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GodSpeed63 I'll repost this from below.
From the Phil archive, can't really copy the link it's a download, it's titled 11 Common Arguments Against Abortion, you can look it up.
“Murder” means “wrongful killing,” and so this definition implies that abortion is wrong by definition, which it isn’t. This definition means that to know that abortion is wrong, we’d just need to reflect on the meaning of the word, and not give any reasons to think this. Murder is wrong by definition, but to know That any particular killing is murder, we need arguments. (Compare someone who calls the death penalty
murder: we know it’s killing, but is it wrongful killing? We can’t just appeal to the definition of
“murder”: we need arguments that this is wrongful killing).
This definition also means that someone who claims that abortion is not wrong says that “Wrongful killing is not wrong,” which makes no sense. We can even call this a “question-begging” definition, since it assumes that abortion is wrong, which can’t be assumed.
So this definition is problematic, even if abortion is wrong.
Definition 1 also describes fetuses as “babies” or “children.” While people are usually free to use whatever words how they want, people can say things that are false: calling something something doesn’t mean it’s really that thing.
And the beginnings of something are usually not that thing: a pile of lumber and supplies is not a house; fabric, buttons and thread are not a shirt, and an embryo or early fetus is not a baby or child. So it’s false and misleading to call embryos and early fetuses “babies” or
“children.”
Defining abortion in terms of “babies” seems to again result in a “question-begging” definition that assumes that abortion is wrong, since it is widely and correctly believed that it’s wrong to kill babies.
We understand, however, that it’s wrong to kill babies because we think about born babies who are conscious and feeling and have other baby-like characteristics: these are the babies we have in mind when we think about the wrongness of killing babies, not early fetuses.
Describing early fetuses as “babies” characterizes them either as something they are not or, at least, assumes things that need to
argued for, which is misleading, both factually (in terms of what fetuses are like) and morally (insofar as it’s assumed that the rules about how babies should be treated clearly and straightforwardly apply to, say, embryos).
Part of the problem with this definition is that terms like “babies” and “children” encourage strong emotional responses. Babies and children are associated with value-laden terms such as innocence, vulnerability, preciousness, cuteness, and more
....
(1) abortion is murder;
(2) abortion is killing babies or children;
(3) adoption is a better option than abortion;
(4) pregnant women just must keep the pregnancy and give birth;
(5) abortion should not be used as ‘birth control’;
(6) women who have abortions are irresponsible;
(7) a good person wouldn’t have an abortion;
(8) women who have abortions feel guilty.
These premises all assume that abortion is wrong.
To explain:
(1) assumes that killing fetuses is wrong, since “murder” means wrongful killing;
(2) assumes that fetuses are like babies and children and so are similarly wrong to kill;
(3) assumes that abortion is a worse or bad option, since it assumes it is wrong;
(4) assumes that women must not have abortions since it assumes they are wrong;
(5) assumes that abortion is wrong: but if it is not wrong, while it might not be an ideal form
of “birth control” it could permissibly be used for that purpose;
(6) assumes that women who have abortions are doing what they are not supposed to do,
doing wrong, and so are “irresponsible”;
(7) assumes that abortion is wrong and so good people, who avoid wrongdoing, wouldn’t
have one;
(8) assumes that abortion is wrong and so assumes that some women feel guilty because they
have done something wrong: however, people can feel guilty even if they haven’t done
anything wrong, so guilt feelings aren’t perfect evidence of wrongdoing (just as not
feeling guilty doesn’t mean you did something that was OK).
People would believe these claims only if they already believed abortion is wrong, so these claims
should not sway anyone who wants to think critically about the issues.
