Abortion Is Wrong Even If It’s Painless

A person under general anesthesia cannot feel pain but still has the right to life.

The rhetorical technique employed in this response is called “trotting out a toddler”. The primary purpose of this technique is not to refute the other person’s argument or score debate points, so don’t pat yourself on the back when the other person agrees that we shouldn’t kill the toddler. Instead, the primary purpose of this technique is to move the conversation to the core area of disagreement, which is generally either the status of the preborn or the ethics of killing.

If the topic of pain comes up in the middle of a discussion about personhood, it may be useful to point out that animals can feel pain. On the other hand, some pro-choice people may accept that the fetus is a person but argue that killing a person is only wrong if it’s painful.