The problem with pictures like this and the arguments that go along with them is that they are preaching to the choir, and will do nothing to change the minds of people who believe abortion should be illegal. I’m intentionally not using the term “pro life” to describe these people because I’ve noticed a trend of late of people who believe abortion should be illegal claiming that they support a woman’s right to choose what to do with “her own body”. This tends to have the effect of stopping the pro choice person discussing the issue with them in their tracks, thinking they’ve won the argument. They have not. The problem with arguing about choice with someone who believes abortion should be illegal is that the main crux of their belief is that life begins at conception. They then don’t believe that a woman who chooses to have an abortion is exercising choice over her own body, but over someone else’s. So clever images like the one in this post, to them, completely miss the point of their objection to abortion. This allows them to dismiss it as ridiculous. If we want to successfully argue with people like this that abortion should be legal, we have to bite the bullet and get into the discussion about when does an embryo or fetus become a person. Well, actually, we don’t. We just have to convince them that not everyone believes that occurs at conception, and that those beliefs are as valid as theirs. This is a difficult task. Maybe impossible.
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