Atheists Against Abortion

I read awhile back that many atheists and agnostics resent the assumption that -- because they're non-believers -- they must therefore be pro-choice. The fact is, many atheists and agostics are against abortion -- but not on non-religious grounds. I’m one of them.

My opposition to abortion has nothing to do with God or religion. My reason is based on simple fairness and common sense. To me, it's scientifically obvious that life begins at conception. The pro-choicers like to deny this -- indeed they have to, because otherwise they're condoning murder. So they say a fetus is not a human, nothing more than a "blob of protoplasm" a mere collection of non-human cells – classic self-serving casuistry.

Some pro-choicers awkwardly argue that a fetus is not human "until it can survive outside the womb." This has to be the silliest rationalization of all. No newborn can survive -- on its own -- outside the womb either. Does that make it less than human?

A fetus is clearly human in the most important sense: It possesses a unique identity from the moment of conception. None like it has ever existed before. None like it will ever exist again. Its physical appearance as an infant and adult is not yet known, but it is already predestined. The essence of the fully-grown human it will become -- its personhood -- is established. So what right do we have, often in the name of nothing more than convenience, to snuff out this life? Who can say what his or her destiny might have been, or what he or she might have achieved? That's my objection to abortion.

Steve Jobs was adopted an infant. Look what we would have lost had his mother chosen abortion instead of adoption.

Outlawing abortion is the not answer. We tried that. The answers lie in education and making adoption easily available. Young people must be educated about sex, told that the fetus IS indeed a human being. And therefore that he or she (not “IT”) has a right to live. There are no excuses today for "unwanted pregnancy." Lack of education is the reason the teen pregnancy rate in the U.S. in nine times Italy's rate.

The goal should be to make abortion a rare occurrence. This can be done through education, with an emphasis on taking responsibility. It’s not hard to show a teen, or anyone, how an unwanted pregnancy can complicate and jeopardize one's future. Few unmarried young people, if fully informed, would set out to create a pregnancy. Pregancny happens because of ignorance, carelessness, immaturity, and not taking responsibility.

When pregnancies do happen, then the woman must be counseled and provided with medical support. Do they want to keep the baby or give it up for adoption? In either case, they should be provided with medical care at public expense.

The fact that carrying a baby to term is uncomfortable, inconvenient or embarrassing for the mother is hardly justification for eliminating the human being growing inside her. That human being has every right to live.