SETH MICHAEL MEYER
Assistant News Editor
On Nov. 7, Fredonia hosted a debate that discussed the morality of abortion. Dr. John Keller, associate professor at Niagara University, argued that abortion is immoral while Fredonia’s own Dr. Stephen Kershnar, chair of the philosophy department, argued that abortion is moral.
A common theme in both Keller and Kershnar’s arguments was the concept of a right to life, which Kershnar explained is “the right not to be unjustly killed.” Further, he argued that the fetus has no right to be inside the woman, thus the fetus “may be removed with proportionate force.”
Keller reasoned that the fetus does have the right to life because it is a human and all humans are endowed the right to life.
The two contenders offered analogies to explain the concepts behind their arguments. Kershnar used what he calls the “party pooper” example that describes a girl hosting a house party who spontaneously wants everyone to leave and she has the right to force people out. He argued that abortion is similar in that a woman can retract permission for a fetus to stay inside her.
Keller rebuttaled by saying that the analogy was not reasonable because it did not suggest that the evicted party guests would die as a result.
Using many of these hypotheticals, the two professors drove their ideas through to the audience of a couple dozen students and faculty alike.
After the 1973 Supreme Court case of Roe v. Wade — which concluded that abortion was a private matter, thus unconstitutional to obstruct — the argument of the legalization of abortion has become very polarized. A Gallup poll records that in 1975, 54 percent of people believed abortion should be legal only under certain circumstances. This percentage has been on a slow decline, being replaced by an increased presence of people who believe abortion should be legal under all circumstances.
However, the number of people that believe abortion should be illegal has remained relatively low from 21 percent in 1975 to 1 percent in 2017. But legality and morality, as both Keller and Kershner stress, are quite different and don’t strictly reflect each other.
Gallup has also noted that since 2001, the majority of participants believe abortion is morally wrong (except in 2015 when the two statistics were equal). This hardly reflects the statement that the majority of people believe abortion should be legal.
Ultimately, when it comes to pro-life or pro-choice, there seems to be a divide in party politics and in religion. A Pew Research poll conducted in 2016 finds that 34 percent of Republicans and 79 percent of Democrats believe that abortion should be legal. When it comes to religion, 79 percent of white Evangelical Protestants find abortion immoral compared to 51 percent of Catholics and 23 percent of the unaffiliated community.
Whether it’s political parties or religion, one thing is clear: there is a long road to consensus (if consensus is possible). Compared to other issues, abortion is a difficult topic to agree upon because the legality of it is very much compromised by morality.