Persuasive vs. Argumentative

Persuasive:

"Stan, I hear you are pro-life."

"That's right, Joe. I hear you are pro-choice."

"How can you claim to be pro-life, when you don't care about the life of the mother?"

"How can you claim to be pro-choice, when you don't care about the choice of the child?"

"Why do you believe the Government has the right to tell a woman what she can do with her own body?"

"Why do you believe the Government has no jurisdiction in preventing a woman from abusing her own child to death?"

"Why do you try to force your religious beliefs on a woman, who may not share your beliefs?"

"Why do you try to force your beliefs about ultimate right, which is all religious beliefs are, on a defenseless child, who cannot speak for himself or herself?"

"How do you know a fetus is alive?"

"How is a wanted prebirth child considered to be alive and an unwanted prebirth child considered to merely be tissue in the mother's body? Isn't that a bit arbitrary, not to mention duplicitous?"

"You say a fetus is human at conception. Isn't that arbitrary?"

"If two men are arguing in a private home and get into a fist fight, then they accidentally hit the pregnant wife of one of the men in the belly and she miscarries, aren't they both accessories in a manslaughter case? Why could the same child be aborted by the woman's consent, and nobody goes to jail?"

"You just want to force every woman to have a baby, whether or not she is fit to be a mother. What if she doesn't have enough money to provide for her child? What if she was raped by an older brother, a father or an uncle, and she is still basically a child herself?"

"Alright. Let's take a breath... Let's think about these questions and more that we haven't asked. We're friends, right?"

"Right?"

"We want to stay friends after this conversation, right?"

"I guess so."

"Come on, Joe! You know so. Let's think about this for a moment. We each have a different perspective, but I will bet that we have the same desire or goal."

"I'm listening."

"We both care about doing the right thing."

"Right."

"We both know that choices have consequences, and we want to be wise about the choices we make."

"Right."

"Who has a vested interest in the continuation or in the termination of a pregnancy?"

"The woman and her husband, if she has a husband, but ultimately the choice is hers."

"Are those the only people to consider?"

"Those are the only people, who matter."

"What about the baby?"

"Tissue."

"Does that 'tissue' have the 'potential for life,' to use your own words?" Isn't there a 'potential' choice to be considered?"

"Not really."

"What about The Creator's choice in the matter?"

"I'm not religious."

"But you do believe that someone has the final authority for making a final choice, right? Somebody has to choose."

"Of course."

"What is God, if not the Final Authority?"

"You're playing with semantics, my Friend."

"You're playing with someone's life or 'potential' life, old Friend."

"That's our human right. We're autonomous."

"If you deny the existence of God, then you affirm that a human has the final authority or choice. Title or no,...somebody always plays god."

"Call it what you want."

"What would the 'potential life' call it?"

"I ask you, again, what about the life of the mother?"

"Under what circumstances? Is her life threatened in some way by carrying the baby?"

"Maybe it is. Maybe it isn't. Emotionally, her life is always adversely affected, if she doesn't want the fetus or isn't fit to care for a baby."

"What if carrying the child to viability doesn't physically threaten the mother's life in any way?"

"What if?"

"She could have a Caesarean Section with adoption papers already signed. She would never have to hold the child in her arms for potential attachment issues. Problem solved. Right?"

"No! That's not okay! What if the mother doesn't want to carry the fetus even that long? Maybe she doesn't want the aggravation of morning sickness and the potential of becoming attached to a thing she never wanted in her life. Ever thought of that?"

"What if the child is terrorized in the final moments of its existence with no ability to scream, with no advocate, with no pardon from the death penalty, which is being exacted even though that child never asked to exist. Ever thought of that?"

"Why do you keep calling it a child? It's just a piece of tissue!"

"Do mothers ever suffer years of depression and regrets at the removal of a wart or mole? Now, who cares about the life of the mother?"

Word Count: 798



Argumentative


"Stan, I hear you are pro-life."

"That's right. Joe, I hear you are pro-choice."

"Do you have any facts to back up your position?

"Course material from Columbia University specifically uses the words, '...irreversible binding of the sperm to the egg,...' Later in the same material there is a description of the merging of the male and female pronuclei '...to reconstitute a diploid nucleus.' In other words 'the two become one.'" http://www.columbia.edu/itc/hs/medical/humandev/2004/Chapt1-Fertilization.pdf

"So, it initiates the zygote stage of fetal development. What's your point?"

"Doesn't it give you the slightest pause that the genetic fusion in the earliest stages of zygotic maturation contains the same codes and instructions as do the adult bodies in which we live at our ages?"

"Of course, these are merely genetic codes. They have the same level of life as the ones and zeros that create lines of computer code. Zygotes are not viable outside the mother's womb, until much later in the pregnancy. Therefore, a zygote is not alive."

"Facts?"

"According to a Washington Post article, dated May 26, 2015, 'The age of viability has been pegged at 24 to 28 weeks.'"

"...And that means what?"

"Any zygote that cannot live outside of the mother's womb is not alive."

"Does that mean that any astronaut that cannot survive space outside of his or her spacesuit is not alive?"

"You can't change the subject like that!"

"What's the difference?"

"The zygote is tethered to the mother's body by the umbilical cord to maintain the flow of food and oxygen from the mother to the baby and the elimination of waste and carbon dioxide from the baby to the mother. Finally, the elimination leaves the mother's body."

"You just said, 'baby.' Besides, if the zygote is not alive, then why 'food & oxygen' and 'waste & carbon dioxide' for something that isn't even alive. By the same line of logic there is necessary breathable air for the astronauts that flows around their bodies just like the amniotic fluid flows around the baby. How are the two different?"

"They just are. Astronauts have already proven they are alive by being able to breathe air outside of their mothers' wombs for many years."

"You mean the same life-support system that they must carry along for themselves, which has been manufactured to help them to survive in outer space. The point remains that zygotes, fetuses or babies are on life-support in the mother's womb. Anyone on life-support is alive."

"Now you're just playing religious semantics!"

"Am I? According to Merriam-Webster's Dictionary the synonyms for 'abort,' include 'cancel.' The meanings of cancel include, 'to destroy...the validity of,' 'to bring to nothingness,' and 'to deface.' Arguably, anything or anyone needing to be aborted is a force, an entity or a personage with which to be reckoned." https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/abort#h1 https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cancel

"You're trying to make me feel like abortion is murder."

"I didn't say that. You did. However, the facts do point in that direction."

"You can't prove it!"

"Maybe not to your satisfaction, but there are facts that remain undeniable. At the very earliest stages of the formation of the zygote the presence of 46 unique human chromosomes exist that are not identical with any other of the seven plus billion human souls, who have existed during the entirety of human history. Those same 46 chromosomes are present at the moment of birth, during the preschool years, at high school graduation, throughout the working years and they are present at death. If I may be so bold 46 unique human chromosomes are present during each and every abortion. Abortion has more to do with the ending of viability than any question of existence outside the mother's womb every will."

"Yeah, but Roe v. Wade plainly tells us that abortion is an acceptable form of birth control."

"Thank you for proving my point. The right to choose was created as a deliberate choice by those who chose to believe it was an acceptable form of birth control. It was not created by scientific fact."

"You have no proof!"

"Really? 'In 1857, the U.S. Supreme Court, in its famous Dred Scott case, defended slavery in these terms: 1) black slaves belong to their masters; 2) black slaves are not human persons before the law; 3) black slaves can only acquire human rights if they become free individuals; 4) those who think slavery is morally wrong do not need to have slaves, but shall not impose their 'personal' opinion upon others; 5) masters have the right to do whatever they want with their property, including black slaves;..."

"That said slaves."

"The same arguments apply to babies in the womb. Compassion for both or compassion for neither."

Word Count: 798

by Jay O'Toole
on February 17th, 2017