But all our rights are limited when they begin to infringe on someone else’s rights. I have the right to discipline my children – but not to abuse them. Every child’s life begins at conception, and the most basic right of all is the right to life. Just as fathers are required to provide child support to fulfill their responsibility to their children, doesn’t a mother have a responsibility to nurture her in the way she is designed to do? If we protect children from abuse and neglect after birth, why can we not protect the same child before birth?
A pregnant woman does have rights – she has the right to choose life for her child even if others are coercing her to abort. She has the right to the support she needs to continue her pregnancy and to make a plan for her child’s welfare after birth. The community should be offering her support rather than giving her permission to kill her child. Just as the state protects children from abuse after birth, it should be protecting children before birth as well.