Essay:Where do you fall in the abortion debate?
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[edit] Allhailtuna
Go and engage in the mass massacre of innocent little unborn children. See if I care. I don't.
[edit] Edgerunner76
I'm probably more conservative than one might think, but no where near wackjob conservative. I support all of the typical exceptions (life of the mother and so on). I have no problem with abortion while the whatever is still just a bunch of cells. I'm even pretty supportive up to the "still looks like a chicken" stage. Once you start getting past that, my support wanes significantly.
[edit] Researcher
IF there are facilities to support a fetus after viability, AND the government is willing to accept said fetus and care for it (after induced labor or some such), THEN I am willing to accept restrictions on abortion post-viability. Otherwise, I see no reason to enslave a woman to a potentiality. (And don't tell me she "asked for it" by choosing to have sex--I may have asked you to tie me up and throw me in your basement, but if you don't let me go when I ask it becomes kidnapping.)
And I'll proudly state here that I have helped a woman (my then-wife) get an abortion, because it was HER decision. I've seen the conflict in a woman first-hand (she didn't plan on getting pregnant, than decided to keep it, and then decided she couldn't). I am NEVER making that decision for someone else.
[edit] Bob M
It's the mother's body. The fetus has no personality, no identity - the mother has both, and it's her call.
[edit] PalMD
I'm a hard-ass. The mom is the person. The fetus is not. Of course, there are exceptions (abortion at 36 weeks is probably one of them). I also do not separate abortion rights from other reproductive rights, such as free and ready access to birth control, sex education, and the morning after pill.
[edit] SusanG
I chose not to have kids. I think that population increase is the most threatening event in the history of the world. Population increase fuels (sic) global warming. The RC attitude to contraception and abortion is criminal. I can understand the views of brainwashed (my opinion) religious anti-abortionists but discount them. I don't know what I'd have done if I'd become pregnant - I always took care (single and married) to avoid it. As to foetus age - I dunno but probably agree with Doc. Until you've been faced with it personally I don't think you're qualified to make any decision and certainly not for a third party. Rambling - stream of consciousness - sorry.
[edit] Stile4aly
I really see abortion as more of a moral issue and less of a legal one. Essentially, I believe that it's morally wrong to terminate a pregnancy except in cases of rape, incest, or where the mother's life is threatened. This being said, I don't think it's my place (or anyone's) to legislate morality. Abortion is legal and I see no reason to overturn the decision. The decision whether to have a child or not should be left to individual parents. Stile4aly 22:33, 24 January 2008 (EST)
[edit] AmesG
I guess I'm fairly moderate. I like the current legal framework, at least before the Roberts court fucked it up. I think there should be an absolute right to an abortion for life & health reasons. And there should be an absolute right to choose pre-viability. I don't think it's right to put the women's interests below an inanimate, non-severable organism. Once we cross the viability line, though, I don't think there's a real autonomy issue in play anymore, barring extreme circumstances. The way I see it, by that point, the autonomy right has been effectively waived (absent a showing why the right couldn't be exercised earlier), and I think abortion restrictions after that point are fine.-αmεσ (ninja) 00:14, 25 February 2008 (EST)
[edit] PoorEd
I know that a 100-cell blastocyst is not a person, and I intuit that a fetus the day before birth is a person, but I think it's a harder call in-between. If it comes down to a choice between a mother's life and abortion at any stage the mother should have the choice. I guess I would suffer no qualms about abortion for the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, and every week after that the decision would become more difficult if the mother's life was not at risk. PoorEd 15:58, 28 February 2008 (EST)
[edit] Dick Turpis
I sort of agree with PoorEd. Obviously a zygote is not a person, and I believe the life of the mother comes first. The trouble can emerge when you have to weigh the life of a 7 month fetus and the health of the mother. "Health" can be vague. It can mean mental health, which can mean depression. So what that can mean is, if you allow for blanket "health of the mother" exemption, you can at least theoretically have a woman abort a 7 month fetus because having it might make her sad (if you can find a doctor to sign off on that). That's not so good. I think any time you're looking at a fetus that can live on its own, you start to have problems. That being said, such abortions aren't usually allowed under current law anyway, so I'm not entirely sure what the Right is complaining about when they talk of "partial birth abortions". Anyone who waits until their third trimester to have an abortion needs a pretty damn good excuse.
[edit] Javascap
Myself, I am not too particurally fond of abortion, and I do not believe in completly unrestricted abortion, but I recognize that for some people, giving birth to achild could cause severe damage to themselves or others. I believe in abortion if the women
- Was raped
- Would suffer severe damage to her body as a result of the pregnancy
- The fetus would be severly deformed upon birth due to an inlying genetic disorder
I do not belive in abortion for most other cases, but I do not draw a hard line on it. In general, I believe that a pregnant teen (and I know a couple) should have to endure the consequences for her poor choice, and that a generally healthy women should be able to birth a child and set him/her up for adoption. I might lean a bit right on this, but... meh.
Warm regards, Javascap 12:35, 10 March 2008 (EDT)
[edit] Genghis Khant
I believe that surgical abortion is best avoided. In most cases it's an admission of failure somewhere along the line - mainly a failure of education or a failure of access to efficient contraception. So the first thing to say is that proper sex education should be given to all children before puberty and continued through their teenage years. However, when termination is necessary then it should be done as quickly as possible. Professionals who stand in the way of someone who needs or wants an abortion actually exacerbate the possible trauma for the female.
I disagree with Javascap, many young teens don't get pregnant throught poor choice, it's through ignorance or being duped by the male. The psychological needs of the mother are also being dismissed, a woman can suffer just as much trauma by giving her baby for adoption as by having an abortion. The longer the delay in having an abortion the more likely that the fetus becomes viable, particularly with advances in medical technology. Maybe that's why some people try to delay the abortion until its too late.
Also, as a man it ill-behoves me to tell a woman what she should and should not do with her body. I don't believe that abortion should be used as a routine method of birth control but we have too many people on the planet already and eventually those Malthusian predictions will come to pass.
[edit] Jeff L
I think one of the biggest controversies in the abortion debate is that there doesn't seem to be a middle ground as far as law-makers are concerned. Politicians seem to be either pro-life or pro-choice with no gray area. Some may say that as long as the fetus isn't viable, then abortion is okay. The main problem with that stance is that viability of a fetus isn't a concrete term. Some fetuses (feti?) are viable at 20 weeks, but with a much greater chance of developmental problems.
I'm personally in that gray area. I don't think that abortion should be used as a form of birth control, however I don't agree with an outright ban on it. There are special circumstances in which abortion is a medical necessity, and there are also cases in which it improves the quality of life for all parties involved, even if that means termination of one (potential) life. I personally don't see any legislation that can solve this sensitive of a moral dilemma. There's really no wrong stance in this issue; either way, one is attempting to save a life, or the quality of life for one or all parties involved.
[edit] Elassint
If the mothers health is at stake, then it should happen ASAP. If it is a child of rape, then as long as it is still in the cell stage. Anything else, and my answer will be a nearly unchangeable NO.
[edit] Lyra Belaqua
If the woman's longterm health is at stake, or was the victim of rape, underage, or other such crime, then it should always be allowed in the 1st trimester. Not afterwards. ✡ ՔՎɌ⟰ 14:16, 21 May 2008 (EDT)
[edit] PFoster
Torn. I have serious problems with abortion on demand in cases where the woman's health is not at risk. But in the long run, my moral code defaults to the liberty of the individual, above all else, and so it's not my place to tell anyone what to do--though I do wish more people would consider adoption.PFoster
[edit] Dream
I think abortion gets worse as the fetus develops. I think abortion should be avoided. But I don't think it's really like murder, I would more compare it to unnecessary killing of an animal (which I also object to). It may be the least bad solution and as such should always be legal, but it's not really an ideal thing to do.
[edit] Zmidponk
In my opinion, you can't really have a 'one size fits all' solution to the abortion issue, as every situation is different. For some, having an abortion is simply a convenient way of getting rid of a relatively minor problem, and, in those cases, shouldn't really be allowed, to my mind. However, to others, having an abortion might be the best way of solving a very great problem indeed, due to other reasons (the mental or physical health of the mother, for example). As such, in my opinion, abortion certainly should not be outlawed, but we should never get to the stage where abortion is so routine and commonplace that it means nothing, even to the person having it.
[edit] WaitingforGodot
There is simply no time when it is *ever* the right of the government to tell me when and how another human being will use my body for its physical home. Without the right to chose when and where I have an independant human reside inside of me, I cannot be a fully actualized human, nor can I ever be equal to "man" in this world. Should I choose to be a work-a-holic, an alcoholic, a sex-o-holic or just a third tier line dancer on Broadway, I cannot be equal unless I can say that I want to put my job, my health, my social life, or my selfish feminazi babykilling desire for having fun in front of some other beings choice to live inside of me.
Dear Pro-lifers, please note that my argument puts ME first, and there is not one single thing wrong with a woman being FIRST in her OWN life. also, please note I have not one single compunction or desire to "hide" the "fact" that the being inside me is a human, a baby, or any other term you think We Feminsts avoid. But it is irrelevant if it is a baby, or if it is a grown man, or if it is a cute cuddly puppy. If i don't want something else living inside me, that must always be my ultimate right to define.
By the way, anyone who says someone should "have to endure the consequences of her poor choice" does not understand a thing about the issues. If i go out and get herpes, should i have to "endure the pain and humilation" cause i was stupid and didn't use a condom? Or should i be able to avail myself of the medical technologies avaliable to me? If I go out and drink and drive, get my ass into a car accident and am "fine" other than my now disfigured face... should I not be allowed plastic surgery because i "made a horrible decision".
It should also be known that it is not only teens who get pregnant; a child should NOT be a punishment for stupidity; and 90% of all abortions occur when other BC was used (and failed).
[edit] Phentari
I suppose I would have to be classified as "pro life." I say that reluctantly, as I consider some of the lunatics who call themselves "pro life" to have tainted that title forever. I think that abortion is wrong and should be avoided except in the most extreme cases. That said, I think there's tremendous hypocrisy on the part of a lot of "pro life" activists, in that they're more interested in winning than in compromises that would reduce the number of abortions. (I've heard a lot of them flat-out dismiss Democrats for Life, for instance, on the grounds that making any deals with Democrats is unacceptable.)
If someone could show me a way to actually end abortion, instead of just driving it underground and creating a windfall for criminals, I'd support it. I consider the attitude of, "Well, we outlawed it, if a woman illegally seeks an abortion and dies, that's not our problem" to be profoundly distasteful. "I wash my hands of this woman's blood." Hmm. Sounds familiar. --Phentari 14:34, 4 July 2008 (EDT)
[edit] Shangrala
I like Canada's stance on it. I believe that limiting late term abortions is punishment to the uneducated. There are in fact women out there who wouldn't be able to recognize a pregnancy until being late into it.
[edit] Silver
I don't like abortion, but I believe it should be fully legal and protected. Instead, to "stop" abortion, people need to focus on the reason "why?" do women want to get an abortion (think about unwed, pregnant women. Now, think about how many others think of them). I believe that there may be people (extremely few) who are mentally ill and undergo abortion simply because it is convenient, then we don't need their gene in the gene pool anyway.
[edit] Toiretni
20 years in the future, when both women and men have a "on/off switch" that reliably prevents conception, and it's easily available to poor people, and religions don't try to prevent the pious from using it, then I think abortion should be made illegal (except for health reasons), because it'll be unnecessary in all other circumstances. Until then though, the fact that churches simultaneously preach against contraceptives as well as abortion, that's morally unacceptable IMHO. --Toiretni 16:27, 14 August 2008 (EDT)
[edit] OneForLogic
Ok, so the answer here is, once again, obviously not simply "yes" or "no". Beyond that, though, it gets complicated fast. I support maximum possible availability of contraceptives and comprehensive sex education. It would be nice if all pregnancies were planned, and we should definitely try to move our culture toward that higher level of responsibility. Beyond that, though, I think the only effective way to make decisions about abortion is on a case by case basis. OneForLogic 17:23, 14 August 2008 (EDT)
[edit] Zahd
I happen to believe in God. The general idea is don't kill it her, unless you need to save the mother's woman's life, in which case you actually have a case to take to God when you die: "We both would have been dead" is a good one. And God, knowing and seeing and understanding all, probably doesn't buy this mental health of the woman nonsense. You got yourself pregnant; have the damn baby. You can drop it off at a friendly neighborhood liquor store for all He cares, just don't kill it and rob it of its chance to grow up and be Steve Jobs.
[edit] WilhelmJunker
The practice is an ethical quagmire, which is exacerbated by the religious right's staunch opposition to measures which will reduce abortion rates without compromising reproductive freedom such as increased access to birth control, education, and support for single parents. I'm tentatively in favor of allowing early term abortions on the expectation that they would be rare and performed only when strictly necessary in a more responsible system.
[edit] Wazza
I agree with Jon Stewart when he says that everyone wants a world where it doesn't happen. But until we can get the education and resources out there to make that happen, I think the choice should be absolutely the mother's at least until cells start differentiating and possibly right up until viability. Something without brain cells can't be what we think of as human. If you're going off genetics, I'm aborting millions of my potential descendants every night.
[edit] See also
| Abortion articles on RationalWiki | ||
|---|---|---|
| Abortion - Fetus/Fœtus - Gonzales v. Carhart - Nuremberg Files - Parsley abortion - Pro-life - Pro-choice - Essay:Rhetorical analysis of abortion essays - Roe v. Wade - Schlafly, breast cancer and abortion - The Silent Scream - Barnett Slepian - Essay:Where do you fall in the abortion debate? | ||
