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I had originally considered titling this article “Discussing the Fallacious Linkage of Abortion and Capital Punishment” with my first sentence suggesting we not discuss it, and say we did. Aside from the clumsiness of the original title, I thought it best to address this argument once and for all. There is no linkage. Although there may be good arguments on all sides of both issues, this particular one is so ridiculous that I feel I am doing those who employ it a service by suggesting they cease and desist. I’m going to mention here that, in most cases, I am against capital punishment and that my primary reason for taking that position is the possibility of error in executing the wrong person for a crime he did not commit. There are other valid arguments, regardless of whether one agrees, such as the suggestion that state sanctioned murder is still murder. On the other hand, I am “pro-choice” in the same limited way I am “for” capital punishment in that I might be convinced to support a sentence of death for a particular individual under particular circumstances. I state these positions to suggest that this is not an attempt to simply dismiss an argument I cannot rebut on the grounds that this particular argument not only cannot be used against me, but I can use it against those who employ it.
In the first place, anyone who employs the argument is agreeing that both issues involve the death of an individual and thus they do real damage to the notion that the abortion procedure does not. As this is a foundational premise for many, I simply don’t see the benefit in putting it into play. I understand that advocates of the position feel they are pointing out an obvious fact, which is that the two positions are in conflict and thus hypocritical, but the risk of damage to their own position seems to me to far outweigh any perceived benefit. As I alluded to earlier, if one puts all his eggs in this basket, only to find that his discussion partner opposes both, whether or not he realizes it, the damage to his credibility has been severe. On this basis alone, I would suggest ending this fallacious comparison.
Let’s face it, there are many who will continue to pull this worthless argument out whenever the opportunity arises, regardless of what I suggested above, and thus I will assume, for now, that a comparison of space travel to apples somehow is relevant. The loss in stature of the “pro-choice” person is already evident in the fact that we are now speaking of two living and breathing persons. In fact, this concession on the part of the pro-choice person might suggest that it is the pro-life person who should lie in ambush eagerly awaiting this very discussion. From a legal and moral point of view there can be no firmer ground than suggesting that the innocent should not be subject to the same negatives as the guilty. In the previous sentence I willfully omit the word “consequences”, as that would suggest a relationship to some specific action on the part of the innocent.
In conclusion, I fail to see the value of this comparison, on any level, to those who choose to introduce it. In the first place, if their foundational premise is in error, then they lose before they even get started. In the second place, the logic comparing the two is flawed and they lose on the merits of an argument they never should have introduced. Thank you.
Published concurrently under the title..."Abortion and Capital Punishment-Are The Two Issues Even Similar?"
