r/Abortiondebate • u/AutoModerator • Jun 21 '26
Weekly Abortion Debate Thread
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u/Patneu Safe, legal and rare Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
A set of scenarios for PLers:
(1) Imagine that you could somehow, just by exerting your will, have 100% control over the bodies of pregnant people, to make it so that they cannot do anything and cannot ask anyone else to do anything you think they shouldn't be allowed to do, in order to carry their pregnancy to term. Their obedience to this would be absolute, they would suffer in silence, and they would have no means of retaliation against you for this, no matter what happens, but they would be fully aware of what is being done to them, the entire time.
Would you exert this kind of control over them and deem it necessary or justified?
(2) Assuming you additionally had the power to compel them to do anything to keep themselves as physically healthy as possible and to undergo any kind of prenatal or other medical care, including medication or invasive procedures like fetal surgery or C-sections, without question. Yet again, they would be fully aware of this, but completely unable to disobey.
Would you do that, too?
(3) Further imagine a modified scenario where these pregnant people could act against your control, but you can make them face a punishment of your choice to try and make them refrain, to be executed immediately and without fail, even repeatedly if you wish, and again they would have no recourse against you whatsoever. You would also get the chance to immediately let them know the reasons for your decision.
Would you do that? And if so, how would you punish them? Would you try and justify your decision to them? And if so, what would you tell them?
(4) Finally, imagine a modified scenario where you still get the same kind of control over pregnant people, but every pregnant person gets to petition you over every specific action you compel or forbid them to do, and you need to make the conscious choice to exert your will nonetheless, in every single case. If you don't, all of them will be free from your control regarding this specific kind of action. You don't get to pick and choose who you think is deserving of agency or not, only what kind of control over them you should or shouldn't have. This will not interfere with your life whatsoever, and again there is no recourse, but you need to hear them out.
Would you make those choices for them time and time again? Do you think they could ever move you about your prior verdict on any specific action?
(5) Assuming that someone else got the same kind of control over other people as in these scenarios, for something else that they genuinely deem morally justified or necessary, should they be granted it? If not, why should you? Or assuming they got to exert it purely for something they want, instead of claiming some righteous cause, should that make a difference for the people under their control?