| theprof00 said: Well, it's not really two arguments, it's just that one preempts the other. And pro-lifers are doing everything they can to prevent any and all discussion about science, because the science sides with the women's rights. |
No, it is actually two entirely different arguments. "Fetuses are humans, too!" vs. "Whatever! It's my hot body, I'll do what I want!" Neither of those really answers the concerns of the other. If you can successfully argue that fetuses are not actually human beings until a certain point, whether that is when it becomes viable or it magically becomes human when it passes through the birth canal or whatever, then that is actually addressing the pro-life concern. Just shouting about women's rights and handwaving it all away doesn't accomplish anything.
I don't know where you get the idea that pro-lifers don't want a discussion on scientific grounds, either. Sure, they have some flakes like Akin who pass along wives tales about how reproduction works, but they have plenty of reason to look at the science for rhetorical ammo, say, to try and convince people that the fetus is a genetically and psychologically distinct entity and therefore a person. Plenty of them make just that argument. Where exactly does "science side with women's rights"? This sounds like one of those lazy pseudo-arguments where, since the right is comprised of creationists who think Jesus rode a dinosaur, the left just plays the SCIENCE card without even knowing what the science says. But if you take the extreme pro-choice position, like the president has for instance, then you believe in abortion on demand no matter how far along the fetus is - right up to (and probably including) the moment of birth. (Some take it even further than that.) You don't even care about the science in that case. So it really isn't even really a scientific argument at all, but a philosophical one.
It's too bad every argument about abortion instantly devolves into kneejerk stupidity, because there really is a genuinely fascinating argument to be had about the subject.
