The Fetus and the Butterfly

One article I read on the right to choose over against the right to life argued that the silly pro-life position that a fetus is a human being is nonsense. He assured the readers that arguing that a fetus is a human being is like arguing that a caterpillar is a butterfly. Clearly ridiculous. Indeed, you will find this very argument all over the place. You may have seen it yourself.

If you aren't careful, you'd see the logic of the argument. Obviously a caterpillar is not a butterfly, so they may have something there. If you're not careful. Because the argument is a mess if you're paying attention. Here, let's play this game that we like to play with kids.

A hand is to a glove as a head is to ...? Well, there are a variety of right answers, I suppose, but the easiest and most obvious would be a hat. A hand fits into a glove -- a glove is worn by a hand -- as a head fits into a hat -- a hat is worn on the head. Easy logic. Kind of fun, actually. And that's where the argument of this pro-abortion author breaks down.

A caterpillar is to a butterfly as a fetus is to ... what? What he essentially argued was that a caterpillar is to a butterfly what a fetus is to a human being. But that's not a correct correlation. Here, let's try it in reverse and see if you can play the game and find the answer.

A fetus is to a human being as a caterpillar is to ...?

If you stuck "butterfly" in there, you missed it. So let me give you a true comparison and see if you can pick it up from there. A caterpillar is to a butterfly as a fetus is to an adult. That is true. A caterpillar is a phase of life of a particular type of creature. A fetus is a phase of life of a particular type of creature. A butterfly is a later phase of that same first creature and the adult is a later phase of the second creature. The correlation works. The argument doesn't. Why? Because no one is arguing that a fetus is an adult. The argument is that a fetus is a human being. So now can you give a better comparison to the test question?

Well, let's see if I can help. A caterpillar is the larval form of members of the order Lepidoptera. The Lepidoptera have four basic forms, ending with butterfly. Thus, if you wanted to correctly play the game, you would say, "A fetus is to a human being as a caterpillar is to the Lepidoptera." And that is accurate. Of course, it destroys the argument of the pro-abortionist, but that can't be helped, can it?