The Rights of Pregnant Women and Their Unborn Children

I think it would help both sides of the debate about abortion if they understood that the reproductive system was not designed to easily submit to morals. It was designed to perpetuate life, and given how powerful not just humans, but other mammals are in the biosphere, I think it did a damn good job. Evolution doesnt care about your feelings, just your continued existence. There is no easy answer, no answer that will make us all feel warm and fuzzy, no answer that gives equal protection to both the women and the unborn baby. In the end the mother comes first and not the child. Not because its right, not because its fair, not because its the answer, but because we havent got a choice. Its the best option available to us. We cannot give the child rights without taking away part of the mother’s agency. Its not possible.

I struggled for a long time before I reached this point. I fought to find a way to to make myself happy with my conclusion. I agonized over whether a child that had not only a mother, but a father, could be terminated without that father’s consent. I worried that we were creating a world where one class of human being, by virtue of a physical, biological characteristic they had no control over, their status as unborn/developing, did not have basic human rights. I felt the mental torment of those who argue that babies have rights, too. How could we condemn them to death? I played the sand game. I tried to draw a line that made me happy, a line beyond which i was not okay with birth control methods or various types of abortion. I couldn’t find a way to resolve this inner turmoil. After all, wouldn’t I save a rape or assault victim, if it was in my power?

In the end I was able to resolve this question within my mental framework. Since I don’t believe in an absolute moral framework, I’m and atheist who believes in evolution after all, it came down to this. A fully formed human being has a more powerful right to live than one who hasn’t actually lived. All the things that babies do in the womb, not only adult animals but, baby animals also do. They haven’t developed to that special place where they qualify for human privilege. That’s right, privilege, not rights. You see every single person debating this issue has the greatest social privilege of all, being a human being. We haven’t reached the stage in our evolution, cultural at this point not biological, where we can have the debate on whether we should eat or exploit animals. Without animal labor, and the products we derive from them our society will collapse. Because babies have not evolved the special processes which put them above animals, on par with others receiving the gift of human privilege, the mother’s right to self determination outweighs their right to life.