The Value of a Fetus

A pro-life activist holds a model fetus during a demonstration in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on June 29, 2020. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Commentary

Everything has a value. Most people don’t like to think of some things as having a quantifiable value, but they do. Otherwise, all our decisions would be random.

Of course, we put dollar values on many things—houses, cards, clothes, services, art. But we assign values to almost everything, not just those that we purchase. Which food do we like better? Which color of shirt should I wear? Which friends do we like better? It may depend on the circumstances. I’m going to the beach—which friend is more fun at the beach? I’m going to a business dinner—which date will be more refined and impressive? I need to unwind—which friend is a partier? I need to vent—which friend is a good listener?

We assign values to all things, even if it’s not a conscious act of calculation and comparison. As I wrote previously, society requires discrimination, and value is simply a way to quantify that discrimination. We may not assign an exact number, but we do assign a relative value.

Since the leak of a draft Supreme Court decision on Roe v. Wade, abortion has become a very hot topic. This important question actually comes down to how much value do we put on a fetus? This is a question that those on the left generally refuse to answer because it requires them to understand that many of their beliefs and demands are irrational.

Many strong conservatives, especially religious ones, put a high value on an embryo from the moment of conception. I don’t agree with this valuation, but it gives me a starting point to discuss and debate rules and regulations about abortion. Other conservatives assign a low value until the second trimester or until its heart starts beating, at which point its value grows to a very high value at birth. Assigning a value allows one to consider one’s beliefs and positions on even the most difficult topics. It allows debate and discussion starting with difficult questions. Where do you believe life begins? How valuable is a human life? How valuable is an unborn child?

The vast majority of conservatives also put a high value on the rule of law, and so they’ve tolerated Roe v. Wade for decades, despite believing the decision to be unconstitutional if not immoral. Will leftists accept the fall of Roe v. Wade? Based on the comments I’m seeing from mainstream Democrats and progressive friends, the answer is no. While conservatives respect the rule of law, most progressives respect only the end result, often by any means necessary, as evidenced by their support of violent riots during the Black Lives Matter and Antifa protests of the past two years and going back to the violent Occupy movements 10 years earlier.

One way of explaining the progressives’ stance on abortion is to understand that even mainstream progressives put zero value on a fetus. It’s a lump of cells. A hangnail. Worse, it’s something bad, harmful. It’s a cancer. To leftists, a fetus is a tumor—an inconvenience at best; a life sentence of hardship and pain at worst. Pro-abortion rallies were held across the nation on Mother’s Day. Did any of them see the irony in that, much less the impropriety?

To justify their devaluation of a fetus, progressives turn to absurd arguments. Democrats are claiming that overturning Roe will outlaw abortion. It won’t. But the truth won’t whip their supporters into a frenzy and, more importantly, won’t get out the Democrat vote in November. The ends justify the means.

A meme going around Facebook says that 40 percent of teenage girls are impregnated by older men. Somehow, this argument is being used to imply that older men should be held accountable and young girls should be given abortions on demand. If that thinking made any sense, which it doesn’t because rape is already illegal and punished harshly, then the solution would be to give each teenage girl a handgun with the right to defend herself against older men. How many Democrats do you think would support that? I wouldn’t either, but it makes as much sense.

Conservatives put a high value on the fetus at an early stage, growing as the baby develops. Liberals put no value on a fetus until the umbilical cord is cut. And sometimes beyond that. All pro-abortion advocates I’ve ever met were also animal rights activists. They put more value on animals, including unborn animals, than they do on an unborn human baby. The disconnect is so great that there can never be compromise or even real debate on the issue of abortion until progressives designate some nonzero value on a baby in the womb. I don’t see that happening anytime soon. And the world is a less moral, less civilized place because of it.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.