u/According_Dust913

This is a follow-up to my previous post on abortion since it got locked. I'm pretty sure the moderators removed the post from the sub too.

I believe abortion should be a universal right protected everywhere, in every country and in every state.

Why do I believe this? Well, I simply believe that no matter whether you personally would not get an abortion or you would, the government should NOT be given the power to decide that for you.

The power should be given to the people to decide whether they want this themself. Bodily autonomy is the key here.

Note that I used gender-neutral language here because I was informed that some transgender men are able to get pregnant and carry a child as well.

"Life begins at conception!" One of the takes pro-lifers attempt to make is that human life begins at conception (when an egg is fertilized). This means that by their logic a zygote/embryo is already a human being with moral value and a right to life. Because of this, they claim abortion is murder because it is the intentional ending of a human life. HOWEVER, this oversimplifies things. Are embryos/zygotes alive? Yes! But many things are “alive” biologically but are NOT a conscious being deserving of rights. Examples of this include but are not limited to: cells, bacteria, tumors, etc.

"But a fetus has potential future!" “Potential personhood” is not the same as actual lived personhood. If potential alone created rights, contraception or even celibacy/infertility would raise similar moral issues. The idea is emotionally compelling but philosophically debunked already.

"But fetuses are conscious / feel pain!" Are fetuses conscious? No. There is no evidence to support the claim a fetus is conscious like a person. By the 7th month or so, the fetus' brain network has become more active, however, there is no sustained conscious awareness like that of a living person. There are some researchers that suggest a sort of "proto-conscious" state, but this is not confirmed and it is still heavily debated. However, even if some sort of conscious were possible at this stage, it would be very different from consciousness the way a person or animal experiences it. Now, let's talk about pain. Does a fetus experience pain? No. A fetus experiencing any sort of pain is extremely unlikely. In order to understand this, let's talk about how "pain" works in the body. For a felt sensation of pain, you generally need a functioning cortex-thalamus network, an ability to integrate sensory signals into the conscious experience (which we already established a fetus does not have), and brain activity patterns that are consistent with awareness. Without these, the body can still use reflexes, but there is no evidence of “felt pain." A reflex movement is not inherently indicative of a felt sense of pain. If you actually gave a shit about alive and conscious beings, you'd be vegan. I myself am vegan, because I actually care about living conscious beings unlike you pro-lifers who simply pretend to.

"My religion is against abortion so I can't support it!" That's like saying "I'm on a diet so I cannot support your right to eat that donut." I don't care what your religion is, whether it's Christianity, Judaism, Islam, etc; your religion being against something does not mean you should deny other people the right to do that thing. Your right to follow your religion is protected by the very same rights that protect the people that don't follow your religion. So please, if you're a person with half a brain, protect other people's rights for fuck's sake.