Should abortion be legal one day before the due date?
boghossian.substack.com
Should abortion be legal one day before the due date?
One of our Reverse Q&A videographers, Reid Nicewonder, facilitates this conversation around the claim, “Abortion should be legal.” Reid is an experienced practitioner of Street Epistemology and is the president of Street Epistemology International.
In this discussion, both participants begin on the “Strongly Agree” line of the Likert scale. To mix things up a bit, Reid narrowed the claim: “Abortion should be legal up to one day before the pregnant woman’s due date.” This short conversation is instructive on how to skillfully examine a broad belief statement.
This conversation was filmed near Portland State University on May 11, 2022.
If you take the emotion out of it and look at why we are here you can see the other side of the constitutional question. I see a lot of voices questioning the court's legitimacy based on this decision but what about the legitimacy of state legislatures?
A state legislative body derives their legitimacy from elections. How many state laws have been challenged by high powered attorneys representing special interest groups since Roe was decided? How many times should federal courts legislate one issue from the bench and why would any abortion rights advocate desire that right to hang in the balance of the judicial philosophies of 9 unelected members of the judiciary? We know why the politicians in Washington DC like it this way. They can continue to whip up their base on both sides and fundraise off the issue leaving no motivation to pass federal laws. This leaves no appetite for thoughtful debate.
As a pro-choice center right woman, my opinion is this. Abortion activists overplayed their hand too many times. They weaponized the federal courts to grab power from democratically elected legislators. The Dobbs case was a result of a bill passed that prohibited abortion after 15 weeks gestational age with the exception of medical emergency or fetal abnormality. It lost every appeal all the way to SCOTUS.
Where would we be today if pro-choice activists showed some restraint? There would be some states that had gestational limits on abortion. There would also be some states that required parental notification for a minor seeking an abortion. Some more conservative states would require a waiting period of a couple days and/or an ultrasound. Some wanted to provide counseling. All these things were automatically challenged in federal court. We can all empathize with the scared teenager, the drug addict who felt unfit, the victim of a horrible crime, and many other circumstances that led to the choice to terminate your pregnancy. It was a gross error in judgement to believe that empathy would transcend into supporting "Shout your abortion!" and other cool kid slogans. Bragging about how many abortions one has had. Glorifying abortion up until the moment of birth. Rendering people terrified to say they believed in any restriction. Labeling every abortion as reproductive healthcare when 92% of abortions are elective. This was a backlash and progressives need to own their participation in the outcome.
Third trimester abortion is, of course, the killing of a baby. I like the dichotomy of Pro Life and Anti-Life better than Pro Life and Pro Choice. Anti-Life is a much more accurate descriptor. I watch Peter Boghossian talking to these kids and he seems to be a sort modern day Socrates. Of course, these kids know almost nothing, have very little life experience, and are not mature enough formulate coherent moral thoughts. But this is truth that is forbidden to be spoken in todays warped society.