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Friday, January 23, 2009
Thank God Barack Obama Wasn't Aborted
This is a video from CatholicVote.com. It makes a very simple point. And one which even the most ardent pro-choicers will find some difficulty in countering.
It would be difficult to argue with that video if the central tenet of pro-choicers was "children who come from broken homes haven't got a chance, so you should abort." But it isn't. The core argument of pro-choice has nothing to do with social background of the pregnant woman.
If Obama ends up becoming the first fascist dictator of the USA, would this be an argument FOR abortion? No of course not - because the whole argument of the video is fatuous. Duncan is correct; the video sets up a transparent 'straw man' argument.
It is entirely possible to counter that video - "If only Hitler was aborted". To reduce the matter of abortion down to a game of who should and shouldn't have been aborted is quite stunningly deficient as an argument.
I've said it on ConHome and I'll say it again here:
Same old arguements from the pro-lifers. I am going to repeat (probably not for the last time) that pro-choice is not pro-abortion.
Would Obama still be President if his mother had taken different advice from pro-lifers, perhaps adoption advice (please note pro-choicers also give this advice as an option)and instead of bringing him up herself, had given him away?
Who knows. This is all ridiculous and pointless speculation.
Obama's pro-abortion voting record includes opposition to the Illinois Born Alive Infants Protection Act, denying the right of babies who survive an attempted abortion to receive medical care like anyone else.
His spinners tried to weasel their way out of this but the fact remains he was one of the very few, if not the only one, to vote against this bill.
It is an argument "breathtakingly fallacious that has been applied to Beethoven. The world is no more likely to be deprived of a Beethoven/Obama by abortion than by chaste abstention from intercourse or even a woman having a menstrual period" (Peter Medawar)
A foetus could have been aborted, such that Barack Obama never existed.
I am sure there are countless potential geniuses that never existed because certain egg/sperm combos never happened (sex on the wrong day, sex at the wrong angle, etc. etc.)
This is not a moral catastrophe.
Is Hitler's mum morally culpable because she didn't have her tubes tied?
Am I morally culpable for not impregnating my girlfriend last night? Or someone else's girlfriend, for that matter?
No.
The potential long-term consequences of these actions, in terms of possible progeny, are unknown and unknowable - and therefore morally irrelevant.
The so called argument is a well known fallacy and even has a name. The confirmation bias. It is an argument which appears to work because we have already picked the successful, visible cases (namely people who were born rather than aborted before birth). We have no idea whether uncountable monsters would have grown up had they not been aborted. Which seems to show that the question whether abortion is justified or not can hardly rest on some sort of Benthamite felicific calculus - i.e. abortion is good if more monsters are stopped than heroes, otherwise not. The rights and wrongs of abortion are not determined by comparing the aggregate consequences of two possible worlds (one in which it happens, another in which it doesn't).
I agree with you that the 'what if' argument is not a valid one. But that's precisely the argument that a lot of pro-abortionists use. The parents aren't up to raising a child, or is going to be brought up in poverty, or by a single parent, therefore it's better to abort. This video is touching on the inherent snobbishness that underlies this kind of thinking. Therefore I think it is fair comment.
Stand by for a lot of unpleasantness.
ReplyDeleteThere's a counter video just waiting to be made -
ReplyDeleteThis child came from a loving home
Stable parents
Great education
Every opportunity in life
and look what happened
(cut to picture of George Bush)
I do hope he doesn't disappoint all the people swooning at his feet.
ReplyDeleteI will reserve judgement on him until I see what he does with his power.
It would be difficult to argue with that video if the central tenet of pro-choicers was "children who come from broken homes haven't got a chance, so you should abort." But it isn't. The core argument of pro-choice has nothing to do with social background of the pregnant woman.
ReplyDeleteIf Obama ends up becoming the first fascist dictator of the USA, would this be an argument FOR abortion? No of course not - because the whole argument of the video is fatuous. Duncan is correct; the video sets up a transparent 'straw man' argument.
ReplyDeleteI'll see your Barry O'Barmy and raise you an Adolf Hitler.
ReplyDeleteJesus, Iain, what a stupid argument.
It is entirely possible to counter that video - "If only Hitler was aborted". To reduce the matter of abortion down to a game of who should and shouldn't have been aborted is quite stunningly deficient as an argument.
ReplyDeleteSeems I didn't Godwin the thread quick enough.
ReplyDeleteI've said it on ConHome and I'll say it again here:
ReplyDeleteSame old arguements from the pro-lifers. I am going to repeat (probably not for the last time) that pro-choice is not pro-abortion.
Would Obama still be President if his mother had taken different advice from pro-lifers, perhaps adoption advice (please note pro-choicers also give this advice as an option)and instead of bringing him up herself, had given him away?
Who knows. This is all ridiculous and pointless speculation.
Obama's pro-abortion voting record includes opposition to the Illinois Born Alive Infants Protection Act, denying the right of babies who survive an attempted abortion to receive medical care like anyone else.
ReplyDeleteHis spinners tried to weasel their way out of this but the fact remains he was one of the very few, if not the only one, to vote against this bill.
It is an argument "breathtakingly fallacious that has been applied to Beethoven. The world is no more likely to be deprived of a Beethoven/Obama by abortion than by chaste abstention from intercourse or even a woman having a menstrual period" (Peter Medawar)
ReplyDeleteWhy on earth do anti-abortion campaigners still believe that being gratuitously offensive is a vote-winner?
ReplyDeleteSchmaltz. Pure and utter nonsensical schmaltz and not an ounce of common sense or logic contained therein. I'm surprised at you Iain.
ReplyDeleteBarack Obama could not have been aborted.
ReplyDeleteA foetus could have been aborted, such that Barack Obama never existed.
I am sure there are countless potential geniuses that never existed because certain egg/sperm combos never happened (sex on the wrong day, sex at the wrong angle, etc. etc.)
This is not a moral catastrophe.
Is Hitler's mum morally culpable because she didn't have her tubes tied?
Am I morally culpable for not impregnating my girlfriend last night? Or someone else's girlfriend, for that matter?
No.
The potential long-term consequences of these actions, in terms of possible progeny, are unknown and unknowable - and therefore morally irrelevant.
The so called argument is a well known fallacy and even has a name. The confirmation bias. It is an argument which appears to work because we have already picked the successful, visible cases (namely people who were born rather than aborted before birth). We have no idea whether uncountable monsters would have grown up had they not been aborted. Which seems to show that the question whether abortion is justified or not can hardly rest on some sort of Benthamite felicific calculus - i.e. abortion is good if more monsters are stopped than heroes, otherwise not. The rights and wrongs of abortion are not determined by comparing the aggregate consequences of two possible worlds (one in which it happens, another in which it doesn't).
ReplyDeleteHi guys,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that the 'what if' argument is not a valid one. But that's precisely the argument that a lot of pro-abortionists use. The parents aren't up to raising a child, or is going to be brought up in poverty, or by a single parent, therefore it's better to abort. This video is touching on the inherent snobbishness that underlies this kind of thinking. Therefore I think it is fair comment.
So Iain, your 15 year old daughter has an unplanned pregnancy?
ReplyDeleteBright, intelligent and all that I am sure.
Will you raise her child as she goes on to bigger and brighter things?
I've often thought, Ian, when I read your blog that you're nice but dim. This post confirms my fears.
ReplyDelete