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Is abortion antithetical to natural selection?

Mon, 2008-01-28 21:27 — Anonymous Coward
Question:: 
Is abortion antithetical to natural selection? Wikipedia indicates that it is estimatd that 46 million abortions occur globally each year, yet physical health of the mother is usually not the reason for obtaining an abortion. And given that natural selection occurs most profoundly on a local scale, it would seem that the survival of an exsiting population could be a factor as to why abortions occur. However, the United States for instance has one of the lowest populations on a global scale, yet one of the highest rates of abortion. Doesn't abortion interfere with natural selection? How is one to know if they are killing the next Einstein?
Atheist Answer: 

Abortion has very little to do with natural selection. It's a form of artificial selection, if anything.

If all foetuses should be preserved simply because one of them might be the next Einstein, so should all sperm, and that's impossible. Even if a man never wears a condom and never withdraws, ten sperm or fewer out of tens of millions ejaculated will make it in (assuming you can't do better than decaplets). Even in a man who never has sex, the sperm he generates will die in his crotch and be replaced. Any one of them could be the next Einstein.

Same goes for eggs; every month a woman isn't pregnant, another little Albert goes down the tubes into the tampon.

We are just not capable of harnessing the potential of every potential human we create, voluntarily or otherwise. We produce masses of spare eggs and sperm so that when we really do want to procreate and raise a child properly, the ingredients will always be available.

- SmartLX