Abortion and Leonard Peikoff

Leonard Peikoff rejects the typical terminology of the abortion debate. He does not believe that anti-abortion is pro-life while pro-abortion is pro-choice. Instead, Peikoff argues that to be pro-life you must be pro-abortion. He believes the only living person involved is the mother, who may want to engage in her constitutional right of pursuing happiness without the encumbrance of a child.

Peikoff believes the embryo is not a living person but merely the potential to become a person. It is an egg/sperm combination that has formed a mere cell mass. Peikoff finds it ridiculous that people confuse the potential with the actual. An acorn is a potential oak tree. A cow is a potential filet mignon. A waterfall is a potential source of electricity. A man is a potential corpse. Nontheless, we would not attempt to build a house from acorns. We would not pour steak sauce on a cow, or try to cook it by plugging it into a water fall. We would not perform vivisection on a live human being.

Peikoff further explains that the embryo is not a living person because it is not an entity in its own right. It can not breathe, digest or generate energy on its own. It can not move on its own. It is not a living person because it is entirely dependent on the mother to whom it must be "plugged in."

Despite Peikoff's insistence that we must look "deeper" into this subject, he seems determined to look in the most shallow of places. It is quite true that we might use acorns and oak trees in different ways. We might kill oak trees to make houses. We might find very little use for acorns. But it is simply silly to say that we have made a moral statement talking about acorns and oak trees. We might find oak trees more useful than acorns. But it is not immoral to do nothing with acorns. Neither is it immoral to make houses with oak trees.

The question surrounding abortion is whether it is immoral to destroy the fetus or child in the womb. Peikoff's ruminations on cows and filets, water falls and electricity sheds very little light on the subject. Unless you are a devout member of PETA or an extreme environmentalist, there is no significant moral difference between cows and filets, water falls and electricity.

Peikoff does offer a potential versus actual example that is relevant to the abortion debate. A man is a potential corpse. There is certainly a moral difference between a living man and a corpse. However, here Peikoff's example argues against his own reasoning. The one example where he offers a moral difference, he argues for preserving human life. That is, he inadvertently argues against abortion.

Peikoff believes the child is not a living person because it is not an entity in its own right. It is after all biologically attached to its mother. Therefore he can not breathe on his own, digest on his own nor does he have his own energy source. (Since none of us have our own energy source, Peikoff is actually saying that the child in the womb is not a person because he can not breathe on his own or digest on his own. All of us gain energy from digestion.)

Yes, you heard that right! Peikoff thinks that digestion is roughly equivalent to the right to life. This should make all the sharks happy.

It does not seem to have occurred to Peikoff that there are a number of people who can not breathe nor digest on their own that we might want to keep alive. If we can kill children who can not breathe by themselves, can we also kill emphesyma patients who can not breathe without a machine? If we can kill children who can not digest on their own, can we also kill patients who need to be fed intraveniously?

Peikoff is of course correct that we do need to look deeper into the moral question of abortion. In my essay, Abortion Choice and Reason, found at the top left hand side of this web site, I discuss the difference between potential human life, human aptitude and human capabilities. I show that the child in the womb is not a potential human but instead a very young human being with specific innate abilities and distinctions. I demonstrate that while the child in the womb is capable of very little, he has all the aptitude he will ever possess. Your life began the day you were conceived because on that day you received a profound framework of who you are mentally, physically and emotionally. And the only way to prevent you from growing into an adult human would be to kill you.

If you wish to hear Peikoff's ideas directly you can go to his web site at http://www.abortionisprolife.com/