Clear thinking on abortion begins by asking the right questions:
What is the pro-life argument?
- The pro-life argument can be formally stated as a syllogism.
P1: It is wrong to intentionally kill an innocent human being
P2: Abortion intentionally kills an innocent human being.
Therefore,
C: Abortion is wrong.
- Arguments must be refuted, not dismissed with faulty appeals to gender, origins, religion, or motivations.
What do we mean by “wrong?”
- To say something is wrong is to make an objective claim, not a subjective one.
- Changing the pro-life argument from an objective claim to a subjective one does not refute it, only dodges it.
What is abortion?
- Abortion is the intentional killing of an innocent human being.
- This definition is affirmed by many defenders of abortion, including some who perform the procedure.
What is the abortion debate about?
- It’s not about love, hate, lost benefits, neutrality, or middle ground.
- It’s about one question: Who counts as one of us (and, by extension, what makes humans valuable in the first place)? That’s the crux of the debate.
What are bad ways to argue?
- Dismiss rather than argue
- Assume rather than argue
- Attack rather than argue
- Assert rather than argue
Again, arguments must be defended with evidence and reason, not appeals to one’s gender, origins, religion, or motivations.
