Tearing Us Apart

1. Abortion's Core Harm: The Unborn Child's Life

Abortion harms the unborn child. Abortion kills the unborn child, a child who is as fully human and as fully valuable—as fully a person—as the person reading this book.

Biological Reality. From the moment of conception, a new, unique human organism comes into existence, possessing its own distinct genetic code and developmental trajectory. The unborn child is not merely a "potential life" but a living human being at an early stage of development, just like a newborn or a toddler.

• Denying this biological reality is a way to dehumanize the unborn, using terms like "fetus" or "clump of cells" to obscure the truth.
• The unborn child is not a "part" of the mother's body but a separate individual dwelling within her.
• The child's organs serve the child's life, not the mother's.

Moral Imperative. Every human being, regardless of age, size, or stage of development, possesses intrinsic worth and dignity. This value stems from our shared human nature as rational animals, not from our ability to perform certain actions.

• Personhood arguments that deny moral status to the unborn are arbitrary and dangerous, historically used to justify oppression and violence.
• The capacity for reason, even if not immediately exercisable, is the basis of our inherent value.
• The state has a fundamental duty to protect all innocent human beings from lethal violence, including the unborn.

2. Abortion's Deception: Not a Woman's Boon

Rather than freeing women from the burden of pregnancy as feminists claimed it would, abortion has intensified the ways in which our culture treats pregnancy as a “woman’s problem.”

False Promises. The claim that abortion empowers women by enabling them to participate in society on equal footing with men is a myth. Abortion has not solved the problems it promised to, and it has not been the cause of increased educational or workplace success for women.

• Abortion has injected violence into the sacred relationship between mother and child.
• It has not increased support for pregnant mothers but has fed a culture that treats women who continue pregnancies as if they’re on their own.
• It has made it easier for men to abandon women and harder for women to refuse abortion.

Physical and Psychological Toll. Abortion poses significant risks to women's health, both in the short and long term.

• Immediate complications include bleeding, infection, and injuries to adjacent organs.
• Long-term risks include increased chances of breast cancer and preterm birth in future pregnancies.
• Many women experience severe psychological trauma, regret, and shame after an abortion.

3. Abortion's Injustice: Perpetuating Inequality

Abortion has exacerbated inequality, perpetuating racial division and social stratification.

Eugenics Roots. The modern abortion-rights movement has its roots in the eugenics movement, which sought to limit the growth of "undesirable" populations, including non-white Americans, the poor, and people with disabilities.

• Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, was a prominent eugenicist.
• Today, a disproportionate number of black and Hispanic babies are killed in the womb.
• Discriminatory abortions target unborn baby girls and children diagnosed with disabilities.

Undermining Solidarity. Abortion undermines solidarity with the poor, the weak, the marginalized, and anyone on the periphery of life.

• It allows those in power to deem certain lives expendable.
• It perpetuates a culture that treats pregnancy as a problem to be solved rather than a natural part of life.
• It undermines the work of pregnancy-resource centers that offer mothers alternatives to abortion.

4. Abortion's Corruption: Medicine and Morality

Abortion distorts science and corrupts medicine, pretending that the child in the womb isn’t a human being at all and that tools meant for healing can rightly be turned to killing.

Perversion of Medical Practice. Abortion corrupts the medical profession by turning tools meant for healing into instruments of death.

• Doctors who perform abortions use their expertise to kill rather than cure.
• Medical organizations and doctors lie about the biology of human life to justify abortion.
• The Hippocratic Oath, which forbids abortion, has been revised to accommodate the practice.

Political Influence. Pro-abortion doctors influenced the Supreme Court decision inventing a right to abortion, and medical organizations have become transparently political advocacy groups.

• The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) has evolved from a non-partisan professional organization into an abortion advocacy group.
• Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion provider, is a brutal business that profits from killing unborn children.
• Abortion poses risks to conscience rights and religious freedom.

5. Abortion's Lawlessness: Undermining the Constitution

Rightly understood, nothing in our Constitution protects lethal violence in the womb.

Judicial Overreach. The Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade was a blatant act of judicial activism, inventing a constitutional right to abortion that has no basis in the text, history, or tradition of the Constitution.

• The Court manufactured a right to abortion out of thin air, using flawed reasoning and political machinations.
• Appeals to "privacy," "autonomy," and "equality" should not prevent lawmakers from protecting unborn children.
• The Court's subsequent abortion jurisprudence has created an unjust and unworkable status quo.

Undermining Self-Government. Roe removed the abortion debate from the hands of the American people and placed it in the hands of unelected judges.

• The Court's decision has created a legal minefield that makes it nearly impossible to protect unborn children.
• The Court has refused to apply even the most elementary legal rules and doctrines when it comes to abortion.
• The proper role of government is to protect innocent human beings from lethal violence, including the unborn.

6. Abortion's Politics: A Divisive Force

Our politics and our society would be better served if neither of our major political parties supported abortion, a blatant violation of fundamental human rights.

Political Polarization. Abortion has become a politically polarizing issue, dividing Americans and corrupting our political process.

• The Democratic Party has slid in a radically pro-abortion direction, excluding anyone who does not support an increasingly extreme position.
• Abortion has turned judicial confirmations into toxic political battles.
• Democratic politicians' excuses for embracing abortion require them to deny the proper role of morality and religion in our politics.

Moral and Legal Incoherence. The Democratic Party's embrace of abortion has made our political process hostage to abortion.

• It would be far better for pro-life citizens to have a meaningful political choice between two parties, neither of which was committed to gross injustice.
• Justice requires that our man-made laws comport with the natural and eternal law.
• The rhetoric of Democrats who support abortion urges us to sever our legal system from its natural and divine sources.

7. Abortion's Culture: Media and the Lie

Censorship and bias limit the ability of pro-lifers to share the truth with those who need to hear it, while glamourous depictions of abortion spread the fundamental lie that abortion should be celebrated.

Media Bias. The widespread acceptance of abortion has corrupted legacy media outlets, making it far less likely that the truth about abortion will reach many Americans.

• Pro-abortion bias is evident at major tech and social-media companies.
• Hollywood shapes how users and viewers think about abortion, often promoting it as a positive good.
• Censorship and bias limit the ability of pro-lifers to share the truth with those who need to hear it.

Corporate Complicity. Major corporations are increasingly using their social power to preserve legal abortion and block pro-life policies.

• They are using their financial and cultural power to undermine state pro-life laws.
• They are promoting the lie that abortion is a necessary component of women's equality.
• They are prioritizing profit over the well-being of women and children.

Last updated: January 19, 2025