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The best parts of Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief Ben Shapiro’s highly anticipated appearance at UC Berkeley came during the Q&A session at the end of his speech, which at least 70,000 people watched online.
It’s Shapiro’s practice to let the liberal students who disagree with him move to the front of the line for questions, and one “left-leaning” student wanted to challenge him on abortion. In the following exchange, this student got owned.
“My question was about abortion, and I just wanted to know why, exactly, do you think a first-trimester fetus has moral value?” the student asked.
“A first-trimester fetus has moral value because whether you consider it a potential human life or a full-on human life, it has more value than just a cluster of cells,” Shapiro answered. “If left to its natural processes, it will grow into a baby.”
Shapiro then identified the real question, “Where do you draw the line?” It’s problematic to say a heartbeat indicates life, Shapiro explained, because some adults need pacemakers to keep their heart beating. Do their lives have value without the pacemaker? What about drawing a line at brain function? If you do that, is it moral to kill people in comas?
“The problem is, any time you draw any line other than the inception [sic] of the child, you end up drawing a false line that can also be applied to people who are adults,” Shapiro explained. “So, either human life has intrinsic value or it doesn’t.”
Ben Shapiro answers a student on abortion during the Q&A portion and it ends with an epic takedown. ??#BenAtBerkeley pic.twitter.com/J1iFFCp7TV
— Alex ???? (@SoCal4Trump) September 15, 2017
The student then tried to argue that it is “sentience” that gives life value, and Shapiro tore that argument apart.
“So when you’re asleep, can I stab you?” Shapiro asked, to laughter from the audience. They could see where this was going.
“I’m still considered sentient when I’m asleep,” the student feebly answered.
“OK, if you are in a coma from which you may awake, can I stab you?” Shapiro followed up. More laughter.
Unsurprisingly, the pro-choice student thought that wasn’t cool either, because a person in a coma still has “potential sentience.” That was the moment Shapiro got him.
“I agree it is potential sentience. You know what else is potential sentience? Being a fetus,” Shapiro concluded.
Check and mate.
I find it infinitely sad that @benshapiro has to EXPLAIN to college kids why killing babies is wrong, but I'm glad he does it so well. https://t.co/zM5oSkM2Bl
— Andrew Klavan (@andrewklavan) September 15, 2017
It’s clear why Berkeley was so reluctant to have Shapiro speak on campus. Every time he opens his mouth, liberal arguments are annihilated.
Watch the full speech:
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