Why I’m pro-life in a pro-choice society

I’m Canadian, and as you may or may not know, Canada is one of the most liberal countries in the world on the issue of abortion. We are one of four countries in the world which have absolutely no abortion laws at all. We share that distinction with the likes of China, Vietnam, and North Korea. (Impressive).

Most Canadians are totally fine with this. 57% believe that a woman should have the right to choose at any point in the pregnancy, for any reason. Amongst my age group, 18–34, the rate is even higher at 63%. Almost all abortions performed in Canada are subsidized by tax payers under our universal healthcare program, and 43% of Canadians see no problem with this.

By all means, as a young Canadian woman, I should be pro-choice.

But I’m not.

In the past, I never talked about it, never posted about it, just shoved it away in the back closet and buried it. I thought people wouldn’t understand (they don’t, usually). I thought I’d get demeaning responses to my beliefs (I do, sometimes). But even though I have a minority opinion and expressing it opens me up to all kinds of criticism, if I don’t speak up, who will? The pro-life movement is dangerously weak in Canada; we can’t even pass a bill protecting victims of fetal homicide for crying out loud. Neither have we legally protected born-alive infants who are left to die after botched abortions. We allow sex-selective abortions which target baby girls and cull the female population. We allow late-term abortions even though the fetus is viable at around 22 weeks and can survive outside the womb. We’re promoting and even funding these crimes against humanity all around the world.

Canadians don’t want to talk about this. It’s uncomfortable. It’s unpopular. We’d rather just shut up and let it happen; it’s much easier to not think about abortion and all that it entails. Our society worships “choice” and letting people do whatever they want as long as it doesn’t affect you — which, in many cases, shows respect to others and allows us individual freedom. However, in the case of abortion, when we blindly accept the majority pro-choice view without researching and considering the opposing view, we are complicit in the abuse of human rights.

My pro-life position rests on this clear logic:

1. Human reproduction creates more humans.
2. When a woman is pregnant, she is carrying a human inside her womb.
3. Humans deserve human rights.
4. The right to life is the most fundamental of all human rights.
5. Therefore, the right to life of unborn humans must be protected.

We don’t have to ignore science by saying that a fetus is “just a clump of cells.” We don’t have to make up all sorts of convoluted arguments that even though the fetus is a human life, the woman still has authority over it even to the point of killing it. We don’t make arbitrary decisions about who is human and who is not. We don’t support the easy way out — we uphold ethics and morality. A society in which it is legal to kill unborn children is a society that has lost its conscience.

Also, do you notice how I didn’t justify my position using religion or the Bible? Yeah, that doesn’t fly in a secular society like we have today. Just because I’m pro-life and Christian doesn’t mean there’s no secular defense of the pro-life stance. In fact, these are strong arguments consistent with logic and scientific reality; they need no religious justification in order to be convincing. I’ve been called a religious bigot and a Bible-thumper, but trust me, my desire to outlaw abortion has nothing to do with forcing my faith down your throat. Rather, it has everything to do with human rights and the protection of human life. If you don’t believe me, check out Secular Pro Life, Pro Life Humanists, Atheists Against Abortion, or even Feminists For Life. Pro-life people aren’t religious fundamentalists who want to subjugate women and control their bodies; we simply believe it’s unethical and unjustifiable to kill a baby just because it’s unwanted.

I’ve heard all the pro-choice arguments in the book — how can you force a woman to give up her bodily autonomy, for example? Well, in 99% of cases, she consented to sex which always comes with the possibility of pregnancy (no contraceptive is 100% effective). Therefore, she did have a choice, which led to the creation of a human life. Furthermore, I don’t believe the right to bodily autonomy can ever overpower the right to life; after all, you have to be alive to actually have any rights in the first place.

What if she was raped? Rape and all types of sexual assault are horrific acts of violence and I wish that no woman would have to endure this experience; I cannot even imagine how rape survivors manage to deal with the trauma. At the same time, two wrongs don’t make a right — aborting a child conceived of rape will not erase the pain and fear. It’s not the baby’s fault it was created as a result of sexual violence. Why should the baby be punished for the sins of the father? If it’s human, it has human rights, so then the circumstances of its conception are irrelevant to the morality of abortion in cases of rape. There is always the option of adoption; and actually, the birth of a new child can even give hope to the mother and bring new life out of terrible tragedy. For further research on cases like these, check out Save the 1.

What if she’s too poor and can’t afford to raise a child? Well, I already mentioned adoption. But also, pro-lifers are heavily involved in charitable efforts to support mothers: teen moms, poor moms, single moms, working moms… There are resources available at CareNet, Choice42, and the Canadian Association of Pregnancy Support Services; those are just a few examples that offer care, counselling, and supplies. Here in Canada women are guaranteed maternity leave, and the Université Laval is even considering offering maternity leave to students so they can put their education on hold with no consequences. It’s another great idea which will provide support for mothers and their children.

What if the baby has a disability or deformity? Okay, so their life is somehow less valuable, and in fact not even worth living, if they’re “imperfect”? Kids with Down Syndrome are being culled from the population; in fact, there hasn’t been a child born with Down Syndrome in Iceland for the past 5 years. Even in the UK, 90% of fetuses diagnosed with Down Syndrome are aborted. This is eugenics, plain and simple. I reject the idea that a disabled person would be better off dead. And even in the case of a severe deformity where the child will not live long after birth, such as anencephaly, their organs can actually be donated to give life to others or help further research. Even then, who are we to decide when another human being should die?

What if the mother’s life is in danger? Then the mother’s right to life and the baby’s right to life come into conflict, and the mother can make the best decision for both of them. If the fetus is viable, it should be delivered rather than aborted. If it’s not viable, labour can be induced and the fetus will be miscarried. In very rare cases it may be necessary to go in there with forceps and rip the baby apart in order to save the woman’s life.

So you see, in all of these cases, I view the woman and the child as equals who both have rights. I don’t believe unwanted or unplanned children would be better off dead. However, I certainly sympathize with women who go through the experience of an unplanned pregnancy and I’m willing to support them in any way I can.

I’d like to recognize the role of education in this debate as well; specifically, the knowledge of fetal development and the process of abortion. Abortion clinics have been known to hide ultrasounds from women and even blatantly lie about fetal development. But nowadays anyone can look up this information in a science textbook or online encyclopedia. So let’s lay down the facts, as cited from the Endowment for Human Development.

This is a zygote beginning the process of mitosis, about 24 to 30 hours after fertilization.

This is the “clump of cells” that abortion advocates like to talk about. At this point, the zygote’s DNA is already established — each cell is encoded with genetic information determining sex, eye colour, hair colour, and other traits.

By 1 week, the blastocyst implants into the uterine wall and the cells are forming two layers. The hypoblast will provide the developing child with nutrients, while the epiblast develops into 3 specialized tissues by the 2.5 week mark. Ectoderm will become the brain, spinal cord, nerves, skin, nails, and hair. Endoderm will become the respiratory system, digestive tract, liver, and pancreas. Mesoderm will become the heart, kidneys, bones, cartilage, muscles, and blood cells.

By 3 weeks, blood vessels and blood cells are developing and the heart begins to pump as it forms chambers.

At 4.5 weeks the heart is pumping strong and the tiny embryo is beginning to take shape! Also, this is around the point when most women realize they’re pregnant.

At 6 weeks the brain starts growing fast and developing its two hemispheres. Brainwaves can be measured and recorded. Tiny fingers and toes are starting to develop.

At 8 weeks you can tell if the baby is right-handed or left-handed. The bones have formed, the eyes, nose, and lips have formed, and the head is beginning to round out.

At 10 weeks, the baby can yawn! Its external genitalia have started to form and the baby is developing fingernails.

At 12 weeks, the child is at the end of the first trimester. You can tell the sex from an ultrasound.

So, this is how humans develop during the first trimester of pregnancy. You can clearly see it is not a fluid, it is not a clump of cells, it begins looking like a tiny baby very soon after conception. Of course, it’s much easier on the conscience to believe that an abortion simply removes a gelatinous mass from the uterus, but this simply doesn’t reflect biological reality. The truth is, it looks like a baby because it is a baby.

Anyways, now that we know what a fetus looks like in utero, how do abortionists actually go about removing them? Former abortionist Dr. Anthony Levatino explains.

The first option is to take a pill which will stop the production of progesterone and cut off the baby’s supply of nutrients, starving it to death. Then the woman takes another pill which causes painful contractions and heavy bleeding in order to expel the dead fetus. This kind of abortion can be done up to 10 weeks. The process can, however, be reversed if the woman second-guesses her decision and quickly takes progesterone.

Another option is the Dilation and Curettage (D&C) abortion. This procedure constitutes the majority of abortions performed, and it’s used from around 5 to 13 weeks. Basically, the abortionist forces the cervix to open so he can then use a tube, like a super-powered vacuum, to suck the baby out piece by piece. Then they scrape the uterine lining with a curette to make sure everything’s out.

In the second trimester, the baby is a bit bigger and will require more drastic methods to be aborted. Between 13 and 24 weeks, abortionists perform the Dilation and Evacuation procedure (D&E). A day or two in advance, the cervix must be prepared to be dilated. To begin the procedure, they suck out the amniotic fluid surrounding the baby. The baby’s too big by now to be sucked out of the uterus, so instead, the abortionist takes a clamp like a pair of tongs, reaches in, and grabs hold of an arm or a leg. They tear off the baby’s limbs one by one. Then they start taking out its organs and pieces of its abdomen. Finally, the baby’s head needs to come out somehow, so the abortionist crushes it and the brains drain out as a white fluid. Pieces of its skull are removed and the uterine lining is scraped with a curette to make sure it’s empty. At the end, the abortionist needs to put the puzzle pieces back together, making sure they’ve got all the body parts accounted for. I imagine it’s a bloody mess.

And lastly, in the third trimester, the abortionist must use the most brutal methods in order to remove a baby aged 25 weeks or older (by the way, these children are viable and can survive outside the womb).

On the first day of the procedure, the baby is injected with digoxin in order to cause cardiac arrest. Then the cervix is dilated, which could take 2–3 days. The woman basically goes into labour and delivers a dead baby, but if the whole baby doesn’t come out, the abortionist has to take the tongs and grab out the other body parts.

If you’re reading this and you’re pro-choice, I’d like to ask you: do these procedures make you feel uncomfortable? Would you be able to have an abortion yourself? Would you be able to stomach seeing the bloody, gory remains of an aborted fetus? Would you be able to reach into the uterus and crush the head of a baby? Or would you just prefer to let other people do all of these things as long as you don’t have to look at it or think about it?

If your only arguments consist of “my body my choice,” and appeals to individual freedom, then you should realize that you’re using fallacious logic. You actually don’t get to do whatever you want with your body. You can get put in jail if you make the wrong choices with your body. You cannot use your bodily autonomy to walk around naked in the mall, you cannot use it to inappropriately touch another person, and you cannot use it to take an innocent human life. And no, the fetus is not part of your body, it’s inside your body. Just because you don’t want it inside your body doesn’t give you the right to kill it.

It sometimes feels like we’re living in a dystopia where having an unpopular opinion is considered a thought crime. If you’re pro-life, you’re considered not just wrong, but also a bad person. An immoral person, a bigot, a tyrant who wants to punish women for having sex and take away all their rights. Being pro-life is seen as something to be ashamed of, to be pushed aside and kept out of sight, like the media and the government are thoroughly embarrassed that people like me still exist.

But we’re still here. Even though Canada is one of only four countries in the world with absolutely no restrictions on abortion, we’re still here. Societies in the past have dehumanized Jews, homosexuals, blacks, aboriginals, ethnic minorities, religious minorities, you name it. Some people stood by and watched it happen, callous and uncaring, when they could have done something to prevent injustice. Our society dehumanizes unborn children, and I will not stand by and do nothing about it. When we collectively decide that it’s okay to mistreat a certain group of people because they are subhuman and inferior to us, it leads to horrific atrocities. Abortion is no different from countless other injustices of the past — it’s simply my duty as a human to stand up for human rights.

Say what you like about me and the pro-life movement, but I don’t subscribe to the Machiavellian ideal that the end justifies the means in order to solve the problem of an unwanted child. I haven’t shut off my conscience because I want true equality and human rights for all people — there’s just no reason why the smallest and most vulnerable members of society should be excluded from that.

I remain a pro-life Canadian. A rare breed, admittedly, but not extinct yet.