Abortion...But Its Not Your Body

[deb1]

My younger son recently engaged in a debate with a female friend over abortion.

He asked me what he is supposed to say when a woman responds with, “But its not YOUR body.”

What is an appropriate response for a 15 year old boy to give to his friend?

Please don’t be too sarcastic with your replies. This girl is his friend and he is wants to keep the discussion polite.

 

[strngrnrth]

My younger son recently engaged in a debate with a female friend over abortion.

He asked me what he is supposed to say when a woman responds with, “But its not YOUR body.”

What is an appropriate response for a 15 year old boy to give to his friend?

Please don’t be too sarcastic with your replies. This girl is his friend and he is wants to keep the discussion polite.

He could say that when an innocent person needs you, sometimes life isn’t fair, but there are rewards. Having a baby you don’t want sounds awful, but most who go through with it end up wanting the child by the time of the birth. And even if not, to support a baby for a few months is tough, but to be poisoned and torn apart while a tiny baby is far harder – and it’s the baby’s own body that is forced into that situation. The child doesn’t want to die. S/he can feel pain by the time the pragnancy is visible and perhaps before it is detected. A doctor who performed abortions saw The Silent Scream, a video of an abortion in ultrasound, walked out and stopped performing abortions. The baby struggled to move away from the instruments, opened her little mouth in an agonized expression and fought. It was her body. What choice did she get? He could tell her that he sympathizes with the fear and worry in an unwanted pregnancy, but the choice of whether to give life is made as soon as the pregnancy exists. It cannot be revoked. To end a life is not to undo its origin. A woman who has an abortion is still a mother, but her child will never call her with great news or send her a card. Letting the child live brings blessing to the state of motherhood, but the motherhood is a fact either way.

 

[mom_of_ten]

My younger son recently engaged in a debate with a female friend over abortion.

He asked me what he is supposed to say when a woman responds with, “But its not YOUR body.”

What is an appropriate response for a 15 year old boy to give to his friend?

Please don’t be too sarcastic with your replies. This girl is his friend and he is wants to keep the discussion polite.

He could politely say, “But its not YOURS either”…the baby’s body obviously is not hers…but even “her” body (is she a Christian?) is not really her own; but belongs to God and is a “Temple of the Holy Spirit”…does this young lady really believe that killing an unborn child is an action befitting one who houses the Holy Spirit?

And he could also say, “Please PRAY about it my friend. …really PRAY”…and after praying, decide if you think God approves of abortion.

 

[puzzleannie]

My younger son recently engaged in a debate with a female friend over abortion.

He asked me what he is supposed to say when a woman responds with, “But its not YOUR body.”

What is an appropriate response for a 15 year old boy to give to his friend?

point out the baby’s body is not her body either, it is a separate human being with a separate heart and heartbeat, separate organs including brain, separate blood supply, separate DNA, and separate soul.

 

[CapIV]

yea. It’s just science. The baby isn’t the mother. It is, you know, a person. It has separate DNA, brain, etc…

 

[ribozyme]

yea. It’s just science. The baby isn’t the mother. It is, you know, a person. It has separate DNA, brain, etc…

That argument does not work against people using a utilitarian framework. It is not a person.

 

[JonW]

Fair enough, Ribozyme.

But it is not her body either. It is a separate life, not her life, even if it is only a fetal or embryonic life. Dependence is not the criterion of identity.

Jon Winterburn

 

[Dale_M]

The government regulates lots of personal behavior. People who favor the use of marijuana (or any other illegal drug) argue that “its my body, I should be able to do what I want with it”. But the government has the duty to look after the common good.

 

[markomalley]

My younger son recently engaged in a debate with a female friend over abortion.

He asked me what he is supposed to say when a woman responds with, “But its not YOUR body.”

What is an appropriate response for a 15 year old boy to give to his friend?

Please don’t be too sarcastic with your replies. This girl is his friend and he is wants to keep the discussion polite.

GF: “But it’s not YOUR body.”
Your Son: “Exactly! It’s not YOUR body…either”

 

[markomalley]

The government regulates lots of personal behavior. People who favor the use of marijuana (or any other illegal drug) argue that “its my body, I should be able to do what I want with it”. But the government has the duty to look after the common good.

This prompts a response:

One other thing to remind GF is that the government recognizes that the baby inside a woman is a life. Most states have a double homicide rule if a pregnant woman is murdered (at a minimum, they have a second charge for the murder of an unborn baby). Also, most states can and will bring charges against a woman (in most of these cases, the charge is child abuse) who abuses drugs or alcohol while pregnant. If it were just “her body,” they’d have no call to do so.

 

[mlchance]

He asked me what he is supposed to say when a woman responds with, “But its not YOUR body.”

What is an appropriate response for a 15 year old boy to give to his friend?

Did he ever say her body was his body? If not, her objection is rather beside the point, and is answered well enough with, “But it’s not YOUR life your ending via surgical means.”

– Mark L. Chance.

 

[deb1]

He could politely say, “But its not YOURS either”…the baby’s body obviously is not hers…but even “her” body (is she a Christian?) is not really her own; but belongs to God and is a “Temple of the Holy Spirit”…does this young lady really believe that killing an unborn child is an action befitting one who houses the Holy Spirit?

And he could also say, “Please PRAY about it my friend. …really PRAY”…and after praying, decide if you think God approves of abortion.

The young lady’s parents are members of our church. She told our son that she doesn’t think that she will go through with her confirmation because she is having doubts. I didn’t bring that up in the first post because I wanted to focus on this one question of hers.

I have told my son that he needs to pray for his friend.

 

[deb1]

Did he ever say her body was his body? If not, her objection is rather beside the point, and is answered well enough with, “But it’s not YOUR life your ending via surgical means.”

– Mark L. Chance.

No, he didn’t say that it was his body. I think that perhaps he was giving her too many reasons against abortion so she threw that last line in. I know though that proabortion women often use this line,'Its my body, " to shut men up.

Thank you all for the great replies. I will have my son read through these posts!


Maybe he can suggest to the young lady that she come to Catholic Answers forums with some of her questions before she decides to give up on her faith.

 

[pprimeau1976]

My younger son recently engaged in a debate with a female friend over abortion.

He asked me what he is supposed to say when a woman responds with, “But its not YOUR body.”

What is an appropriate response for a 15 year old boy to give to his friend?

Please don’t be too sarcastic with your replies. This girl is his friend and he is wants to keep the discussion polite.

I guess I wouldn’t counter with a statement, I would ask her more questions like at what point does the “fetus” have the right to live? If she believes that it has the right to live only after it is born, then there may be little you can do other than to pray for her. If she believes that there is a time when the unborn child should not be aborted but rather be brought to full term, then you have some hope of convincing her that it’s more than just HER body.

 

[Deacon_Ed_B]

But it’s not your body, Well neither is the child the mother is choosing to murder.
Prayers & Blessings
Deacon Ed B

 

[JimG]

That argument does not work against people using a utilitarian framework. It is not a person.

Personhood is a legal and philosophical concept, not a biological one. The child is still a distinct biological entity from the mother.

Personhood, of course, is defined by someone other than the one being aborted. The one doing the defining gets to decide who lives and who dies. And, I’m not sure that even being accorded the status of ‘person’ in a utilitarian framework provides protection for anyone, since what is given by the law can be taken away by the law. i.e, we might decide that the blind, the disabled, the depressed, the old, are no longer persons, and thus, have as little protection as an unborn child.

 

[Verisimilitude]

He asked me what he is supposed to say when a woman responds with, “But its not YOUR body.”

What is an appropriate response for a 15 year old boy to give to his friend?

The use of logic generally works for me to determine how best to respond to such questions. Others already noted the obvious that the baby is also a unique individual distinct from the mother at conception afforded the protection of life.

Unlike a gestating baby though, the born baby requires far more care in the first 3 years than the 9 months within the womb. If the mother has the ‘right’ to kill her unborn baby because of the parasitic nature of such a burden, why can’t mothers kill their children at any point after birth if they feel such a burden?

 

[deb1]

The use of logic generally works for me to determine how best to respond to such questions. Others already noted the obvious that the baby is also a unique individual distinct from the mother at conception afforded the protection of life.

Unlike a gestating baby though, the born baby requires far more care in the first 3 years than the 9 months within the womb. If the mother has the ‘right’ to kill her unborn baby because of the parasitic nature of such a burden, why can’t mothers kill their children at any point after birth if they feel such a burden?

I will point that out to my son, thanks. Honestly, I never thought of that before.

 

[kell0618]

Hello and God bless you for helping your son with this dilemma!

First, your son can point out that the baby’s body is not the mothers. The mother has every right to do what she want; that baby is a living human being. Then if the baby is a girl, and when she becomes an adult, she too can decide what to do with HER body.

Second, be sure your son is armed with the developmental stages:

Day 6: embryo begins implantation in the uterus.
Day 22: heart begins to beat with the child’s own blood, often a different type than the mothers’.
Week 3: By the end of third week the child’s backbone spinal column and nervous system are forming. The liver, kidneys and intestines begin to take shape.
Week 4: By the end of week four the child is ten thousand times larger than the fertilized egg.
Week 5: Eyes, legs, and hands begin to develop.

** Week 6:** Brain waves are detectable; mouth and lips are present; fingernails are forming.

      **Week 7: ** Eyelids,            and toes form, nose distinct.  The baby is kicking and swimming.
       **Week 8:**            Every organ is in place, bones begin to replace            cartilage, and fingerprints begin to form.  By the 8th            week the baby can begin to hear.

** Weeks 9 and 10:** Teeth begin to form, fingernails develop. The baby can turn his head, and frown. The baby can hiccup.
** Weeks 10 and 11:** The baby can “breathe” amniotic fluid and urinate. Week 11 the baby can grasp objects placed in its hand; all organ systems are functioning. The baby has a skeletal structure, nerves, and circulation.
Week 12: ** The baby has all of the parts necessary to experience pain, including nerves, spinal cord, and thalamus. Vocal cords are complete. The baby can suck its thumb. ** Week 14: At this age, the heart pumps several quarts of blood through the body every day.
Week 15: The baby has an adult’s taste buds.
** Month 4:** Bone Marrow is now beginning to form. The heart is pumping 25 quarts of blood a day. By the end of month 4 the baby will be 8-10 inches in length and will weigh up to half a pound.

etc, etc.

Also, you need to help your son share with this young lady that woman and girls do have a choice. The time for choosing comes BEFORE the couple remove their clothing. Once they have passed that line, the lot is cast and they must accept the consequences of that choice.

 

[vern_humphrey]

My younger son recently engaged in a debate with a female friend over abortion.

He asked me what he is supposed to say when a woman responds with, “But its not YOUR body.”

What is an appropriate response for a 15 year old boy to give to his friend?

Please don’t be too sarcastic with your replies. This girl is his friend and he is wants to keep the discussion polite.

The answer is, “It’s not your body either – it’s the body of the murdered baby.”