Abortion Deniers Understanding Stuck In 1 A.D: 2000 Years Behind Reproductive Science
Abortion Truths, Fetus Vs. Baby, Medical Risks of Pregnancy, Reproductive Health in a Nutshell (Edited from a previous article)
A fetus is not a baby.
By SCIENTIFIC DEFINITION, a fetus is a parasite, starts without the volition of the host, always a hazard to the pregnant women's life, always harmful to her in the near term and often comes with lifelong debilitating complications. Further, after simple adjustments for varying methods, existing data show that at least 73% of natural single conceptions have no real chance of surviving 6 weeks of gestation. 1 in 180 women die from pregnancy-related complications around the world per the World Health Organization.
Every pregnancy is about weighing risk, risk of loss of life, and potential life, risk of debilitating complications. Only one person ethically has the right to determine if her life and health is worth risking in the unlikely event that one day she gives birth to a healthy baby, and that person is NO ONE that isn't her.
Another way to look at it is to take it backwards. A healthy baby wouldn't last more than a few minutes in the womb, it would suffocate. Two entirely different environments.
When I tell people that a fetus is a parasite, many get offended, as if I just made a moral statement, not a factual one. If I say “shit stinks”, while an unpleasant truth, you don’t get offended, its a fact. The problem is most people are completely ignorant of the science of reproductive health. The messaging we see in the press, this totally asinine “pro-life” versus “pro-choice”, never educates the electorate, and makes no sense in light of the actual biological science. Worse, the Christians, the largest, most vocal, and most effective advocacy block for legally denying abortion in the United States, are taught in their churches the same information we knew about pregnancy in 1 A.D, and combined with their entrenched, dogmatic women-hatred, that’s the end of their curiosity and concern for the life of the mother.
So the FACT that a fetus is a parasite that has a roughly 30% chance (in best cases) to TRANSFORM into a baby, while also having a 1 in 180 chance of killing its host/the mother along the way, is simply unknown. Instead the dialogue hovers around “rights”, when this is actually about women’s lives. When you understand the science, the public dialogue is utterly insane, completely divorced from the very lethal reality of pregnancy for women and girls.
Most of the time when I make these very lucid and ethically sound observations to the men who want to deny women the right to make choices about their medical care, I stop the discussion at the risk to life and limb. Anyone who cares about women’s lives, about families at all, upon learning this information, it should be enough to change their perspective. Yet even here, newly taught reproductive health information in tow, the men (and some women) I engage with in debate never change their mind, and the only obvious reason for this is they don't care about women's lives, nor about loving families, and they certainly don't care about the life of the potential “Babies!”, which they keep repeating that they do over everything. I’ll prove this further down in this essay.
If you doubt that men would be this careless of a pregnant women’s life, you probably don’t know that despite all the myriad and extreme physical hazards of pregnancy to the mother, the number one cause of death for pregnant women in the United States is homicide, by her partner. Mostly, men shoot them.
After educating these passionate believers in denying women abortion and know-nothings about reproductive health and science, they frequently say this: well, she shouldn't have opened her legs.
To which I respond, the vast majority of people seeking abortions are already parents, and are in intimate relationships. They, reasonably, don't want to risk their children losing their mom. Surely, loving relationships involve love-making?
Then these thugs respond, "Shoulda used Condoms! Ha!"
Which again shows their complete ignorance of women's reproductive health. Even a tubal ligation is not a completely safe birth control method, let alone a condom. A fetus is a parasite, it can implant to the host irregardless of the protections he or she might take.
Of course, an unwanted pregnancy that leads to an unwanted child causes all kinds of complications for the woman outside of physical ones. Here again, these thugs show no interest in "babies!" outside of trying to control women's wombs.
Almost none of these people want to invest in free early childcare, subsidized maternity leave, housing programs, education, even free food. Its almost like the real result they are after is women encumbered, exhausted, financially and otherwise dependent, and tremendously vulnerable, and the "babies!" are there to force this to occur. I call this hate, prove to me it's not.
The natural world is full of one thing transforming into another. Caterpillars to butterflies, tadpole to frog, a tree in the winter, after losing all its leaves is a very different tree in the spring. A fetus is its own thing, and by definition, a parasite. A baby is the result of a powerful transformation from one thing to another, and a miracle every time. But no one other than the bearer of this potential miracle can decide to bear the very deadly and potentially debilitating risk of being a part of this.
This goes doubly for a non-uterus bearing person. If you never have to face this severe threat to your life, you certainly shouldn't have a say. Or if you do, it should only be to say, "Whatever is best for you, I'm down for all of it".
I never thought of comparing a fetus to a parasite. It’s a powerful metaphor, that should get people’s attention. The fact that the right wing evangelical christians have been “pro life” (yet pro death penalty) and against birth control shows ignorance. Especially when they won’t commit to protecting the rights of the woman, or to provide care for both mother and child. I advocate that if you’re pro life, you should sponsor a child until they’re 18. Bringing a sense of humanity. Finally, to realize and accept what a woman goes through in the medical/psychological aspect. Health issues trump an ancient ideology.