Takedown Of Turning Point USA - "Why Abortion Is Anti-Science"

I've been taking on PragerU quite a bit lately. This time, I thought I'd take a break from that and instead attack a different right-wing propaganda machine: Turning Point USA.

Turning Point USA is largely targeted at younger, college-aged people, with quick-hitting videos designed to catch their attention on social media. For example, one short video series is called "Pop-litics," hosted by a young, pretty thing named Alex Clark - who strongly resembles Cordelia from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Or, there's "Benny On The Block," in which a young man named Benny Johnson travels the country and talks to everyday Americans about the issues of the day. Most of these videos are several minutes or less, and are designed to cut through the din of information overload.

The video I'm going to focus on is an episode of a series called "180," in which a young conservative tries convincing you of something in 3 minutes. In this episode, a young black woman named Zoe Sozo makes her case for why Abortion is Anti-Science. You can watch the video yourself, here.

Zoe begins her first minute by not talking about science at all. Rather, she tells her own heartfelt story of how she was 21, pregnant, and felt pressured to get an abortion. But in the end, she opted to keep her baby, and has zero regrets.

That's all well and good. But from there, it become a one-argument drum-beat. She says that during the time of her pregnancy, she felt that the baby was a separate life inside of her, and that she had no right to take that life away.

"DNA science has proven my conclusion to be correct," she says. "Babies in the womb are unique individuals. Science has proven that mothers and their babies, in utero have completely separate DNA. The baby's DNA is unique to them." She the goes on to cite how, in forensics, DNA is used as the strongest possible evidence that a suspect was at a crime scene, because nothing matches the uniqueness of a DNA molecule.

There's no reason for me to argue the point. She is correct: the DNA of a fetus in utero is uniquely different from that of its mother. In fact, 50% unique, because half of its DNA comes from the father. But DNA, by itself, does not define a living being. In fact, it does not even define a unique human being, necessarily.

There is the case of twins, for example. Identical twins have the exact same DNA structure. So, in utero, when a pair of twins is present, what defines their unique identity? It can't be DNA, that's logically ruled out! It must be something else!

That something else, of course, is the fetal brain. I have argued many times, on this blog and elsewhere, that the brain defines the being. Put simply, one isn't truly dead until a person is brain dead. Heartbeat, respiration, and sustaining of body temperature could all cease, and yet a person might still be revived, if that person's brain has not yet expired.

By the same token, a person does not truly begin to live until the brain has crossed a certain threshold of development. Just as dead means brain-dead, so also alive means brain-alive!

"But wait!" objects the pro-lifer, "It's obvious that a freshly conceived zygote is alive and human! How can you say that it's not truly alive until it's brain-alive?!"

1) Alive, yes, 2) human, yes. But to be a living, human 3) being, requires a brain developed enough to experience. It's that crucial third category that's lacking in the early stages of development.

And it's in those early stages of development that abortion can be performed with a clear conscience.

So, at what stage of development would I draw the line? As it happens, Zoe helps us with this! There is a huge growth-spurt in the brain between 20-24 weeks of development. That's when the cerebrum, the center of thinking and experience, completes its basic formation. Because this is when the brain's minimal operating basics have completed forming, it is the earliest a fetus can be saved if it is born prematurely. Sure enough! This is exactly what Zoe tells us in her video! She points out that the earliest preemies have been saved at 23 weeks of development - right at the dividing line I've just detailed!

So that's the point at which growing human fetus becomes growing human being: 23 or 24 weeks. And it is then and only then that we should consider giving the pre-born rights under the law!

And this, by the way, is EXACTLY the same argument that was used by the National Right to Life Committee when it began a big push for "20-week abortion bans" in many states, beginning from about 2010 on through today. The argument was/is that fetal brain development makes a fetus capable of pain at 20 weeks, and therefore all abortion should be banned from that point of development on. In fact, many bills which passed in state legislatures were phrased as "Pain-Capable Acts." But, of course, this admitted, fully and finally, that conception is not the proper place to draw the line! The anti-abortion movement says 20 weeks, marking the absolute earliest point in which the fetus might, just might, be capable of feeling pain, but science says that realistically, 24 weeks is more accurate. But both sides agreed, just this once.

And from N.O.W., N.A.R.A.L., and Planned Parenthood? Not a goddamned peep! Come on, guys!

There are exceptions, of course. If a fetus suffers, for example, from anencephaly, which is when the fetus forms no brain at all - merely a brain stem, then there's no being there at all. Late-term abortion could be performed in such an instance as well.

"Modern abortionists want to increase the time in which a baby can be aborted," Zoe says. Yeah, well, only in certain circumstances, all of which are medical ones in which the fetus is already doomed. But does Zoe bother detailing any of that? Does she deal with any science at all, other than the uniqueness of DNA? No, she does not!

I needn't bother with the remainder of Zoe's video. She goes into a polemic about what she thinks are the evils of Planned Parenthood, how it supposedly encourages abortion for the sake of convenience, and the fact that most abortions are performed on the poor. (Good!)

"The modern Left is anti-science on the issue of abortion. Plain. And. Simple." Zoe tells us. Well, if so, it certainly isn't because SHE made anything like a case!

Eric

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