Which Came First? So Is an Egg a Chicken?

Have you ever opened up a free range egg and discovered a little black spot that you realized was a chicken fetus? Did you look on the fetus' early demise as a tragedy as deep as a baby chicken dying? Thus is a simple argument for the pro-choice cause which works for me.

Many (especially evangelical Christians in America) see a fertilized human egg as a human being. But do you see a fertilized chicken egg as a chicken? It seems so simple that the egg is simply a mass of cells with the potential to become a chicken. Yet when, in humans, that egg remains inside the potential mother (and thus remains a part of her body), so many define it as a human. Why?

My girlfriend, Eliza, made a good point while we were discussing the subject the other day. When humans (particularly in the west, where we have time on our hands) discover that they are pregnant (and they want to be, so they tell their friends and family), their fertilized egg is immediately defined as a baby by all who are excited by the news. Many find out as soon as possible whether it will be a boy or a girl so that they can rush out and buy things blue or pink. Then, if things go wrong, it's a tragedy. Well, of course it's a tragedy to the expectant parents if they are hoping to have a baby. But has a person really died? Or has nature merely taken its common course of not developing a fertilized egg to fruition? Sadly for the expectant mother and father, it was simply not meant to be.

I certainly don't believe that abortion is a choice that should be made without great thought. And I don't believe that people should have un-safe sex and then use abortion as a contraceptive. Abortion has proven to be psychologically damaging on many who choose it, and therefore great care must be taken to prevent uneccesary abortions. But that doesn't mean those who are unwilling (or simply unable) to care for a child should be forced to allow that fertilized egg to develop into a person who needs care.

I, and a majority of Libertarians (although certainly not all--see Libertarians for Life), believe that government should stay out of this issue. This means not only should it not ban abortions (or, God forbid, mandate them--see China), but it should not be in the business of paying for them. We understand that good people can disagree on this issue, and it is particularly harsh to force taxpayers who do believe that abortion is murder to pay for it.