The Central Argument for Abortion

The central argument for abortion is that, the woman has the right to abort the child as she is entitled to bodily autonomy and is not obligated to help anyone survive [including the baby in her womb] if she does not wish to do so.

This is the argument that abortion ultimately comes down to. This is what “it is a woman’s body” means.

How Would The Mere Defense of Bodily Autonomy Look Like In Practice

If a woman does not have the obligation to support the baby with her body, this would mean that the woman would have the right to have the baby removed from her body. This would result in bringing forth the child from the woman’s womb into the outer world prior to the natural completion of pregnancy.

What Does Abortion Look Like In Practice

Abortion is carried out in one of the following ways:

1st Trimester Medical Abortion [Abortion Pills]: The baby is first killed by depriving it of blood and nourishment [similar to starving a child to death]. Following this, the dead baby is then expelled from the mother’s body [link to more information here]

1st Trimester Surgical Abortion [Suction D&C]: The living baby is torn apart when being sucked out from the mother’s womb by a suction machine. The baby exits the mother’s womb in many pieces, torn apart by the force of the suction machine [link to more information here]

2nd Trimester Surgical Abortion [D&E]: A steel clamp is used to grab hold of the living baby’s limbs and to rip the limbs apart from the rest of the baby’s body. The living baby’s torso is then ripped away from the baby’s head. Finally, the baby’s head is crushed, in order to remove it from the mother’s body. The baby is thus torn into pieces by a steel clamp when being removed from the mother’s womb [link to more information here]

3rd Trimester Induced Abortion: The baby is actively killed by injecting it with chemical compounds that kill the child by cardiac arrest. Following this, the dead baby is either delivered as a stillborn [or] is removed by a D&E, during which the baby is torn apart by a steel clamp and removed from the mother’s womb [link to more information here]

The Argument For Abortion vs The Reality of Abortion

Abortion entails one of the following:

1. First killing the baby, which is then followed by the removal of the dead baby from the mother’s womb [1st trimester medical abortion and 3rd trimester induced abortion].

2. Killing the living baby as part of the process of removing the baby from the mother’s womb [1st Trimester Surgical Abortion [Suction D&C] and 2nd Trimester Surgical Abortion [D&E]].

This and this is what abortion looks like.

From the above we can see that abortion does not merely entail the removal of a living baby from the woman’s womb, so that the woman is no longer pregnant.

Abortion rather entails the direct and intentional [general intent in law] killing of a living baby prior to removing the baby from the mother’s womb. The argument for abortion [“it is a woman’s body”], thus does not represent the reality of abortion, because abortion first involves the direct killing of another person.

Conclusion

In line with the argument that “it is a woman’s body”, should a woman not wish to carry her pregnancy to term, she must remove the baby from her womb ensuring that the baby is not negatively affected by her actions in any way. This is the only possibly legitimate means for a woman who does not wish to carry her baby to term.

The fact that a baby occupies a woman’s body does not give the woman a right to intentionally kill the baby before or while the baby is removed from her womb.

The right to self-determination does not extend to a right to directly assault and intentionally kill another human being [in the case, an innocent baby].