Why is abortion wrong?
A Human Rights Perspective
Every human deserves human rights.
Human rights aren't given based on ability, age, or usefulness — they belong to every member of the human family. That’s the principle that drove abolitionists to end slavery, civil rights leaders to fight segregation, and modern activists to stand up for the oppressed.
But today, one group of human beings is still denied these rights: unborn children.
The science is clear:
Life begins at fertilization.
From a scientific standpoint, the debate about when life begins is over. Leading embryology texts affirm that a new human life begins at the moment of fertilization:
Keith L. Moore, The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology, 7th edition. Philadelphia, PA: Saunders, 2003. pp. 16, 2.
“Human life begins at fertilization, the process during which a male gamete ... unites with a female gamete ... to form a single cell called a zygote. This highly specialized, totipotent cell marked the beginning of each of us as a unique individual.”
This zygote is not part of the mother’s body. It is a distinct, whole, living human organism with its own DNA—a blueprint for everything it will become.
By 21 days, the unborn child has a heartbeat.
By 8 weeks, all major organs are present.
By 10 weeks, the child can make facial expressions.
By 20 weeks the child can feel pain.
These aren’t abstract ideas—they are measurable, observable, and undeniable facts.
The bottom line:
Abortion ends a human life.
If the unborn are human—and science confirms they are—then abortion ends the life of a human being. That’s not a religious claim. It’s a biological and ethical reality.
900,000+
Each year, over 900,000 abortions are performed in the United States alone. Each of those is a life that will never be lived, a human that will never take a breath, laugh learn, or love.
Abortion is the most widespread human rights violation of our time—and the least acknowledged.
What makes a human valuable?
When we try to justify abortion, we often do so by changing the definition of who counts as a "person." But those arguments have been used before.
In the 19th century, Black Americans were called "less than fully human" to justify slavery.
In Nazi Germany, Jews were stripped of personhood to justify their mass extermination.
In modern times, children in the womb are denied rights because of their size, development, dependency, or location.
But none of those things determine who we are.
Size
A toddler is smaller than an adult. Does that make them less valuable?
Level of development
A newborn can't speak or reason.
Do they lack human rights?
Dependency
Diabetics depend on insulin.
Are they less human?
Environment
Does moving six inches down a birth canal change someone's rights?
The answer is no.
None of these traits makes someone more or less human. Therefore, none of them can justify abortion.
Abortion violates
the human right to life.
The most fundamental human right is the right to life. Without it, no other rights exist.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) proclaims in Article 3:
"Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person."
If we exclude unborn children from "everyone," then human rights are no longer based on being human—they’re based on being wanted, viable, or convenient.
And that's not justice. That's discrimination.
We must be consistent.
If human rights truly belong to all humans, then we cannot exclude unborn humans. We must protect the vulnerable, even when it's difficult—especially when it’s difficult.
Abortion is not compassionate.
It is not a solution.
Abortion is the violent ending of a human life.
