Is a Fetus a Parasite?
How confusing essence and function distorts meaning discussions on abortion.
There is a video making the rounds, Can Liberal 25 College Students Outsmart 1 Conservative?, featuring Charlie Kirk. In the video, the subject of abortion was heavily discussed, but one short discussion caught my ear. A young lady, pictured above, equated a fetus with a parasite. I had heard this term applied to a fetus before, but hadn’t realize how deeply the concept has penetrated the abortion discussion. This short essay is an attempt to disentangle the two concepts.
Calling a fetus a parasite is a deliberate conflation of essence and function. Essence means what something fundamentally is. Function refers to the role, purpose, or activity that something performs. It describes what something does rather than what it is (its essence). While two beings may function similarly (both being dependent on another for survival), their essences—what they fundamentally are—can be very different.
A fetus is the offspring of a human being. Thus, its essence is human. A parasite is a seperate organism from its host. A fetus is the biological offspring of its mother, sharing her genetic material, which distinguishes it from a parasite, an organism that is entirely separate from its host. In contrast, parasitism is the function of a completely different organism which depends on a host for its survival. Parasitism involves harm or detriment to the host, while pregnancy—despite the challenges it may present—typically involves a natural, symbiotic relationship in which the fetus is not considered an exploitative entity.
The word parasite has a varied semantic range. Given the variety of uses for the word ‘parasite,’ it's important to clarify what exactly the term means and how it functions in different contexts:
Biological: Organisms living at the expense of hosts.
Metaphorical: People, entities, or systems that exploit others.
Political/Economic: Structures or groups that drain resources from society unfairly.
Linguistic: Unnecessary filler words in speech.
Cultural: Ideas or practices that degrade or exploit cultural or intellectual systems.
Technological: Harmful software or code that exploits larger systems.
Notice, none of those meanings define what a parasite is (its essence), it merely describes what a parasite does (how it functions). Thus, equating a fetus with a parasite fundamentally misrepresents both the essence and function of each. While both may share a temporary dependency on another organism, their natures are entirely different. A fetus, by essence, is a developing human being, sharing genetic material and engaged in a natural, symbiotic process with its mother. A parasite, on the other hand, is an entirely separate species that exists to exploit its host. Misusing the term “parasite” in the abortion debate not only distorts biological facts but also reduces a complex ethical issue (one we need to be wrestling with as a society) to an oversimplified analogy. Recognizing the critical distinctions between essence and function helps clarify the conversation and move towards a more honest discussion.