The abortion debate is probably not going anywhere in the near future.
Despite abortion being a legal right for over 40 years, there are still folks arguing that that shouldn’t be the case. Or, at the very least, that abortion should only be allowed in extreme or emergency situations.
One of the crucial elements in the anti-abortion argument is the idea that life begins at conception. That as soon as sperm enters egg, you have a baby. Biologically, that’s not the case, but it’s hard to get people to stop thinking of it that way. Unless, of course, you ask them this question.
It comes from Patrick S. Tomlinson, an author and op-ed writer, who says that he’s posed the question to countless anti-abortion people over 10 years, and never gotten a straight answer.
It’s a bit of a moral quandary, or a philosophical exercise, that will make you re-think the entire idea of “life begins at conception.”
Whenever abortion comes up, I have a question I've been asking for ten years now of the "Life begins at Conception" crowd. In ten years, no one has EVER answered it honestly. 1/
— Patrick S. Tomlinson (@stealthygeek) October 17, 2017
It's a simple scenario with two outcomes. No one ever wants to pick one, because the correct answer destroys their argument. And there IS a correct answer, which is why the pro-life crowd hates the question. 2/
— Patrick S. Tomlinson (@stealthygeek) October 17, 2017
Here it is. You're in a fertility clinic. Why isn't important. The fire alarm goes off. You run for the exit. As you run down this hallway, you hear a child screaming from behind a door. You throw open the door and find a five-year-old child crying for help. 3/
— Patrick S. Tomlinson (@stealthygeek) October 17, 2017
They're in one corner of the room. In the other corner, you spot a frozen container labeled "1000 Viable Human Embryos." The smoke is rising. You start to choke. You know you can grab one or the other, but not both before you succumb to smoke inhalation and die, saving no one. 4/
— Patrick S. Tomlinson (@stealthygeek) October 17, 2017
Do you A) save the child, or B) save the thousand embryos? There is no "C." "C" means you all die.
In a decade of arguing with anti-abortion people about the definition of human life, I have never gotten a single straight A or B answer to this question. And I never will. 5/
— Patrick S. Tomlinson (@stealthygeek) October 17, 2017
They will never answer honestly, because we all instinctively understand the right answer is "A." A human child is worth more than a thousand embryos. Or ten thousand. Or a million. Because they are not the same, not morally, not ethically, not biologically. 6/
— Patrick S. Tomlinson (@stealthygeek) October 17, 2017
This question absolutely evicerates their arguments, and their refusal to answer confirms that they know it to be true.
No one, anywhere, actually believes an embryo is equivalent to a child. That person does not exist. They are lying to you. 7/
— Patrick S. Tomlinson (@stealthygeek) October 17, 2017
They are lying to you to try and evoke an emotional response, a paternal response, using false-equivalency.
No one believes life begins at conception. No one believes embryos are babies, or children. Those who cliam to are trying to manipulate you so they can control women. 8/
— Patrick S. Tomlinson (@stealthygeek) October 17, 2017
Don't let them. Use this question to call them out. Reveal them for what they are. Demand they answer your question, and when they don't, slap that big ol' Scarlet P of the Patriarchy on them. The end. 9/9
— Patrick S. Tomlinson (@stealthygeek) October 17, 2017
Mic.
Drop.
Although, unsurprisingly, some people didn’t get it. You know how there was always that one kid in class who didn’t understand when something didn’t have a clear answer? Like you would tell him a riddle, and the answer would be clever instead of simple, and he’d be running around like “I DON’T GET IT, I NEED A CONCRETE ANSWER, NOT A NUANCED QUANDARY CONSTRUCTED TO TEASE OUT A GREATER POINT!”
Yeah.
Exactly.
Thank you for agreeing with me.
— Patrick S. Tomlinson (@stealthygeek) October 17, 2017
I am a person of whom you describe. In this horrible situation, I would take the embryos. Save 1000 people verses 1. Isn’t it a no-brainer?
— Troy Borst (@TroyBorst) October 18, 2017
Thank you for your honesty about being an amoral monster who should never be allowed around children. That was very brave of you.
— Patrick S. Tomlinson (@stealthygeek) October 19, 2017
Because a lot of people are missing the point, it is not being argued the embryos are not alive. Nor is it being argued they are without value.
All that is being demonstrated is their value is not equal to that of a human child.
That's it. That's the point.
— Patrick S. Tomlinson (@stealthygeek) October 17, 2017