We Asked, You Answered: Responding to “Parasite” Rhetoric

We asked our followers on social media:

[Read more – Some differences between embryos and parasites]

Here are a few of your top answers:

Katie S.: “They don’t. They get worked up because abortion ends the life of a human being, and some people think that shouldn’t happen unless the other person is threatening their life.”

Maria G.: “Abortion is definitely a difficult thing to talk about. I think we can have a meaningful discussion about the value of a fetus, but I really think we should avoid words like ‘parasite’ for a whole bunch of reasons. For one thing, think of women who have gone through the devastating loss of miscarriage. I don’t think any sane person would say that those women are crazy or stupid for getting ‘worked up over a parasite’. They’re clearly grieving something that has way more value than that.”

Gabriela O.: “Hold my Carnegie stages!”

Kristen R.: “I’m not sure how I’d respond in that moment… but newborn infants are perhaps more dependent upon their mothers for life. And require conscious, active care… yet we don’t consider them parasites. Why is that? My 3-week-old newborn was much easier to care for during gestation “

Margie M.: “I’m sarcastic. I’d ask if he believes the earth is flat, too.”

Dermot K.: “I give him the opportunity to elaborate by asking him what exactly does he mean.”

Mandalynn: “Crack my knuckles and break out my biology textbook. I live for the parasite argument ”

Kristin M.: “They aren’t parasites. That’s just what abortion clinics tell people to sell them abortions.”

Sara N.: “(1) An embryo and a fetus is an age stage part of the human development like infant, toddler, child, teenager and adult. It’s a normal human development. (2) An unborn is part of the human species because it has human DNA and everyone were a fetus once. (3) Many people are dependent on other people, e.g. small children, the elderly, disabled and the intellectually disabled. But they still have the right to life. (4) The bodily autonomy argument is flawed for pro-choicers to have if they support abortion rights to first trimester, but not in the other ones. They do support some restriction of bodily autonomy, but the line is blurry. So I ask them why they draw the line on X week, but not in Y or Z week.”

V.: “You were one once, so was I, neither of us is disposable.”

Rachel C.: “I can’t believe that in an age of unprecedented access to factual information, there are still people who think that a human fetus in utero is a parasite.”

Selenite: “Ask him if he wants to feel my 27 week baby kick. Then tell him to be very careful how he refers to my children in the future.”

Michelle B.: “Reading these answers is refreshing. So many times, I was silent when I shouldn’t have been.”

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