The abortion issue has almost nothing to do with women's rights, or human rights, at least in America.
I say this, inviting a firestorm, but hear me out. I am neither categorically against abortion, nor women's rights. I am saying that this issue is very poorly framed, by both sides.
Both sides villify the other side on this. Pro-life people are demonized as bigots and oppressors of women. Pro-choice people are portrayed as baby killers. But, in reality, in America at least, the very, very vast majority of pro-lifers absolutely believe women should have control of their bodies. They just don't think a fetus is part of a woman's body, they see it as a separate human being, whose body happens to be inside a woman for the first nine months of its life.
Similarly, the very, very vast majority of pro-choicers think the idea of a parent killing her child is heinous and evil. They just don't think a fetus counts as a child yet. While it is in the womb, it is part of the mother.
So, in reality, almost everyone on both sides agrees on what everyone's rights should be. Women should have liberty and agency to control their bodies. Babies should not be murdered.
The only real point of disagreement is about the point at which the fetus transitions into a child. Put simply, this is not an argument about women's rights or even human rights. It is an argument about when life begins.
And the truth is that there are at least five places where a rational arguments can be made for drawing that line (I've heard good arguments for conception, first heartbeat, first brain activity, fetal viability, and birth; there are probably more). In truth, though, wherever the law decides to draw the line, it will be somewhat arbitrary, and at least a third of the USA will disagree with it.
I'm not saying all this to try to change anyone's mind, I just want to eliminate the rancor of the discussion. Whatever you think about abortion, when you villify your opponents, it shows a lack of respect and understanding. There are some issues where it is right to decry the opposition as ignorant or evil, because they are in fact ignorant or evil. However, this issue is not one of them.
Read other answers by Jonathan Huffman on Quora:
- What are you most worried about in a Trump presidency?
- Is it normal to get bad grades at first in freshman year of highschool?
- What excites you about the future of space exploration?
from Quora http://ift.tt/2jc917v
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