YouTuber calls abortion a “necessary evil.” He’s half right.

[Today’s guest post by Adam Peters is part of our paid blogging program.]

Are you a fan of social justice? Do you think intersectional feminism has something to offer? Do you dislike hearing the f-word said in a British accent? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then there’s a YouTube channel you probably won’t enjoy.

Sargon of Akkad makes videos criticizing “the regressive left.” He doesn’t identify as a conservative, however, and rejects positions many conservatives hold. That includes his stance on abortion: during a conversation with fellow YouTuber Dave Rubin, he called it “a necessary evil.”

He’s half right.

Abortion is evil, and the later it happens, the more evil it gets. That’s evident from Dr. Kawaljeet Anand’s research indicating a fetus feels pain by twenty weeks. Dr. Anthony Levatino is a practicing obstetrician-gynecologist who has performed over twelve hundred abortions; here, he describes what a twenty week abortion entails.

The Supreme Court said in Wilkerson v. Utah that “punishments of torture” like dismemberment are too cruel for convicted killers. For children in the womb? Apparently not.

That abortion destroys an individual isn’t just evident at twenty weeks. After all, a little girl can be seen sucking her thumb at fifteen. Her fingerprints are present at twelve and her heartbeat is detectable at six. While some contend abortion only impacts a woman’s body, arguing that one body can have two brains, two hearts, two sets of fingerprints, and two DNA profiles is a little hard to take seriously.

Not that children are the only ones harmed. There’s evidence many women feel pressure to abort, and they can face violence when they refuse. That includes being smothered, shot, stabbed, burned, and beaten to death, which partly explains why homicide is a leading cause of death during pregnancy.

Changing this isn’t a priority for America’s largest abortion chain: Planned Parenthood has opposed legislation to protect women from coercion and violence. Further, when Texas state Rep. Molly White proposed a bill requiring that abortion centers have a private room with a telephone to contact law enforcement, NARAL Pro-Choice Texas called the move “not needed.”

Some men use abortion to avoid child support; others use it to make money. The medical journal Annals of Health published a survey of human trafficking survivors; it showed over half had at least one abortion while being trafficked. In a video produced by the anti-trafficking group A21, you can hear a survivor named Nicole describe being coerced into two abortions—an experience she calls “the hardest.” Listen to her story and then decide whether Rep. White’s bill would have helped.

But isn’t abortion often necessary? For example, aren’t late-term abortions only done to save a woman’s life? Nope. In Albuquerque, Southwestern Women’s Options offers elective abortions through twenty-eight weeks.

What if you’re just not in a position to parent? In that case, abortion might seem like the only alternative. It’s not.

Having a baby doesn’t mean having to raise one, as there are literally millions of people seeking to adopt. Many are interested in “open adoption,” an arrangement in which the birthmother knows the adoptive parents and usually has some role in the child’s life. One place to look for them is a website called Adoption.com. It allows those who’ve been cleared by a licensed adoption agency to create a profile; you can search them by location, family size, and other criteria. More information about adoption and parenting along with material support can be found at pregnancy care centers.

Many cite rape as an example of why abortion is necessary; they rarely explain why someone like Rebecca Kiessling deserved to die for her father’s crime.

Rebecca is an attorney and an adoptive mother; she was also conceived in rape, and she’s only alive because abortion was illegal at the time.

And while there’s no proof abortion helps deal with emotional trauma, a study published in the British Medical Journal found that women who abort have a higher suicide risk than those who don’t.

Sargon says he’s interested in “finding the truth of the matter using rational arguments backed up by evidence.” If so, he should re-examine his views on abortion. Yes, the facts show that it’s evil. But necessary?

Not so much.