Abortion, the big question....

[Hunter]

Hi everybody, it's me again.

I've been pondering the topic of abortion for some time now, but I'm stuck. I simply am not sure of what the right answer is (assuming there is one).

Hence, I come to you fellow forum dwellers seeking your opinions on the topic of abortion and more importantly, why you hold those opinions.

My thanks to you all in advance.

-Hunter
P.S Forgive my temporary absence...My Dad is in the Hospital right now. I hope to get back to posting (and especially reading) these forums at top speed soon.

[Fade]

Mmm... here are the abortion questions that I can answer objectively:


Will criminalizing abortion keep abortions from happening? No.
Will criminalizing abortions cause a lot of people to be seriously, even fatally, hurt? Yes.
Will criminalizing present anything more then a travel obstacle? Yes. (canada and mexico just a short bus ride away)
Is abortion sometimes a necessary medical procedure to save the life of a woman? Yes.

Here are the questions that though are not objective in any real sense (no such thing as real objectivity), but I feel confident in answering:

Is abortion a moral thing to do? No. I think it's an awful thing to do.
Do I think less of women who get abortions as birth control? Yes.
Do I think less of women who get abortions because they understand that should that child be brought into the world, it will know a life of hardship, pain, abandonment, and disease? No.


Here are the questions that are really hard to answer:

When does life begin? I don't think a given thing is alive until it can be wholly removed from it's mother/egg/whatever, and still live.
When should abortions be allowed? I think the up to 3 months is a 3 months is a good stopping point, and most laws say something along the lines of this.


Here is a question I have no issues answering?

Do I like abortion? No.
Do I support the right of women to do with their bodies what they like? Yes. I would defend, bodily, any persons right to do whatever they want to do with their own flesh and blood.

Fade's got a good start on the various issues. All I can add now is that anyone who is comfortable and confident in their abortion postion is missing something. Its too ugly and bloody a situation for anyone to be able to get involved and stay clean, regardless of the decision. The only good solution I can see is to remove the need for abortions. Until then the moral struggle continues.

Good luck. Hope your Dad gets better.

CompJan

[Bjorn]

Quote:

Originally posted by compjan
The only good solution I can see is to remove the need for abortions. Until then the moral struggle continues.

And how would one imagine that happen?

[Fade]

Quote:

And how would one imagine that happen?

The only way I see something like that as possible is if we were somehow guaranteed care throughout our lives.

It's all happy fuzzy and warm to believe that some day everyone can grow up in peace, comfort, and prosperity.. but being a pragmatist, I don't see that as ever happening.

I do however believe that education and healthcare should be free, absolutely, all the time, regardless, period. If we get those two things out of the way, I would like to think that abortion would start to look even less appealing then it is now.

[toddjh]

Quote:

Originally posted by Bjorn
And how would one imagine that happen?

It's a social issue. When we, as a society, are more comfortable with sex education which presents sex in a positive but cautious light at an early age, the rate of unwanted pregnancies will go down. People will have sex; it's a biological imperative -- and making it safer and less likely to result in pregnancy is a matter of embracing education and social acceptibility. But, like all social issues, it's not something that's going to change overnight, and abortions are never going to disappear completely. Accidents happen, even when you're being careful.

Personally, the only good criterion I can come up for when abortion should be considered unethical is brain activity -- after all, it's our brains that separate humans from the animals that we have no problem killing. I would argue that a fetus which does not exhibit human-like brain activity does not possess human-like consciousness and should not be considered a human being. In most cases, that sets an upper limit of ten to twelve weeks -- far earlier than the legal limits that exist today. I would consider third-trimester abortions to be murder; no different from infanticide, especially since there's a chance that some of the aborted fetuses could survive outside the womb.

Jeremy

Hi Hunter!

First, I hope your Dad is doing better.

Sagan and Druyan wrote about this topic in "Billions and Billions" and as smart as those two are, they had some difficulty trying to come to a resolution. I suspect that we all have difficulty with this subject because it requires us to make a call as to whether a woman's life is more valuable than the life growing within her. We line up on one side or the other, or shuffle about in the middle somewhere, unable to pick a side, knowing the implications of either exteme.

I've heard the assertion that we should base this on when life can exist outside the woman. But clearly this is a case-by-case basis and somewhat subject to the technology of the day. And what of the newly-born child? Clearly it cannot survive without help, protection, shelter, nourishment. But this is viewed as being different since guardians can provide these things.

Things I know personally:

An abortion happened as a result of a relationship I was involved in back in my twenties. It wasn't a pleasant situation. It wasn't simple and I wouldn't wish that situation on anyone. I look at my children now and wonder what might have bcome of that child if the abortion hadn't taken place, how the lives of those involved would be different. I don't dwell on it, but it does exist as a memory. People close to both of us lined up on either side of the issue and some said some harsh, hurtful things to us. At the time, we decided that it would be a terrible thing to bring a child into the environment in which we lived. Adoption wasn't even discussed. I'm not sure why.

There are cases of incest and rape and these aren't any easier for many people to reconcile. My sister is a staunch "pro life" advocate. My spouse holds a slightly less extreme opinion on the subject, allowing exceptions for rape and incest. A good friend seems to always side with the woman except for the 'partial birth abortion", which sound extremely similar to murder in my mind. I don't know that many of these abortions are or have been performed, but it sure seems wrong to me.

Quite the can of worms, Hunter.

Have a nice day!

[Peter Soderqvist]

The cellular lives of the zygote have no internal rights at all, because it has no concepts of right, or wrong, etc, hence it is not a human, and thus, to do an abortion, is analogous to remove a tumor. But the zygote can have external rights through sentimental values, for instance, when the woman in question is in love!

We go to sleep when we are tired, and we eat when we are hungry, and we scratch ourselves, when it itches somewhere, and we have sex when we are horny!

The voice of reason!

[mindless]

How can people be for abortions but against euthanasia, abortion is forced upon the life to be aborted without its consent, euthanasia is a decision made by the person wishing to be terminated and yet that is illegal. I am for euthenasia & abortion.

I don't feel a child should be brought into this world if it isn't going to be loved or treated normaly. I also think that babys that will be born severly disabled should be aborted.

If your having trouble deciding just what side of the line you stand on maybe seeing some photos of the process and aftermath of an abortion procedure, with the remnants of the dead baby may help make up your mind, saying its not a life is wrong, it is plain to see that the aborted foetus (sp?) is clearly a small human, its just easier for people to deal with and cope when they de-humanify the child as nothing more than a thing, it removes the guilt of the act from the mother and the people performing the procedure. Once more we see the power of ignorance and dilusion.

PM me if you want the link (trust me, you probably don't) I won't post it publicly here as It may seriously offend people.

First off, let's get off the whole "partial-birth abortion" bit. That was something dreamed up by the forced-birthers. What they describe as "partial birth" is something that is done when the fetus is already dead. If you don't believe me, look it up.

Secondly, 85% of all abortions are done in the first trimester, with 80% of those being done in the first six weeks.

Thirdly, as a former escort at a Planned Parenthood clinic, if I had a dollar for every man who waved a sign and yelled at women going into the clinic that they were baby killers and going to hell, only to show up with his wife, girlfriend or daughter at a later date wanting an abortion for them, I'd have quite a few dollars.

I agree that education and access to birth control is key. But remember that we live in a country that took over ten years to approve the Today sponge and Norplant--but only four months to approve Viagra.

[Victor Danilchenko]

As far as I am concerned, the real issue here is, at which point does the baby acquire human rights? I obviusly speak of the "baby", because an embryo just as obviously doesn't have them.

I thought about it, and I think it's reasonable to say that a baby has human rights when two conditions are met:

1. it has human-like brain complexity
2. It can survive outside the womb

Right now, the first (about 5 months, as i recall) is smaller than the second (around 6 months, with problems), but science keeps pushing #2 back all the time. By the definition I propose, then, the ethical and humanitarian considerations will never apply to a fetus less than 5 months old, no matter how far medicine advances.

What about after 6 months? Well, the mother's right of control of her body should be inviolate as well, so here's where #2 comes in handy: if the fetus is old enough to satisfy both conditions but the mother wants to be rid of it, what should be done is not abortion but medical birth + prolonged postnatal care + adoption. This way, mother gets her control over her body, and we get to say with clear conscience that we preserved a person's (baby's) human rights, while at the same time not being obligated to preserve every fertilized egg that gets miscarried, and every fetus that is aborted in the first trimester.

What d'you think?

[Michael Redman]

Well, of course the point at which we now give rights to a baby is when it's born alive. That is the status quo, so I would suggest that anyone who wants to change it must provide a rational explanation why this standard is not adequate. It works just fine for me.

Quote:

Originally posted by Victor Danilchenko
What about after 6 months? Well, the mother's right of control of her body should be inviolate as well, so here's where #2 comes in handy: if the fetus is old enough to satisfy both conditions but the mother wants to be rid of it, what should be done is not abortion but medical birth + prolonged postnatal care + adoption. This way, mother gets her control over her body, and we get to say with clear conscience that we preserved a person's (baby's) human rights, while at the same time not being obligated to preserve every fertilized egg that gets miscarried, and every fetus that is aborted in the first trimester.

What d'you think?

Quite frankly, if it takes six months for a woman to figure out that she doesn't want to have the kid, she isn't a really good parenthood candidate to begin with.

However, I don't think that an induced birth at six months is the answer. Neonatology is probably one of the most advanced areas of modern medicine--kids that would have been considered miscarriages twenty years ago can be kept alive--but it's far from perfect. Often these kids have loads of medical problems, and there's moral issues in that as well. Should a life be saved just because it is a life, or should the quality of life that kid's going to have be considered as well?

BTW, I appreciate the non-knee-jerk discussions here. I enjoy civilized debate!

[RandFan]

Quote:

Originally posted by Galadriel
Should a life be saved just because it is a life, or should the quality of life that kid's going to have be considered as well?

Interesting question. Quality of life is and should be a concern. But should it be a point to determine if someone lives or dies?

I find nothing sacred about sperm or egg. Neither do I find anything special about conception and initial mitosis. There is a point somewhere along a gradient in which there is something that I do believe is life. The taking of that life I would find quite disturbing. The fact that the fetus is in the womb has no bearing to me as to whether or not the fetus is alive or whether it is entitled to live. Fortunately this point is crossed sometime in the second trimester after most abortions are performed.

However there is a valid conflict between a woman's right to control her own body and the rights of a fetus. I think the incendiary and divisive nature of abortion is centered on this conflict. Abortion strikes at the very roots of human consciousness. Life and the destruction of life and the right to choose what happens to our own bodies (yes ours, men and women if laws can be passed to control women's choices then the can be passed to control men's).

The abortion question is a complicated social problem. Simple solutions to complex problems are usually wrong. What are the solutions? I don't know but I doubt that we will begin to solve them until we remove the rancor from "both" sides of the issue. Abortion is a powerful political tool however. As long as it remains such I doubt that we will see a reduction in the rhetoric and vitriol.

[Bjorn]

Quote:

Originally posted by Fade


The only way I see something like that as possible is if we were somehow guaranteed care throughout our lives.

It's all happy fuzzy and warm to believe that some day everyone can grow up in peace, comfort, and prosperity.. but being a pragmatist, I don't see that as ever happening.

Wouldn't pregnancies after rape or incest always be a problem, or the pregnacies where the mother's life is in real danger if she's not having an abortion?

I don't think there will ever be any easy way out ("no need for abortions") - we still have to struggle with the rights of the parties and how to measure them against each other.

My 'problem' is that in real life I cannot see anyone we should rather give this responsibility to than the mother.

I am not comfy with my own view, but haven't seen any better.

[The Central Scrutinizer]

Quote:

Originally posted by Victor Danilchenko
I think it's reasonable to say that a baby has human rights when two conditions are met:

1. it has human-like brain complexity

What d'you think?

Me thinks that bigfig would never be human!!

[Pahansiri]

I too would like to see and hope for a day when abortion ends. But not by a government or any group banning or forcing it's will on other beings. It will end when the causes and conditions that bring it about end.

To end it by law will only send it back underground. Underground in dirty back room butcher shops. Woman will suffer and many times die; many males will just walk away and keep up the same practice. This is of course not just males who bring about this problem in anyway.

The causes and conditions must change and change in the home. Sex explained for what it is, not a dirty little secret. Loving kindness respect and compassion for all beings is what we must teach to our children and live such a life ourselves. If fear is part of the Childs home life then how can they come to a parent and workout such a problem? That must change.

Rape will not just go away, and ending abortion will not make it. Abuse at home will not end by making abortion illegal etc. The causes and conditions must change and by the nature of reality when something is no longer needed it fades away.

We see some of our Christian friends yelling and even becoming violent ( the great oxymoron) over this. Yet many have no idea what the bible says about it.

Abortion is condoned for a woman who had an affair on her husband. Numbers 5:11-31 says just that and presents a game plan if you will of how to do it, it is called The Test for an Unfaithful Wife.

Quote:

Numbers 5:11-31

The Test for an Unfaithful Wife
11 Then the Lord said to Moses, 12 "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'If a man's wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him 13 by sleeping with another man, and this is hidden from her husband and her impurity is undetected (since there is no witness against her and she has not been caught in the act), 14 and if feelings of jealousy come over her husband and he suspects his wife and she is impure-or if he is jealous and suspects her even though she is not impure- 15 then he is to take his wife to the priest. He must also take an offering of a tenth of an ephah [1] of barley flour on her behalf. He must not pour oil on it or put incense on it, because it is a grain offering for jealousy, a reminder offering to draw attention to guilt.
16 " 'The priest shall bring her and have her stand before the Lord . 17 Then he shall take some holy water in a clay jar and put some dust from the tabernacle floor into the water. 18 After the priest has had the woman stand before the Lord , he shall loosen her hair and place in her hands the reminder offering, the grain offering for jealousy, while he himself holds the bitter water that brings a curse. 19 Then the priest shall put the woman under oath and say to her, "If no other man has slept with you and you have not gone astray and become impure while married to your husband, may this bitter water that brings a curse not harm you. 20 But if you have gone astray while married to your husband and you have defiled yourself by sleeping with a man other than your husband"- 21 here the priest is to put the woman under this curse of the oath-"may the Lord cause your people to curse and denounce you when he causes your thigh to waste away and your abdomen to swell. [2] 22 May this water that brings a curse enter your body so that your abdomen swells and your thigh wastes away. [3] "
" 'Then the woman is to say, "Amen. So be it."
23 " 'The priest is to write these curses on a scroll and then wash them off into the bitter water. 24 He shall have the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and this water will enter her and cause bitter suffering. 25 The priest is to take from her hands the grain offering for jealousy, wave it before the Lord and bring it to the altar. 26 The priest is then to take a handful of the grain offering as a memorial offering and burn it on the altar; after that, he is to have the woman drink the water. 27 If she has defiled herself and been unfaithful to her husband, then when she is made to drink the water that brings a curse, it will go into her and cause bitter suffering; her abdomen will swell and her thigh waste away, [4] and she will become accursed among her people. 28 If, however, the woman has not defiled herself and is free from impurity, she will be cleared of guilt and will be able to have children.
29 " 'This, then, is the law of jealousy when a woman goes astray and defiles herself while married to her husband, 30 or when feelings of jealousy come over a man because he suspects his wife. The priest is to have her stand before the Lord and is to apply this entire law to her. 31 The husband will be innocent of any wrongdoing, but the woman will bear the consequences of her sin.' "

Here we see little concern for the fetus, it is simply forced to be miscarried on the floor. The woman is punished by killing the unborn child. A child that has no part in what the mother may or may not have done. Drinking dirty water and saying some words

The 'quality of life' issue is a hard one to find consistency with, as everyone individually formulates this for themselves. An adopted child should, IMO, grow up perferctly healthy in a nurturing and caring environment, regardless of whether (s)he is from the gene pool of the guardians caring for him/her.

However, there is a social value placed on biological parenthood issues...a value the child is likely to encounter in life. If the kid ends up placing too much importance in the issue, it could indeed turn out to be something that affects the 'quality of life'. Although, if the family environment has been loving, I can't see how this would be fundamentally much different than a quality of life 'suffering' because the family in question isn't rich.

Assuming there are always caring parents in search of adoptions, I think preservation of the fetus would be the better choice.

[Hunter]

Thankyou all for your replies.

Perhaps the greatest problem for me is determining when that fetus should be granted rights. And even if we are dealing with something that isnt human shouldn't we still take into account the fact that 'it' will soon house another human/consciousness? By aborting that fetus are you not denying life to someone who would otherwise be just about guaranteed a life?

One way of looking at it I guess is that if someone were attached to you (something like a siamese twin) and depended for the most part on your bodiliy functions to survive, you would tecnically have the right to have him disconnected but in doing so you would ensure his death.

Of course the above is a gross over-simplification. What if that person could live without relying on your body if given some time ( to grow some organs for example) or in the case of the fetus is without a mind but will posess one in a short while....

Forgive me if I have just come of as majorly pro-life, I'm really (as I said in my original post) quite unsure of what to think about this.

Once again, thankyou for your replies
-Hunter

Quote:

Originally posted by Hunter
Thankyou all for your replies.

Perhaps the greatest problem for me is determining when that fetus should be granted rights. And even if we are dealing with something that isnt human shouldn't we still take into account the fact that 'it' will soon house another human/consciousness? By aborting that fetus are you not denying life to someone who would otherwise be just about guaranteed a life?

I thought about this quite a bit when pondering abortion. You realize, though, that the line of 'potential' can basically be traced back ad infinitum. Each sperm on it's way to a healthy egg is a 'potential life'. Marstubation, by this logic, kills millions (well, male masturbation, that is...women don't have to suffer with the guilt...although every menstruation period they go through without pregnancy is also the loss of a 'potential life').

Quote:

One way of looking at it I guess is that if someone were attached to you (something like a siamese twin) and depended for the most part on your bodiliy functions to survive, you would tecnically have the right to have him disconnected but in doing so you would ensure his death.

Actually there is a thread dealing with this...somewhere (if not here, then in banter or maybe current events).

Quote:

Of course the above is a gross over-simplification. What if that person could live without relying on your body if given some time ( to grow some organs for example) or in the case of the fetus is without a mind but will posess one in a short while....

Defining 'short while' is the key here. The line will, inevitably, have to be drawn somewhere. Some of the suggestions provided above seem very sensible to this purpose.

Quote:

Forgive me if I have just come of as majorly pro-life, I'm really (as I said in my original post) quite unsure of what to think about this.

No need to apologize. Now if you start claiming that pro-choice people are really 'pro-abortion/anti-life' (as some fanatics like to say), then we'll talk.

[Pahansiri]

I believe we so often look for a solid black and white in all things. I guess it is the nature of humans. We need to look more deeply at all things, look into them without adding our personal emotions or needs. How many times have we reacted to something to only find there was much more to the story.

The quote I use at the end of my post I think is a great example of that.
"If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility."...H.W.Longfellow

As to, for me the fetus when it is it life vs when is it human etc needs be irrelevant. I, again for me must seek to give all life from a human to an ant great respect. Would I first defend a human over an ant, of course, But I believe all life all energy is interconnected and interdependent.
For us as Buddhist we are told that no matter how many world systems we could go or how many realms we could almost never find a being that was not at one time our mother or father, sister or brother, lover or friend.
In the 37 practices of a Bodhisattva it says From beginning-less time our mothers have cherished us, if they no suffer what good is our own happiness.

How is it when we see a baby or child we would pick up and love that child, seeking to give it love and comfort. Yet when that child grows and if it differs from us in any way we can hate it, the very same baby yet due to a projected irrelevant difference we can hate it. Then if we could somehow not age and that child became an old cute man, we would again say, oh how cute, I just love him.


Just what I believe

Quote:

Originally posted by Bjorn

And how would one imagine that happen?

To put it tritely, "make every child a wanted child", or to be a cynical bastard, when only responsible adults are allowed to have sex or bear children.

Okay, to be more constructive:

1) Close to 100% effective birth control, serious sex education including practical birth control education, and a culture that values it use.

2) Pregnancy only desired by women or couples who are actually ready to raise a child and want the child for its own sake, not to fill in some emotional gap in their life.

Unfortunately, I've given up on U.S. culture meeting the above criteria. Anyone know of another free culture in the world that's doesn't have a need for abortion?

CompJan

Quote:

Originally posted by compjan


To put it tritely, "make every child a wanted child", or to be a cynical bastard, when only responsible adults are allowed to have sex or bear children.

Okay, to be more constructive:

1) Close to 100% effective birth control, serious sex education including practical birth control education, and a culture that values it use.

2) Pregnancy only desired by women or couples who are actually ready to raise a child and want the child for its own sake, not to fill in some emotional gap in their life.

Unfortunately, I've given up on U.S. culture meeting the above criteria. Anyone know of another free culture in the world that's doesn't have a need for abortion?

Amen, Jan. Add to that that America practically deifies children and mothers. No matter how successful a woman has been in other areas of her life, if she doesn't have children then she is less than a woman. And it has to be her OWN child, so millions of dollars get poured into fertility specialists' pockets every year as millions of brain-washed women clamor to get pregnant.

[Bjorn]

Quote:

Originally posted by compjan


To put it tritely, "make every child a wanted child", or to be a cynical bastard, when only responsible adults are allowed to have sex or bear children.

Okay, to be more constructive:

1) Close to 100% effective birth control, serious sex education including practical birth control education, and a culture that values it use.

2) Pregnancy only desired by women or couples who are actually ready to raise a child and want the child for its own sake, not to fill in some emotional gap in their life.

Unfortunately, I've given up on U.S. culture meeting the above criteria. Anyone know of another free culture in the world that's doesn't have a need for abortion?

CompJan

To repeat my question from my former post:

Would any of the above solve the problems connected to pregnancies following rape, incest or other sexual crimes?

In my opinion, if one allows for abortion at all, it boils down to who is going to have the power to decide.

I think the mother should.

As mentioned before I am not happy with this, but I cannot see any better solution - and most of those I can think about have been tried in one or more countries.

Quote:

Originally posted by Galadriel
First off, let's get off the whole "partial-birth abortion" bit. That was something dreamed up by the forced-birthers. What they describe as "partial birth" is something that is done when the fetus is already dead. If you don't believe me, look it up.

Hi Galadriel!

Would you be able to provide a website where these assertions can be backed up? Particularly the notion that the fetus is already dead. I wasn't able to find anything on this and the web is chock full of anti-abortion/pro-life sites that I suspect might not present the whole story.

Quote:

Originally posted by Galadriel
Secondly, 85% of all abortions are done in the first trimester, with 80% of those being done in the first six weeks.

Again, is there a site that quotes these statistics?

Quote:

Originally posted by Galadriel
Thirdly, as a former escort at a Planned Parenthood clinic, if I had a dollar for every man who waved a sign and yelled at women going into the clinic that they were baby killers and going to hell, only to show up with his wife, girlfriend or daughter at a later date wanting an abortion for them, I'd have quite a few dollars.

I certainly won't argue with you about folks that lined up outside clinics and badgered individuals going inside. I've seen this kind of thing before and have wondered if the folks yelling at the women going inside really thought they'd be able to persuade anyone by yelling at them. I'll have to take your word about men showing back up later as there probably isn't any scientific data to back this up.

Any links you might be able to pass along would be most helpful.

Have a nice day!

Quote:

Originally posted by Galadriel


Amen, Jan. Add to that that America practically deifies children and mothers. No matter how successful a woman has been in other areas of her life, if she doesn't have children then she is less than a woman. And it has to be her OWN child, so millions of dollars get poured into fertility specialists' pockets every year as millions of brain-washed women clamor to get pregnant.

Fortunately the deification has been dropping over the years, but I'd agree that its still harder for a childless woman to be widely respected than a mother. And of course the anti-feminist culture still considers career women to be a symbol of the evil 60's counter-culture.

I always cringe when I hear of people spending all that money to conceive, when there are so many ready for adoption. Evidence of the power of emotion over reason I guess. However, women don't need brainwashing for it - the instinct to carry a child can be very powerful.

CompJan

Quote:

Originally posted by Bjorn
To repeat my question from my former post:

Would any of the above solve the problems connected to pregnancies following rape, incest or other sexual crimes?

In my opinion, if one allows for abortion at all, it boils down to who is going to have the power to decide.

As mentioned before I am not happy with this, but I cannot see any better solution - and most of those I can think about have been tried in one or more countries.

Ack - you had to bring up the tough ones!

No, I can't see any solution to rape or other forced pregnacy problems, no way to eliminate the moral dilemma. My points were aimed at the issue of choice and avoiding the problem by not getting into the situation in the first place. Obviously a forced pregnancy can't be solved that way.

I wish I had more realistic answers, but humans just don't seem amenable to acting rationally. Birth control education sounds great, except that many people oppose it. Hell, I even know a middle-aged man who refuses to use condoms because he didn't grow up using them (before AIDS). He has a mistress. Guess he's confident she won't sleep around or go off the pill.

Quote:

I think the mother should.

I emphatically agree. I might try to persuade a woman not to abort, but I will never intrude on her right to control her body.

Good night all
CompJan

[Ove]

Quote:

How can people be for abortions but against euthanasia, abortion is forced upon the life to be aborted without its consent, euthanasia is a decision made by the person wishing to be terminated and yet that is illegal. I am for euthenasia & abortion.

I am for Abortion and against "Mercy killing". Why? Abortion is (mostly) performed on something that IMO is not a human being but could develop into one. "Mercy killing" is the deliberate terminaton of a life. You may try to paint it white by calling it euthanasia, than perhaps people can forget what it is but try asking people if they are for executing hoplessly ill people.

Abortion is allways debateable and in an ideal situation should not be nescessary, unfortunately this situation doesn't exist. One of the main problems IMHO is that we have one of the major religions in the world (the Roman Catolic Church) telling people that if they use contraception they will go to hell. This is very stupid behaviour and more so since the church is most widespread in countries where overpopulation is one of the major problems.

It is helping though, i just recently heard(sorry no link) that the abortion rates in the old USSR were dropping very fast. Apparently many women over there used abortion as contraception but this practice is being fast changed now.

On the other hand the problem may well solve itself. I just recently saw a "60 minutes" which dealt with the fact that women are waiting longer to have children and a lot of them are waiting just to long. Apparently a common misunderstanding amongst those women are that you can have children way up in the 40's and one (intelligent well educated businesswoman) even meant she could easily wait untill she was in her 50's before she had children.

The fact is that it is downhill from 30 and when the woman are 40 it is allmost over. Not surprisingly, the doctor who made a campaign trying to inform women about this fact was attacked by feminist groups.

If this continues i suppose there will be a big market for adoption in the next 10 years or so.

A little over two years ago, my wife and I had to face a rather tough decision. She was expecting and we were not living under very good circumstances. Existence was literally hand to mouth. We seriously considered abortion as an option. But after almost a week of talking to each other, and sometimes going to hysterics, we finally decided not to. Haven’t regretted it one bit.

Having said this, I would like to say that I have no problems with a woman opting for abortion:

If she feels that her child will not receive proper care.
To terminate an unwanted pregnancy resulting from forced coitus such as rape.
If it is conducted at the most three months into the pregnancy.

Though I do not care much for women who frequently undergo abortions as an alternative to contraception, I believe that what she does with her body is her business.

By the way Ove, I thought euthanasia expressly required that the person suffering the illness should provide consent for the termination of life. I don’t have any problems with euthanasia as long it is specifically requested by the person suffering from illness and is backed by a panel of experts in the field of medicine and psychology (just to make sure that the person is not merely using it to commit suicide).

[Ove]

Quote:

By the way Ove, I thought euthanasia expressly required that the person suffering the illness should provide consent for the termination of life. I don’t have any problems with euthanasia as long it is specifically requested by the person suffering from illness and is backed by a panel of experts in the field of medicine and psychology (just to make sure that the person is not merely using it to commit suicide).

It is, and i am doubtful about this one. What triggers me is that fact that there have been a couple of nasty cases from Holland, the first country to legalize euthanasia. Cases of the type "old-terminally-ill-person-don't-want-to-take-up-space-from-younger-persons-needing-a-hospital-bed". But it is sticky. I am all for extensive pain reducing treatment even to the extent that it (the treatment) is shortening the patients life but i am basically against saying "Well Dr. nn i would like to die on tuesday, will you please put me down".

I realise that the difference is very small but it is significant to me. I feel that some people don't want to go through the process of dying slowly whereas i would stick to life as long as possible, PROVIDED that i was kept painfree. I know from experience that the last couple of months can be very valuable to all in getting your life "sorted out" and people wanting to be "put down" before they get seriously ill are IMHO taking the easy way out. It is a bit like suicide which i also believe is the coward's way of coping with things.

Another aspect of this is that i have heard from many doctors that they would definitely not want to assist. They are trained to save life, not ending it.

[mindless]

You would put your pet down if it was going to spend the rest of its life in pain, I dont see how its any different, except that once again your not asking the pet. Euthanasia is at least an opinion of the person wishing to die, shouldn't their opinion be of worth and consideration.

I can see a resemblance with abortion and pet destruction, so long as the thing being destroyed isn't classed on the same level as yourself most people are o.k. with it.

Is it if you don't have the ability to pronounce death on someone then they shouldn't have the ability to ask for death for themselves?

Quote:

Originally posted by SortingItAllOut


Hi Galadriel!

Would you be able to provide a website where these assertions can be backed up?

Planned Parenthood

[Ove]

Quote:

You would put your pet down if it was going to spend the rest of its life in pain

Ahemm, i believe my point was : No pain!!

[wolfgirl]

Quote:

Originally posted by Ove
I feel that some people don't want to go through the process of dying slowly whereas i would stick to life as long as possible, PROVIDED that i was kept painfree. I know from experience that the last couple of months can be very valuable to all in getting your life "sorted out" and people wanting to be "put down" before they get seriously ill are IMHO taking the easy way out.

And what's wrong with taking the easy way out? Why is suffering to be applauded or encouraged?

The key part of your statement is "I would." YOU would choose to stick to life as long as possible, but why does that make it the only, or even the best choice for others? It should be up to THEM to choose for themselves what is best for THEM in their own particular and unique circumstance. What if they have no loved ones and the continuance of their life only means another six months of dying slowly and alone? What if...who knows? But the choice should be up to each individual, not up to society.

Quote:

Originally posted by Ove
Another aspect of this is that i have heard from many doctors that they would definitely not want to assist. They are trained to save life, not ending it.

On the flip side, there are many many doctors who claim that they have done this on the sly for patients who have requested help in dying. If they know the patient is dying, will only live in pain, and is making a reasonable conscious choice, they will help them in creative ways. For example, I've read of doctors who provide prescription drugs to a patient and tell them, "Don't take x amount of this drug, as that amount would kill you." Nudge, nudge, wink, wink. The patient takes x amount, dies, and the doctor is off the hook. They see this as a continuation of patient care. If there is nothing more you can do for a patient, often the only help you can provide them is this final act of relief from suffering.

Reprinted from a portion of an old editorial of mine with my permission:


-------[ partial quote ]---------

I despise this issue.

I'm a computer geek. I like the exactness of the binary world.
1 or 0. Yes or no. T'is or t'aint.

The crux of the abortion question for most people is that fuzzy
nether-region; the non-descript moment when a human-becoming
can be considered a human being. It's a critical moment from
the Libertarian standpoint. After all, human-beings have the
right to life. But it's hard for most of us to recognize
a microscopic mass as a person. It's equally difficult to
deny the humanity of a baby who is 99% gestated.

At the extremes of the issue, we have folks who consider it
cut and dried. Steadfast lifers insist that IUDs are murder
weapons and that rape victims should be forced to bear their
attacker's progeny. Ardent choicers defend the gruesome
dilation and extraction procedure seconds prior to birth.

---------[end of partial quote]--------



I still despise this issue.


-jjg

[wolfgirl]

Quote:

Originally posted by Hunter
Hence, I come to you fellow forum dwellers seeking your opinions on the topic of abortion and more importantly, why you hold those opinions.

I'm pro-choice but not pro-abortion. It seems a lot of people here hold a similar opinion. The semantics have gotten clouded by the "pro-life" crowd. By using that term, they project the other side as being "anti-life." We should start calling them "anti-choice." (Words do have the power to shape opinion, as they no doubt recognized when coining that term.)

Anyway, enough of that rant. Back to your question. Most peope I know who are pro-choice feel that abortion is a horrible choice for anyone to have to make, but that the choice should be theirs and not someone else's to make. They are the ones who will have to live with the consequence of that choice either way. The people yelling and protesting outside the abortion clinic might go home all self-satisfied if they convinced someone not to have an abortion, with no thought to what life they may have just condemned that person to. Was she 14 years old and scared? Had she been raped? Were her parents going to kick her out of the house? Did she have an illness that a pregnancy might adversely affect? Does her husband beat her? Does she already have six kids and just can't take another one? Nobody knows the factors that go into another person's decision to have an abortion. They know better than anyone what they need to do in THEIR situation, for THEIR life.

Certainly the best option would be a world where abortions weren't necessary, as many have said. But the reality is that that world will never arrive. Education can help A LOT. (I find it ironic that many of the same people who are so rabidly anti-choice are the same people who resist teaching kids about contraception. If I close my eyes and pretend there is no problem, it'll go away.) But however educated people are about contraception, there will always be mistakes. There will always be people who simply don't want a child, but their birth control failed them. There will always be rapes.

I don't go so far as some to say that a woman should be able to have an abortion at any time. You should probably be able to figure out if you want/need an abortion before you're six months pregnant. However, having said that, there are, again, circumstances that might come up later in the pregnancy, usually health-related, that might make a late-term abortion necessary. In those situations, I say it's between the woman and her doctor.

As for partial-birth abortions, I don't know that much about them. From what I know, they are done rarely and only when there are no other good options. From my admittedly limited knowledge, it seems that the pro-lifers have used the procedure to rally support to their side because of its particularly horrible nature. But if it's a medical choice, as I believe it is, it should be left up to the woman's doctor to decide if it's what's best for her. (If, however, it were simply to be used for a woman who decides at the 11th hour that she doesn't want the baby, I think it would be wrong. I doubt there are many doctors who would do it under those circumstances, though.)

These are, of course, my personal opinions and subject, as always, to reconsideration. My bottom line, though, is that it is among the most personal of choices and the consequences are so huge that it should not be up to anyone else to tell anyone what is best for them.

[Jade]

Hi I am new here, however, whatever compromises we might achieve in our struggle with abortion, it should be clear by now that the debate itself, if we allow ourselves to listen closely to its arguments, perhaps, may shed valuable light on many of the things we believe, and why. But we should not let them obscure the common ground which we all can stand....

[Ove]

Wolfgirl : Good points and as i said i am not totally convinced. My gut feeling though is "Pain prevention Yes, Suicide No" but i wont condem anybody for "taking the easy way out".

Abortion must be a matter between the Doctor and the woman and those people assembling in front of abortion clinics and scolding the poor women really pisses me off. Fortunately over here abortion is performed in hospitals, not in special clinics so the situation would be unthinkable here. But then again the minority against abortion is a very very small minority and don't have that much wind in their sails over here at best they can muster a national protestmarch with a couple of hundred participants.

The Danish authorities have been good on clamping down on people abusing their powers to stage protests. A State employed priest was heavily reprimanded when he participated in a demonstration wearing his "uniform". As state employed he was obligated to defend his "Employer"'s wiewpionts and they are pro-abortion. He was off course fully entitled to his private wiewpoints but if he wished to express those he would have to do so in his "civies"

Another horrible idea was a "Memorial Park" for abortions (publically funded off course) where "parents could mourn their unborn children" Yeeecchh!!!! They didn't enjoy much support for that idea fortunately and the project was postponed.

Abortion is a horrible experience (my wife had a spontaneous one) and i don't think many women would do that "for the fun of it" is is a last way out but the opportunity must be there.

Quote:

Originally posted by Ove
Another horrible idea was a "Memorial Park" for abortions (publically funded off course) where "parents could mourn their unborn children" Yeeecchh!!!! They didn't enjoy much support for that idea fortunately and the project was postponed.

Why do forced-birthers act as if women have guns put to their heads to have abortions? I sincerely doubt the majority mourn their "unborn children." Rather, they're glad they don't have to go through with the pregnancy. No one is forced, which is what drives the forced-birthers crazy ...

[Lucifuge Rofocale]

This is an issue where science can end the controversy forever.

The goal is to have only the children we really want to. So we can develop some kind of vaccine or medical procedure (in the man, to compensate women ) that would make him infertile (like a vasectomy). He only could be capable of impregnate a woman after an antidote is taken or a reverse procedure is practiced, and the effect of this reverse procedure would last only a month (but he can do it anytime he wants).

The social thing is that this procedure should be practiced at birth or in the early chilhood as an standard procedure, like vaccination is today (hehe bigfig ).

The only thing that can stop this after the correct vaccine or procedure has been developed is... you guessed it: Religion.