Abortion. Could someone give me a non-religious argument against?

Question

have a debate coming up about the legalization of abortion. need help!

Answer 1

Check the Center for Disease Control statistics for reported abortions beginning in the year 1970, and continuing through the present.  You'll find that before the Roe v. Wade decision of 1973, reported abortions in America were at just under half a million (in fact, in 1970 there were less than 200,000).  After 1973, however, the number grew, breaking the one million mark in 1977, and peaking in 1990 at 1,429,247 abortions in that year.

We can say with some certainty that the number pre-1970 can be considered "life of the mother" abortions, since abortion for convenience was illegal in many states at that time.  After 1973, though, the growth of the yearly number shows the effect of Roe v. Wade and the opening up of abortion for convenience.  If we take the baseline figure of 200,000 in 1970 (slightly less, but rounded off), this means that in the peak year of 1990, there were 1.2 million abortions for convenience.

Equally so, using that base figure, there have been at least 20 million abortions for convenience since 1974.  Given as a demographic, this means that half a generation of Americans were never born.  This is why we have a problem with illegal immigration; had those persons not been aborted, we would have a sufficient workforce to fill those jobs currently being performed by illegals.

Simply put, Roe v. Wade has become not a Supreme Court decision, but a crime against American society.

Answer 2

I can't think of a reason for abortion to be totally illegal but it should be more difficult to get and should not be able to be used as a form of birth control but I would not like to be part of a society which expects a woman to carry a baby of a man who had violently raped her or if she was going to die if she had the baby.  This has to be the woman's choice. I don't think there are many parents out there who would expect their child to go through with a pregnancy against her wishes under these circumstances!

Answer 3

The "mother" often feels remorse and guilt for years following an abortion.

I knew a girl that got depressed years after and kept track of the "birthday" of a baby she had aborted.

Sad,... but true.

(She told me her "baby" would've been (x) years old... I thought she miscarried but she told me she'd had an abortion.)

Hey,... thumbs down all you want.  It's true, and I'm pro choice.

Answer 4

When I was an atheist, my roommate found out she was pregnant.

In my heart I felt killing the baby was wrong, and I tried to explain to her why.

I told her that everyone deserves a chance to live.

I explained that at one point in her life she was in the exact same place as her baby was now in, and would it be fair for her mom to have aborted her?

  

Answer 5

The child is still a human being with a nervous system capable of feeling pain. Just because they do not have full consciousness doesn't mean that they aren't alive. Because of this they should be given the right to life and put up for adoption if unwanted.

Answer 6

Simply abortion is murder and all nations of the world have laws against it. A woman has the choice to use her body the way she wants. If she becomes pregnant she now has made a choice that brings another life into the picture. Your original right was to have s*x. Now all your choices from that point now brings someone else into the picture. You no longer can make a choice on your own. Unless stopped those two cells Have become a living person. What a wonderful miracle now takes place.

We have had people though out history who have come up with things that have saved lives, made life better and have benefited man in different ways. Man today is looking for someone to help them out of the problems. Who is to say that the one who could have helped was not aborted . Please think about these things when making your personal decision. I am a bible student and teacher but you asked for a non-religious answer. I hope this helps.  

Answer 7

It makes it too easy for people to be irresponsible and use it as birth control.

It is emotionally damaging for the woman

After a certain period of time, it is painful for the unborn child

It is demeaning for society

It implies that human life is irrelevant and can lead to the destruction of a civilized society.

Answer 8

Abortion isnt a religious issue, whatsoever.

As soon as a fertilized egg implants into the uterus the natural development that will take place is a human life.

zygote to embryo to fetus to infant to child to teen to adult to eldery

At each stage of human development a person is physiologically different in some ways.  Many of these stages require the assistance of others for the person to survive.  (including infant and many times eldery)

To unnaturally stop the natural growth cycle of an innocent human being without a valid justification is murder and should not be tolerated.

If left alone a fetus will progress to the next stage of human development.

You cant apply the concept that killing sperm or an egg is the same, then, because the natural next stage is not human development unless specific conditions are met.

This is not the case with a fetus.  Naturally the fetus moves onto the next stage.  The only way it wont is if you unnaturally stop it.

Abortion is the ending of a humans life cycle.  Thats scientifically proven.  How can that not be murder?

Answer 9

Abortion is the destruction of defenseless human life...

Abortion is the destruction of defenseless human life...

watch out for...

......... the extreme situation arguments.. since the VAST majority of abortions are not done because a young girl was raped by a relative that should be dealt with seperately (we don't punish the children for the sins of the father)... since the VAST majority of abortions are NOT for the health of the mother that should be dealt with seperately.  I would respond with another extreme (but far more common) situation "a 17 year old gets pregnant and doesn't want her family and friends to know, she knows she could give the child up for adoption but would then have to go through the pregnancy in public.  It would be easier if this issue would just go away and she wouldn't have to deal with it... enter planned parenthood, and in California they don't even need parental consent to perform this surgery on the girl or the baby.  Problem solved." ---- this situation is a lot more common.

I have seen kids who said "my mom will kill me" or "my parents will kick me out" and sounded very convincing.  But the parents didn't, instead they did everything they could to help.  Of coarse they would.  If child abuse is an issue you don't solve it by killing the baby.

..... People will do it anyways, we don't want them in back alleys getting infections and dying from botched abortions.  Ok, so human life is the issue with this question.  If human life is important than we are better to save 30 million innocents than 10 women who would rather kill their own children and risk physical harm to self by breaking the law and self-aborting.  This needs to be seen as a rational issue.  Should we legalize heroine so that it will be made a little cleaner and cause less harm?  Wouldn't that skyrocket the amount of drug use?  Wouldn't that bring more harm in the long run? It is the same with abortion.  

..... simply, do we make dangerous illegal behavior legal so that it can be made less dangerous?  No.

..... A woman has a right to do what she wants with her own body.

..........Here are the problems with this statement.

................1 - it's not true. Every persons rights are restricted when they will have an impact on others, especially a harmful impact that will bring death to another. We make a father pay child support against his own will, shouldn't a man have a right to do what he wants with his own money?  Why does he have an obligation to help his children?

............... 2 - it's not her body.  This is a "slight of hand" argument.  Can the woman kill the baby 1 year after it is born? 1 day after it is born? right after it is born? How about right before?  how about 2 days before? 1 month before? The child is still a child whether or not they are covered by a couple inches of the mothers abdomen.

Actually the arguments against abortion do not rely (typically) on religious authority.  They do rely on the value of human life and the responsibility of parents to children and of society to the defenseless and innocent.  SO, the heart of the debate will be these issues.  They will constantly change it over from an issue about the child to an issue about the mother. They will constantly try and redefine the infant in the womb with terms that feel less human (fetus, zygote, etc) anything that humanizes the baby (like the term baby) will be argued and avoided.  They will try and confuse the issue, making it a woman's rights issue, and act as though they are standing on a moral high ground (because they truly believe they are).

Advice, know your talking points.  Don't let them set the stage and lead the discussion.  You need to be able to respond but also dismiss issues. Sometimes the way you answer a question is by showing people what is WRONG with the question, because they will try and trap you into an emotional moment of women's rights.

Advice...

This is an emotional issue.  Control your emotions, don't let them control you. Sometimes you can win a debate just by the fact that you are calm and reasonable and under control instead of flipping out.

Advice...

REMEMBER - a debate is NOT about convincing the other person.  It is about convincing the audience.  You want the people watching to see the better representative and the better case is coming from you.

Advice....

research, study and read up on the issue.  You DON'T have to read the stuff that takes decades to get through but look to read or scan several sources. You can find these online through searching a bit.

Last advice....

Practice! Nothing could be better than having several conversations about this issue. Even if you practice by posting and answering questions about abortion on Y!A that would be good. But I would recomend having some conversations where you thoughtfully and kindly state your viewpoint.

Hope that helps... I'm excited for you!

EDIT -

OH, a couple other things

- abortion has killed more humans than the current population of Canada

- population growth is needed for the betterment of the nation.  We have our "baby-boomers" who are all getting into retirement and we do not have a work-force that can really support them.  If we had 30million more workers and small business owners and large business owners we would be in better shape.  In other words, abortion is having a negative impact on the economy.

EDIT - LAST THING

http://womensissues.about.com/od/reprodu...

This link was given by someone else... it's really good for you.

Learn both the arguments against and for abortion.  I would go through the ten arguments for abortion on this site and be ready to answer each of them briefly.

Email me if I can help with anything else.

Answer 10

it can physically and emotionally harm the woman, not to mention it is actually killing a human being, im not religious so its nt that its a sin to murder, its jus that morally inside ur own head  wrong and it is illegal to kill sum1 so y shud a baby inside its mother be any different. hope i didnt give u any religious points there. x

Answer 11

Premeditaed murder is lleagal except of the un-born.

The un-born have the samecaonsitutional rights as those who have been born ie, they have the same rights as listed under the bill of rights as the mother does.

Abortion is genocied it lowers the poulation of some races as oppsed to others.  African americans are much more likely to abort, thus reducing the numebr of african americans in a form of ethnic cleansing.

Answer 12

At conception it has it's own DNA. This could be used in a court of law to prove it's individuality.

Abortion is against the very innate instinct of the female to protect and nurture her young. It can cause psychological problems later in life and guilt issues.

Abortion can cause complications in a woman's general health and reproductive health.  

Answer 13

Hello,

The biggest argument to me is the hypocrisy and the court rulings that shoot the situation in the foot.

1) If it is deemed not human why are people still being charged with manslaughter or murder in an assault on the mother if the foetus dies?

2) You can look at the genetic and biological data and try to determine where life starts but when all said and done, the only necessary criteria that determines its viability is whether or not the mother wants it.

3) Some feminist groups who fought so hard for abortion are now screaming about Asian women in North America who would much rather have boys than girls and go for early ultrasounds. If the foetus is a girl, out it goes. These groups want and band on ultrasounds since it obviously offends the dignity of women but hey, isn't that the mother's business and decision?

4) Men's rights. If the man wants a the baby he has no say and the woman can still abort it. On the other hand, if the man does not want the baby and the mother does, he is still forced to acknowledge it is HIS RESPONSIBILITY and pay support for it. Duh?

No one has ever accused are legal system of being logical or sensible in many cases and here is just one of them.

Cheers,

Michael Kelly

Answer 14

You may wish to remind people of history, in relation to human rights....of how at one time Jews were considered less valuable than other humans, and therefore stripped of their human rights and put to death in mass numbers. Then in our own country, blacks were by law 2/3 equivalent to any other human being. As a result, they were enslaved and often murdered. Today, it is the unborn that is considered less valuable than the rest of us and unworthy of the same human rights we share. Hopefully, one day we will see past this ignorance and afford all life the same value and rights.

Answer 15

If you want to argue against abortion without using a religious position that an unborn fetus is a human being with the same right that anyone else has (which is clearly ridiculous, but hey, it's religion) then you're going to want to focus on the tremendous damage the procedure can do to the mother, whether it's legal or not.

I would tend to say away from physical damage, there is a complication rate, but it's much lower than that for illegal abortions, which would increase if the procedure were illegal, but there are significant psychological consequences of aborting a fetus, and they can last for years afterwards.

In addition, you may want to concentrate only on certain kinds of abortions, such as intact D&E (the so-called "partial birth" abortion) which may be easier to find problems with, and argue that although some sorts of abortions may be acceptable, others should be outlawed.

Answer 16

It depends what you mean by an argument against.  Is it why a woman shouldn't choose it or why the gov't should make it illegal?  If you want to give reasons why a woman shouldn't choose it, you can also give arguments about why people shouldn't drive cars, or why they shouldn't ever go skydiving.  Just because something isn't perfect is not a valid reason against doing it.  But I don't know how the debate judges will be deciding.  There are valid arguments that Roe vs Wade is not a valid legal decision and it should be up to the states, but that only brings the issue closer to the local level.

Saying the fetus should have a say is not a valid argument.  Children do not have a say if they want a vaccination or if they have to go to school.

Answer 17

There actually is no religious argument against it.  It is all about when you personally decide that a fetus becomes a human life.  How you come to that answer doesn't have to have anything to do with religion.

Answer 18

If I kick a pregnant cat infront of you, would you stop me to aks to debate about my actions or would you try to stop that from happening again.

Condoms are free or cheap.  It is your body but the life being ripped out of a woman and killed isn't her.  If not condoms, birth control pills, better yet stop sleeping around.

It is unfortunate the beauty of life is dependent  to a ruthless world.

Answer 19

im not religious and im against it, its life and there are far to many ways to help prevent you getting pregnant in the first place without having to abort a child because it isn't wanted... if you dont want it go on the pill or use a condom, or both!!!!

Answer 20

It is not a decision to be made lightly.  It is hard on the mother, both physically and emotionally.  Too many MEN consider abortion as a convienient form of birth control, and are therefore not held accountable AT ALL for the consquences of their actions.  

Answer 21

Well you can't be for and against sucha topic ... trust me i had a hole project to do on the matter !!! was very hard to say " it is good " or " it is bad" there are bad and good sides to it !! none related to religion..

So the arguements i found against is that your are killing an innocent life wich i considered is murder... you dont even give it a chance to be a GOOD or BAd person... your just killing it... that is the key debate against it ,... no matter how much they say for it.. in the end it is MURDER of a soul that wasn't given a chance to live !! or to be judged you can twist this around all the time !! hope u win :)

Answer 22

While an embryo is not a sentient human being, it definitely has the unique potential of becoming a human being and therefore deserves respect.

Because the decision to terminate a pregnancy is permanent in regards to that embryo, you can argue that the rights of the potential person can outweigh the rights of the woman to decide what happens with her own body. As her decision affects another form of life, it is not as if she has no direct connection to that life. She was in part responsible for that life's creation and therefore has a burden to protect and preserve that life if at all possible.

You could make the analogy to someone that is sick and seeking admittance to a hospital. The hospital is not responsible for every ill person in the world, but once they admit someone, they are responsible for that persons health and cannot discharge someone because they cannot pay, or it is simply inconvenient for the hospital.

Avoid the argument that an abortion can be psychologically damaging for the mother. If you fall into that trap, I could easily argue that the probability is greater that having an unwanted child can be equally or more damaging.

Answer 23

you dont have any arguments against it?

Its just an excuse and easy way out for someone who doesnt want to take responsibility for their actions.

Its murder.

If people think they are 'ready' to have s*x, they should be ready to deal with the consequences.

An 'accidental pregnancy' is not a reason to have an abortion.

There are alot of people who want to adopt.

Its natural for a female to give birth to a child- its not natural to abort a baby and will probably do damage to your insides.

As people, We do not have the right to determine if the baby lives or dies. Everyone has a right to life.

Answer 24

The fetus had no say in the matter.

Think back and consider the time when you were a fetus.  Suppose abortion was being contemplated.  What would your view have been concerning your own possible abortion?

But your view would not have been considered, because it had not yet existed.

If the fetus has no say, then they don't have permission to perform the abortion.  

(To h**l with the mother's permission.  My own mother never would have permitted such a thing.)

Answer 25

Upon reading all these answers, its amazing how no one asked the question "what if its rape, should the woman be forced to carry the seed of her rapist?"

Aside from the fact that it does carry negative side effects, there really is no other argument.  For those who claim its killing an innocent life, well, you still eat burgers and steak don't you?  I know I just had two lovely burgers for lunch, with habanero cheese, lettuce and mayo.  :-P

Now, that cow was surely just as innocent, and was certainly more conscious than the embryo.  I'd say the embryo is akin to a clam, in this regard, with its developmental stage.  And people eat those disgusting snotwads of meat live.

Answer 26

I am a midwife and have seen that abortions have become a way of family planning.Some people don't feel guilty even,abortions is a quick way of fixing the unwanted problem.And if you saw the small hands and feet you would know this is a human being,that can feel pain,that had a potential to be born as a healthy living baby.I'm not religious but it brakes my heart time and again to see how careless we kill.

Answer 27

It's murder and, what's more, murder of a defenseless person.

Go to youtube and search for The Silent Scream - it's a movie proving how the babies try to get away from the suction thing that tears them limb from limb, killing them. Some even scream the silent scream of the unborn.

Answer 28

There are no arguments against a womans right to choose that are non-religious, and most of the religious ones are not valid (they are fallacies). For instance, anyone who calls a fetus a "baby" is guilty of the fallacy "begging the question". Arguments from "potential" to be human would have to indict those who m********e, have wet dreams, menstruate and get fertility treatments, etc., for murder.

The arguments above stating that it's hard on the body are nonsense, since an abortion is far less likely to lead to future problems with conception, etc., than carrying a pregnancy to term.

If someone can't come up with a non-religious argument for *anything*, they should have no political influence for their perspecitive.

Answer 29

I watched a debate on youtube the other night...darn, what was his name, anyway, he said that his view on Abortion was like this: What about every sperm, that in a sense is an unborn child, should we not ejculate either?....Youtube Atheism debate.....you'll see it on there, its really good.

LOL, why so many thumbs down, I didn't say thats what I agree with :(  Aside from the abortion debate its a debate about religion vs atheism....its really good.

Answer 30

Most arguments against abortion have nothing to do with religion.  A baby inside it's mother is not different from one outside.  So, killing an unborn human is equal to killing one that has already been born.  Some abortion advocates claim that the baby is part of the mother's body, which is obviously not true.  The baby has a different blood type, different dna, and in the case of a male child, a different s*x.  So, if that mother claims he is a part of her body, she would have to say that she has a p***s and testicles on her female body.  Also, the law was changed by the Supreme Court in an illegal manner.  This question should go back to the states.  It was illegal in most states before the Supreme Court nullified them.

There are many more but that should get you started.

Answer 31

and are you dabating for or against the legalisation?

i am a jehovah's witness so i am 100% against abortion! but taking religion out of the question...it is still against the law to kill another human being. it is even against the law to willingly kill some animals, so why should an unborn baby be any different. it is absolutely rediculous that some women now view it as an option when considering birth control methods.

i think it is now  up to 24 weeks when a pregnancy can be terminated...but baby's can be born before this stage in pregnancy and survive and live on to be healthy adults.