Video Transcript

Monica Snyder - atheist and founder of Secular Pro-Life

“Stop pushing your religion on everyone.” “This is not a theocracy!” And the timeless never-ending “Keep your rosaries off my ovaries!”

These pro-choice slogans reference a common idea that opposing abortion is a purely religious belief, and therefore has no place in a pluralistic society. From this perspective, making abortion illegal would be like making it illegal to eat non-kosher foods, requiring that all women wear hijabs, or outlawing the consumption of meat on Fridays. The thinking is that if you are not a member of a religious group, then the government should not require you to abide by their rules.

It’s easy to see where this misunderstanding comes from. Many people who oppose abortion are Christians, and many of those Christians defend their position by appealing to their religion, saying things like “God hates abortion”, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you”, and “Pray to end abortion”.

But the belief that abortion is wrong is not exclusive to the Bible or to any one worldview, theistic, secular or otherwise. I myself am an atheist, and I oppose abortion. In fact, I am the executive director of an organization called Secular Pro-Life and our whole thing is to advance secular arguments against abortion.

The reality is, the central argument against abortion has nothing to do with religion.

1. It is wrong to kill an innocent human being.
2. Abortion kills an innocent human being.
3. So, abortion is wrong.

See? Not religious at all.

The belief that it is wrong to kill innocent human beings is possibly THE most universally accepted moral truth embraced by people around the world and throughout history. It is found in the teachings of many religions, but also has a firm foundation in secular morality.

Now, I need to stress that when I say “morality”, I am not referring to a religious doctrine, but a rational standard by which we judge actions as beneficial or harmful to life, flourishing, and happiness for all human beings. Killing innocent people is not beneficial to life, flourishing, and happiness.

Some people will say, “Well…yes, it’s wrong to kill innocent human beings, but the idea that a human life begins at conception is a religious belief.”

It’s not a religious belief. It’s a biological fact.

Crack open any embryology textbook, and it will explain that the mammalian life cycle or specifically the human life cycle begins with the zygote, or with fertilization or conception–however they want to put it, they all attest to the same long-understood fact: When sperm and egg meet, you have a new human organism. Biology 101.

Now, some people might agree that, scientifically speaking, a zygote or embryo is human, but counter that it is not a person. That is to say, they do not have the same moral value as born humans. In order to be considered a person, they argue, you need special criteria such as a heartbeat, consciousness, or independence from the mother. But is an elderly man whose heart has temporarily stopped not a person? Is a boxer who has been knocked unconscious not a person? Is a newborn, who is still completely and utterly dependent on her parents, not a person?

You see, this distinction between humanity and personhood is just an excuse to commit violence against certain groups of human beings. Historically we’ve seen so many examples of this - people denied their personhood on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, ability, and belief. These distinctions are arbitrary and often lead to horrific violence. The reality is that if you are a human being - you are a person. You, me, the pregnant woman, and the child she’s pregnant with - we all have a right to live. Simple as. No religion required.