Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX) has a new motto. He’s even made it into a bumper sticker. “If babies had guns, they wouldn’t be aborted.” This is obviously an effort to get attention. It’s supposed to be provocative. But it’s actually quite stupid. By definition, babies have not been aborted. What he should have said is that embryos and fetuses would not be aborted if they were armed with guns. But the problem here is that they aren’t developed enough or strong enough to smart enough to load a weapon and pull the trigger. The other problem should be obvious but apparently is not. If “babies” had guns and they used them to protect themselves, their mothers would die and then so would the babies. So, in fact, if babies had guns, they would discover that guns are useless.
The train of thought underlying this motto is remarkably myopic. The absurdity of its logic highlights the dependency of the fetus. The futility of its logic highlights the error of thinking of a fetus as a separate entity that can survive without its mother. The more you think about Stockman’s motto the more obvious it becomes that a woman should be considered autonomous. Her health and well-being should come first and her consent should be required if she is going to share her blood and her minerals and her space with another being. What she definitely doesn’t need is for her “baby” to hold her at gunpoint.
