Is abortion murder? No.

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Starting in January 2021, I have been a part of Passionfruit, a multilingual online non-profit publication centered on social justice. I have written a number of different opinion pieces for Passionfruit that I will be reposting. The posts were intended for bite-sized consumption, which challenges me to be as succinct as possible while still conveying important concepts. The original post with full credits can be found here.

June 28, 2022

On June 24, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the historic decision that legalized abortion in all parts of the United States (except America Samoa). This means that abortion will be an issue left up to states and territories to decide, with 22 state abortion bans likely to take effect immediately. A plethora of factors led to this ruling, but the militancy of anti-abortion activists cannot be overlooked – particularly their claim that “abortion is murder.”

Abortion is a personal choice, best left up to those who are pregnant and their health care providers. Many who are morally opposed to abortions still have them, and those supportive of abortions often choose not to have them. Those who seek to criminalize abortion do so under the premise that “abortion is murder.” This claim often goes unchallenged – which is a problem, given the extreme nature of the policies that this argument seeks to validate.

Reproductive rights advocates often argue that, regardless of how one personally feels toward abortion, society and laws should respect the bodily autonomy of those who are pregnant above all else. Pregnancy is long, expensive, and exhaustive, even without considering the costs of raising a child as a result of pregnancy. Carrying a pregnancy to term can carry significant risk from complications that can even result in death. Safe, legal, and accessible means of terminating a pregnancy is vital.

Pro-choice advocates argue that anti-abortion arguments are a veil for passing policies aimed at forcing socially conservative attitudes on society – but it is undeniable that many people earnestly believe that abortion is “murder.” While the bodily autonomy argument presents a useful, valid framework it does nothing to push back against the notion that abortion is “murder” – and that’s a problem. As long as abortion is considered “murder” by a vocal minority its availability will be threatened.

Jennifer Wright makes the case that abortion cannot be murder. As she writes, even if we accept the faulty premises of anti-abortion activists, society easily distinguishes between “murder” and killings considered “self-defense” when one’s life is threatened. To define abortion as “murder” would be to underestimate to real health implications and risks of a pregnancy. How can abortion be “murder” if a pregnancy could potentially spell death for the person who is pregnant?

Wright is right: what we define as “murder” is a social, not biological one. For example, many would not define “suicide” and “self-defense” as “murder.” By calling abortion “murder,” anti-abortion advocates are attempting to expand the definition of a “person” to include zygotes and fetuses. However, as author Anne Landman puts it, these “represent potential, not actual human beings.”

In general, the average pregnancy lasts around 40 weeks; fetuses are considered to be viable around 23 or 24 weeks, although times can vary. This means that for more than half of a pregnancy, a fetus cannot live outside of the womb. According to the CDC, 92.7% of abortions occurred before 13 weeks, 6.2% happened between 14 and 20 weeks, and less than 1% occurred 21 weeks or later. Abortions after 21 weeks are virtually always performed to save the life of the person carrying the pregnancy or due to genetic abnormalities.

Although countries like Ireland, Mexico, and South Korea have expanded abortion access in recent years, the United States is headed in the opposite direction. (In fact, 61% of people in the U.S. support legal abortion.) While many steps are needed to reverse the anti-abortion movement from gaining further ground, one key component is regaining the narrative. Abortion is not murder. In fact, the opposite is true: abortion is a life saving procedure and a crucial part of a health care system.

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