"We should not impose our morality on others. One group should not impose its beliefs on the rest of society. I'm personally opposed to abortion but I will not impose that belief on others."
Suppose someone said, "I'm personally opposed to rape, but I will not impose that belief on potential rapists." How absurd! This argument is as absurd in the case of abortion as it is in that of rape. The law must protect all innocent persons from assault: women from rape, babies from slaughter. The morality of not raping, and of not murdering, a fellow human being is not "my morality" or "our morality" but morality itself.
Perhaps some people who say they're personally opposed do so because they feel abortion is wrong but do not fully understand why; they are unable to articulate good moral reasons why it is wrong. Thus they think that others may feel differently about it, and they want to respect these differences of opinion or feeling. "That's the way I feel, but maybe you don't."3 This attitude is psychologically understandable but morally disastrous, for the result is that a cruel death is imposed on the child. We must look at the evidence that abortion is wrong, that it is murder; we will then see that it is not merely a feeling, but the truth of the matter.
It is true that we should not impose on people. We should have compassion and concern for others, especially the weak, the oppressed, the poor, the downtrodden. We should protect the helpless, not step on them. Legalized abortion is the enshrinement in law of oppression, stepping on the weak and defenseless. Legalizing abortion is saying, "Abortionists may crush the little ones if they like." Precisely because we should not impose on others, we must not allow such an imposition, the crushing to death of innocent, helpless babies in the womb.
The term impose suggests that outlawing abortion is something bad because it imposes a burden or restriction on people. But all laws impose. Traffic laws impose on us certain obligations and restrictions. Laws making abortion illegal are nothing special in this regard. They are simply another instance of the general feature of all laws, to impose certain obligations and restrictions for the common good, and to respect other individuals as persons and not to hurt or kill them. Laws outlawing abortion merely apply this general feature to one class of persons, preborn babies.
"We should not impose our morality on others. One group should not impose its beliefs on the rest of society. I'm personally opposed to abortion but I will not impose that belief on others."
Suppose someone said, "I'm personally opposed to rape, but I will not impose that belief on potential rapists." How absurd!
thats crap ofcourse you oppose against rapists that is commen sence . but abortion is a whole different matter , abortion if brung up against woman that have aborted caused alot of ripples in society , caused unwanted problems that we dont need .
posted by: lynne (reply)
post date: 02.03.04 (6:17 am)
I think that when someone says they dont want to impose their beliefs about abortion on another, they are arguing from an entirely different premise than you are.
For instance, it is pretty clear to me that you see abortion as a crime against a *person* who is entitled to the same full legal rights as a person who has already been born. Hence your comparison to rape and murder.
However, not everyone sees that issue the same way. I know I dont. I think that first trimester babies dont yet have brain function and are so unformed that they arent really people yet. A *lot* of people have similar feelings to me.
It is a philosophical difference about when we as humans begin rather than a fault of logic. Of course, it would be a fault of logic if you ever heard someone who believed that the unborn are the same as the born make that argument.
"We should not impose our morality on others. One group should not impose its beliefs on the rest of society. I'm personally opposed to abortion but I will not impose that belief on others."