Recently, in a “friendly” debate, a woman whom I did not seek out proudly declared between her F-bombs that it doesn’t matter if a preborn child is a human being. What really matters, she defiantly claimed, is that no one has an obligation to ‘lend’ her body to someone else against her will. It’s a clever line that nicely corresponds to the moral confusion of our times.

As medical and scientific technology has made it impossible to reasonably deny the humanity of the embryo and fetus, this woman’s argument has gained popularity among those hellbent on protecting legal abortion. It is easier to deny moral facts than it is to deny scientific facts, especially for those who have adopted a progressive materialist worldview.

There is a 500 year legacy beginning with modern philosophy that details why so many today have difficulty understanding morality is objective. In short, for nefarious purposes, natural law ethics has been replaced by many with consequentialism and relativism as the way to discern the value of human behavior. This is a point for another thread, but the fallout of moral confusion has muddied the moral sight of most people in the western world.

The truth is we are not radical individuals by nature; we are not radically autonomous in the sense that we’re made to live for ourselves, and there are intrinsic natural rights between child and parents that no other relationship inherently possesses. Humans are life-givers, whether we like it or not. We wouldn’t exist if our parents and ancestors did not procreate and sacrifice for our lives. Out of this sacrifice, and not from selfish pursuit, does human fulfillment truly occurs.

The fundamental ethic this woman misses is that every child, from conception to (at least) 18 years old, has an absolute moral right over the bodies of his or her parents – both mother and father – obviously in different ways. A father has no right to do with his body anything neglectful of his financial and paternal responsibility, nor does a mother to her maternal duty, for at least 18 years if the child is not adopted out. This means moral duty absolutely forbids becoming a deadbeat dad or an abortive mom.

Never would anyone have believed in times of moral sanity, just fifty years ago, that our society would be arguing this point. Only a special kind of selfish and disordered will could possibly do so.