How to Dismantle the "It's My Body" Argument

I mention here a lot that the abortion debate is like a war where both sides are fighting different battles. The left sees it as a women's rights issue. The right either sees it as a moral argument that abortion is murder (has nothing to do with women as a political entity) or that Roe V. Wade is an unconstitutional ruling and is judicial overreach (again has nothing to do with women as a political entity). While I have my own reasons for supporting legalized abortion the pro-abortion arguments I hear tend to be illogical. Here is a simple way to dismantle one of the more common arguments you'll encounter.

After they make the claim of "my body, my right", ask them if they support partial-birth abortion. If they do, that's fine. They win the logical debate. They'll ultimately lose the battle for hearts and minds of the public if ultimately they advocate that women can interrupt the birthing process to stab the almost-infant in the head and suck out its brains.

If they don't support partial birth abortion, then the contradiction is this: if the woman can't choose to terminate the fetus while it's still inside her, then they must not actually care about the rights of her body. Prod for the point at which abortion becomes wrong. They'll usually say the third trimester. (Most European countries ban after the first trimester). Ask why body rights don't apply during the 3rd trimester. The abortion advocate won't be able to give a good answer, because there is not one.

If women's "rights to their bodies" is in fact a valid argument, then it must apply all the way until the bodies of mother and fetus are separated. That is, up to childbirth and the child's first breath. The abortion advocate must decide if they advocate the argument in full or not at all. Positions of the type "well it's her body except at the third trimester it suddenly becomes not her body (plus or minus two weeks)" are ultimately indefensible.


Here are some questions & quips you can make which will be effective, especially if there are observers to the interaction.

• How many heartbeats does a body have? 
• How many fingers and toes does a human body have?
• How many blood types can a body have?
• How many sets of DNA does a body have?
• Is it wrong when women say the baby kicked? Shouldn't they say, I kicked?
• Can mothers say the fetus is a boy when it's just part of the female body?
• Why are people convicted of murder if they use force to kill the fetus? Shouldn't these crimes be prosecuted as some sort of bodily harm?