Is Abortion Essential Health Care? Nope.
Hendrik van der Breggen, Author
Retired Associate Professor of Philosophy, Providence
Some influential politicians (e.g., Joe Biden and company) claim that abortion is essential health care.
But is it true? Is abortion “essential health care”?
If we’re talking about the general practice of abortion in the U.S. and Canada, then the claim that abortion is essential health care is false.
Below I set out three reasons to show it’s false. (For reasons 2 and 3 I am greatly indebted to insights from Nathan Apodaca, a writer for the Human Defense Initiative and for the Life Training Institute.)
But is it true? Is abortion “essential health care”?
If we’re talking about the general practice of abortion in the US and Canada, then the claim that abortion is essential health care is false.
Below I set out three reasons to show it’s false. (For reasons two and three I am greatly indebted to insights from Nathan Apodaca, a writer for the Human Defense Initiative and for the Life Training Institute.)
Reason 1: The claim abortion (in general) is “essential health care” is false because most abortions are not done for medical reasons.
Reason 2: The claim abortion (in general) is “essential health care” is false because it’s logically contradictory (or has contradictory implications).