AUTHOR Patrick S. Tomlinson has been asking the same question for the last ten years.
The Trump administration has made many changes to affordable healthcare in America since coming to power.
Planned Parenthood, the organisation that offers safe and legal abortion in the US, will receive no further funding from Congress and the move has sparked the Pro-Choice / Pro-Life debate once again.
American author Tomlinson has the perfect question to settle the argument, which he shared with his 20,000+ followers on Twitter.
It's a simple scenario with two outcomes. No one ever wants to pick one, because the correct answer destroys their argument. And there IS a correct answer, which is why the pro-life crowd hates the question. 2/
— Patrick S. Tomlinson (@stealthygeek) 17 October 2017
The story thread has garnered thousands of retweets since it was published on Tuesday.
Here it is. You're in a fertility clinic. Why isn't important. The fire alarm goes off. You run for the exit. As you run down this hallway, you hear a child screaming from behind a door. You throw open the door and find a five-year-old child crying for help. 3/
— Patrick S. Tomlinson (@stealthygeek) 17 October 2017
They're in one corner of the room. In the other corner, you spot a frozen container labeled "1000 Viable Human Embryos." The smoke is rising. You start to choke. You know you can grab one or the other, but not both before you succumb to smoke inhalation and die, saving no one. 4/
— Patrick S. Tomlinson (@stealthygeek) October 17, 2017
Do you A) save the child, or B) save the thousand embryos? There is no "C." "C" means you all die.
In a decade of arguing with anti-abortion people about the definition of human life, I have never gotten a single straight A or B answer to this question. And I never will. 5/
— Patrick S. Tomlinson (@stealthygeek) October 17, 2017
They will never answer honestly, because we all instinctively understand the right answer is "A." A human child is worth more than a thousand embryos. Or ten thousand. Or a million. Because they are not the same, not morally, not ethically, not biologically. 6/
— Patrick S. Tomlinson (@stealthygeek) October 17, 2017
This question absolutely evicerates their arguments, and their refusal to answer confirms that they know it to be true.
No one, anywhere, actually believes an embryo is equivalent to a child. That person does not exist. They are lying to you. 7/
— Patrick S. Tomlinson (@stealthygeek) October 17, 2017
They are lying to you to try and evoke an emotional response, a paternal response, using false-equivalency.
No one believes life begins at conception. No one believes embryos are babies, or children. Those who cliam to are trying to manipulate you so they can control women. 8/
— Patrick S. Tomlinson (@stealthygeek) October 17, 2017
Don't let them. Use this question to call them out. Reveal them for what they are. Demand they answer your question, and when they don't, slap that big ol' Scarlet P of the Patriarchy on them. The end. 9/9
— Patrick S. Tomlinson (@stealthygeek) October 17, 2017
Because a lot of people are missing the point, it is not being argued the embryos are not alive. Nor is it being argued they are without value.
All that is being demonstrated is their value is not equal to that of a human child.
That's it. That's the point.
— Patrick S. Tomlinson (@stealthygeek) October 17, 2017
Well, that's that then.
In a recent poll carried out by Ipsos MRBI and The Irish Times, voters were asked about their views on two possibilities in next year’s referendum – limited abortion in certain circumstances and general availability.
It found that less than a quarter (24 per cent) are in favour of legalising terminations in nearly all cases.
There was far stronger support among the Irish electorate for limited abortions – in cases of rape, foetal abnormalities and threats to a mother’s life – at 57 per cent.
A clear majority – about 70 per cent – would vote in favour of repealing the Eighth Amendment to the Ireland’s Constitution, which gives equal rights to life of the mother and unborn child.
Last month, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar confirmed a date of May or June 2018 for the long-awaited referendum on the Eighth Amendment.
He said Ireland was “not ready for abortion on demand” but indicated that he would allow a free vote on the issue, given the range of views held by his own party, Fine Gael, and others.
