Although public opinion on the matter has remained at a rough stalemate for the past few decades, the abortion debate has returned to the forefront of the political arena as states such as New York effectively legalize abortion up until the point of birth and states such as Georgia restrict it at the point of a fetal heartbeat.
The pro-life position is a simple one: Either life begins at conception, or it begins at fertilization. While that’s a debate reckoned with among the Right, the pro-life position as a matter of policy rarely needs explanation.
But the majority of Americans who consider themselves pro-choice are facing a schism with their elected officials. Democratic presidential candidates from Beto to Buttigieg refuse to state when a woman ought not be allowed to obtain an elective abortion, implying that they endorse the sort of laws proposed by Illinois and Virginia Democrats. But Democratic voters differ.
Only 13% of independents and 18% of Democrats support legalizing third-trimester abortion, and the majority of Democrats still oppose legalizing second-trimester abortion. While the country is split 48-48 between being pro-life and pro-choice, the majority of the country opposes both the morality of and the legality of first-trimester abortion for no reason other than the woman’s preference.
This implies a few opinions among pro-choice Americans. Some probably view life as beginning at some post-conception stage of fetal development, such as sentience or the beginning of a heartbeat. Some may view fetuses as lives, but not morally equivalent to someone already born. Others may view abortion as a mere necessary evil and a societal trade-off.
But these people aren’t the ones attempting to rewrite our laws and run the free world. Those that are must be made to answer an extremely simple question: Where does life begin?
Without an understanding of the baseline axioms informing everyone’s opinions and proposed policies, voters do not have enough information to cast educated ballots. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., wants to nuke the Ginsburg precedent and re-implement Roe v. Wade as a litmus test. Well then, Democratic voters ought to posit a litmus test of their own and demand that politicians explicate their exact definition of life’s beginning.
Of course, the liberal end of the media has no interest in pressing politicians on this matter, likely because a significant portion of Congress was represented when state Rep. John Rogers, D-Ala., justified abortion by proclaiming you either “kill ’em now or kill ’em later.” Here, Rogers simply said the quiet part out loud, admitting that a fetus is a life, but better to kill it in the womb than give it a shot at the American dream.
Maybe I’m completely off base. I would truly love for journalists to press pro-choice radicals and find out. Then we can have an actual conversation about “reproductive rights” and have an honest debate about policy. Until then, pro-choicers hiding behind the mantle of feminism will continue to shift goalposts and delude their constituents.
