Michael Knowles VS Victoria Hammett: Bodily Autonomy in Abortion Debate

I watched the entire debate with Daily Wire commentator, Michael Knowles, and leftist Tiktok influencer, Victoria Hammett, who is the Deputy Director of Gen-Z for Change. Her abortion stance was solely bodily autonomy, yet she brought up viability (which I don't know if she'd genuinely be for a ban past that). There are so many problems with that line of reasoning.

Firstly, if bodily autonomy is your ultimate argument, "viability" shouldn't matter. If you don't have to give any moral consideration to the human being inside of you because it's in your uterus, that principle shouldn't change. It doesn’t make sense unless you're arguing a pregnant woman should induce when the child is viable, but that is still a toss-up for the baby’s survival. Late-term abortions don't only occur for health. Maybe it took a while to save money, the mother took a while weighing her options, she had a relationship that deteriorated, etc.

Would you deny her right to choose an abortion, even though her reasoning may be the same as a woman who gets one at 6 weeks? And you may say “yes,” because the child deserves moral consideration...but it's the exact same baby. The only difference is time to develop.

Second, you use your bodily autonomy when you engage in procreation. Victoria uttered the ridiculous excuse "consent to sex isn't consenting to pregnancy." You can't control when you get pregnant, but you can control not getting pregnant (unless you are raped, which accounts for less than one percent of abortions).

She won't grant moral consideration to the child because it isn't sentient (but this rule doesn't extend outside the womb). So, we have to override a child's life because it CAN'T think, for a woman who CAN? Her conscious actions resulted in a baby, yet the baby should die? How can you justify holding a fetus accountable for a woman’s actions?

Third, viability is not a consistent standard. I understand "fetal viability" is understood as being able to survive outside of the womb, but that changes based on technology. Plus, newborns can't survive without assistance. And viability is your ability to survive in your environment. A fetus is viable in the womb where it's meant to be, exactly where the mother put it. If I launched you into space or threw you in a burning building, you wouldn't be viable either. That doesn't make you less alive.

Fourth, bodily autonomy is making decisions about your life, body, and future. Pregnancy involves at least two lives, two bodies, and two futures (three, if you count the father). Abortion is annihilating all that for one party.

Fifth, bodily autonomy is not absolute. Go to your doctor and ask them to chop off your arm, just because. See if they oblige. No one should be obligated to protect or aid in your brutality. Do it yourself and see if you don't end up in a padded room (if you survive).

Sixth, Pro-Choicers don't appear to fight for bodily autonomy outside of abortion or sexual promiscuity. Victoria didn't fight for bodily autonomy during covid. "If it can save one life..." Then why support abortion?

Victoria even goes far enough to say bodily autonomy doesn't include energy expenditures. So the labor I produce with my body isn't included? How convenient for someone who advocates for taxpayer-funded healthcare, free college, and tax the rich more!

So it's not that we as a society don't bear some sort of moral responsibility to each other (which we can voluntarily fulfill). We obviously do. A woman just can't be expected to extend that sort of kindness and responsibility to the child she created for at least 9 months, according to the left.

The last point I’d like to make on this topic is that Victoria threw out we can come together, I guess to reduce the systemic reasons why women have abortions.

Victoria's line of thinking is the root cause.

She acknowledged the embryo/fetus/baby was human and alive, but she drew arbitrary standards so she could devalue its humanity. That's how great human tragedies like slavery, the Holocaust, etc. are able to occur: willful ignorance.

And as long as she, along with an alarming amount of Pro-Choice women, pushes "consent to sex isn't consent to pregnancy," you're teaching women to not be accountable for their actions.

According to the CDC, 86% of abortions are from unwed women and more than 80% are from women 20-40. The USA is a land of opportunity and possible upward mobility, yet we have one of the highest abortion rates in the world. Education, access to birth control, and even money isn't our problem. It's a lack of commitment and responsibility.

This breakdown has led to a lot of issues in our society that extend beyond abortion and deeply hurts men and women, along with our children.

In the end, abortion has not built a better world.