. 2:13It doesn't seem to. Either a human fetus has worth or it doesn't.
22. 2:18And this is Moral Argument Number Two:
23. 2:22On what moral grounds does the mother alone decide a fetus's worth?
24. 2:28We certainly don't do that with regard to a newborn child. It is society, not the mother -- or the father --
25. 2:36that determines whether a newborn child has worth and a right to live.
26. 2:42So, the question is: Why should that be different before the human being is born? Why does one person,
27. 2:48a mother, get to determine whether that being has any right to live? People respond
28. 2:55by saying that a woman has the right to "control her body." Now, that is entirely correct.
29. 3:01The problem here, however, is that the fetus is not "her body;" it is in her body.
30. 3:07It is a separate body. And that's Moral Argument Number Three. No one ever asks a pregnant woman,
31. 3:15"How's your body?" when asking about the fetus. People ask, "How's the baby?"
32. 3:22Moral Argument Number Four: Virtually everyone agrees that the moment the baby comes out
33. 3:29of the womb, killing the baby is murder. But deliberately killing it a few months before
34. 3:36birth is considered no more morally problematic than extracting a tooth.
35. 3:43How does that make sense?
36. 3:46And finally, Moral Argument Number Five: Aren't there instances in which just about everyone
37. 3:53-- even among those who are pro-choice -- would acknowledge that an abortion might not be moral?
38. 4:00For example, would it be moral to abort a female fetus solely because the mother prefers
39. 4:05boys to girls -- as has happened millions of times in China and elsewhere?
40. 4:12And one more example: Let's say science develops a method of determining whether a child in the womb
41. 4:18is gay or straight. Would it be moral to kill a gay fetus because the mother didn't want a gay child?
42. 4:26People may offer practical reasons not to criminalize all abortions. People may differ
43. 4:32about when personhood begins; and about the morality of abortion after rape or incest.
44. 4:40But with regard to the vast majority of abortions -- those of healthy women aborting a healthy fetus --
45. 4:48let's be clear. Most of these abortions just aren't moral.
46. 4:54Good societies can survive people doing immoral things. But a good society cannot survive
47. 5:02if it calls immoral things moral.
48. 5:07I'm Dennis Prager.