One line of rhetoric often mentioned by pro-choicers suggests that pro-lifers have a responsibility to adopt and take care of children who would have otherwise been aborted had they not been placed for adoption. This argument is completely illogical. I have provided an excerpt from Francis Beckwith explaining why.
"This argument can be summarized in the following way: unless the pro-life advocate is willing to help bring up the children she does not want aborted, she has no right to prevent a woman from having an abortion. As a principle of moral action, this seems a bizarre assertion. For one reason, it begs the question by assuming that the unborn is not fully human. For would we not consider the killing of a couple's children unjustified even if we were approached by the parents with the following offer, "Unless you adopt my three children by noon tomorrow, I will put them to death"? The fact that I may refuse to adopt these children does not mean that their parents are justified in killing them. Hence, it all depends on whether the unborn is fully human.
Second, think of all the unusual precepts that would result from the moral principle...:unless I am willing to marry my neighbor's wife, I cannot prevent her husband from beating her; unless I am willing to adopt my neighbor's daughter, I cannot prevent her mother from abusing her, unless I am willing to hire ex-slaves for my business, I cannot say that the slave-owner should not own slaves. Although pro-life groups are active in helping women in crisis pregnancies, the point I am making is that it does not logically follow that abortion ipso facto becomes a moral good simply because individual pro-life advocates are not currently involved in such works of mercy.
And finally, this argument cuts both ways. The pro-lifer can ask the abortion-choice advocate why he does not help with the upbringing of poor children whose mothers have chosen not to kill them, since the postnatal existence of these children is a result of the abortion-choice advocate's public policy of choice. It is odd, to say the least, that the groups that speak the most passionately about "choice" - Planned Parenthood, the National Abortion Rights Action League, or the National Organization for Women - are not the ones who create and manage crisis pregnancy centers and other institutions that meet the physical and spiritual needs of women who choose not to have an abortion and help counsel women who suffer from post-abortion depression. Pro-lifers are the ones who fund and dedicate their time to such institutions."
"This argument can be summarized in the following way: unless the pro-life advocate is willing to help bring up the children she does not want aborted, she has no right to prevent a woman from having an abortion. As a principle of moral action, this seems a bizarre assertion. For one reason, it begs the question by assuming that the unborn is not fully human. For would we not consider the killing of a couple's children unjustified even if we were approached by the parents with the following offer, "Unless you adopt my three children by noon tomorrow, I will put them to death"? The fact that I may refuse to adopt these children does not mean that their parents are justified in killing them. Hence, it all depends on whether the unborn is fully human.
Second, think of all the unusual precepts that would result from the moral principle...:unless I am willing to marry my neighbor's wife, I cannot prevent her husband from beating her; unless I am willing to adopt my neighbor's daughter, I cannot prevent her mother from abusing her, unless I am willing to hire ex-slaves for my business, I cannot say that the slave-owner should not own slaves. Although pro-life groups are active in helping women in crisis pregnancies, the point I am making is that it does not logically follow that abortion ipso facto becomes a moral good simply because individual pro-life advocates are not currently involved in such works of mercy.
And finally, this argument cuts both ways. The pro-lifer can ask the abortion-choice advocate why he does not help with the upbringing of poor children whose mothers have chosen not to kill them, since the postnatal existence of these children is a result of the abortion-choice advocate's public policy of choice. It is odd, to say the least, that the groups that speak the most passionately about "choice" - Planned Parenthood, the National Abortion Rights Action League, or the National Organization for Women - are not the ones who create and manage crisis pregnancy centers and other institutions that meet the physical and spiritual needs of women who choose not to have an abortion and help counsel women who suffer from post-abortion depression. Pro-lifers are the ones who fund and dedicate their time to such institutions."
