The Point: Why Pro-Life Arguments Fail

Why do the compelling pro-life arguments from science, logic, and ethics sometimes fail to change people’s minds about abortion? Anthony Esolen tackled this tough question recently in Public Discourse. Children—born and unborn—are living proof that sex isn’t an isolated, inconsequential act. To tell people it's not okay to kill babies who result from casual unions is ultimately to tell them that they’re not the lords of their bodies or lives; that they have obligations to other human beings who depend on them—and that consequence-free sex isn’t a reality. This realization keeps many people stubbornly pro-abortion—even some who even admit it ends a human life. Those little lives interfere with our illusion of absolute autonomy. They remind us that our bodies have a purpose and our actions have consequences. I hope and pray abortion will finally be illegal someday, but even more hopeful it will be unthinkable. This will require good arguments, but also a “moral revolution.”

04/11/19