Abortion: Putting A Face On The Issue

Having grown up in the Catholic school system, I can say from personal experience its because sexuality itself is so strictly moralized. We had no sex education until 7th grade, and even then it began and ended with "sex before marriage is a sin". The same pseudo-facts were trotted out - "No birth control method is 100% safe" was a big one - and the same realistic factors were completely ignored, instead hoping that fear would be enough to trump the need for education.


One of the most ridiculous attitudes I came across in my time there was the belief that if you educate teenagers about sex, they're going to automatically go out and have sex. Please, its not like they don't already have the urges, masturbate, or don't even know what their genitalia is for. They are biologically built to have sex. Just telling them "don't do it" and hoping for the best is a shortsighted plan that has obviously and repeatedly failed.




April - thanks for putting a personal and human face on the subject from the other side of the fence, especially given the tone of some people that have contributed. The concern that stops at birth seems to me to be an offshoot of the "pregnancy as punishment" attitude - which, given your story, should be easily seen as overly moralistic, unrealistic, and hypocritically judgemental in the extreme.

"abortion should be safe"... Safe for whom? The baby?

"abortion should be legal".... Why not make rape legal too?

"abortion should be rare".... It will be rare if it's illegal.

Come back when you can get pregnant. Until then, you will never know what it's like when something happens that takes control of your body. Do you smoke? Can I tell you not to smoke because you are killing yourself? Who are you to determine someone else's body? Get off your high horse and control yourself.

Appeal to emotion (why call it a baby and not a fetus, which is what it is), and again brings up the attitude that pregnancy is punishment.




Makes no sense whatsoever. Legal abortion means a procedure done in a sterilized and safe manner for the mother as opposed to back-alley abortions. There is no equivilant to your rape comparison. Also shows how little you seem to know about either situation.

You're basing your arguments on your moral/religious belief that abortion always equals murder. Which is fine if that's the belief you want to hold, but others do not hold that belief. Basing laws that govern other people's lives based on a belief that is so highly contested, with no firm proof behind it besides your personal convictions, only serves to give you a sense of moral satisfaction as opposed to serving the greater good.




Not only disregards all other factors to the rate of abortion - including education, income, access to health care and birth control - but blatantly false. Illegalizing drugs certainly hasn't made drugs rare. Its only driven them to a criminalized black market. Even illegalizing abortion won't stop those who are determined to end their pregnancy - it will only drive them to a criminalized black market, without the health precautions in place during a legal medical procedure.

If my smoking causes someone else to die, by all means, demand I stop.

Yeah, I shouldn't be demanding what people can do to their "OWN" body. They should be allowed to kill or rape, because it's their body. Oh, we already have laws in place that say smoking is restricted. People can't smoke anywhere they wish.

Oh yeah, I forgot, killing and raping means someone else is going to suffer harm or lose their life.

I have to agree with this. I had no idea I would get pregnant and my mother had no idea I was having sex. If someone had told me I would get pregnant or had suggested condoms, the pregnancy probably wouldn't have happened. That's another irony that the Catholic church and other organization won't even consider condoms and/or birth control.



I hesitate to tell it sometimes. But it needs to be told. It's easy for someone who's never been in the situation to dictate to others. They all act as if it was an easy decision and not one woman ever agonized over it. "Let's see, what should I do today? Oh I think I'll have my nails done, pick up some bread, have an abortion and go to the library." First of all every woman who chooses this has their own reasons. Every clinic that offers the service has counseling to make sure it's the right choice. There's not drive through, place the uterus here, remove fetus, pay your bill and go.

It's insulting for someone else to come along and indignantly make comments about someone's private life. There's no justification unless we can go into your home and do the exact same thing. What did you feed your kid last night. Was it a well balanced meal? Did you give them candy. Are they getting the right amount of vitamins? Did you dress them warmly? Did you get up right away when they called? Are you reading them a bedtime story? Did button their jacket, etc.

You might mean well, but this is a moot issue. It's my body, period.

Kevn, How many humans have been killed in the name of a God?

C'mon Kevn... you already know second hand smoke kills LOL



You're funny LOL if you kill or rape your own body... isn't that suicide / masturbation?

You need to stop looking at things in black and white because they're not. If anything, April's post would've told you that...

Actually the science behind that claim is severely lacking. It's another issue that has more to do with legislating subjective morality than with good rational science. But that's a topic for another thread.

On the other hand it can easily be proven that religion kills.

Kendra, it truly saddens me to see otherwise intelligent people resort to that kind of argument in order to support the killing of even more innocent people.

I guess what you mean is since humans die to religious fighting no one should suggest life is valuable enough to defend.

We can go into to YOUR home if abuse is suspected. If you kill your kids it's all our right to complain and seek justice, even though they aren't my kids.

IT'S NOT YOUR BODY, ARE YOU LISTENING? IT'S THE CHILD'S BODY!

If there is a pregnant baby who needs to have an abortion, then yes, she should be able to get a safe one.

If you think that rape should be legal, then you should start a campaign to legalize it. Don't expect any support from me, though.

Yes, it might cut down on the numbers a little, but it would also invalidate the first two conditions. You need to think harder and come up with a better solution than that.

1. So abortion shouldn't be safe for the child unless the child is aborting the mother?

2. I don't support anything that requires another innocent person be killed or abused. I asked because it seems some of you think we should all have unlimited control over our own body regardless of the affect on others.

3. Cut down a little? 72% of women who had abortions say they wouldn't, had it been illegal.

From the department of "Pulled out of my ass" statistics?

Interestingly, the department of "pulled out of my ass" often has a direct link to the department of silly walks.

I can't read all the posts here, so forgive me. But the parental consent thing always blows me away. So a 15 who gets pregnant and wants to have an abortion has to get permission to not be a parent, but she doesn't need permission to be a parent? If you trust her with a baby, why not trust her to make a decision for her body?

If it hadn't been legal when I was 13, I am pretty sure my mother would have found someone to perform the procedure. She has 5 kids and had to leave an abusive relationship and raise us all on her own. She didn't want me to go through the same hardship.

A minor always needs permission for medical procedures, why should abortion be any different?

God forbid you put the child up for adoption rather than having it killed.

What's ironic is God doesn't even hold babies dear. While I wouldn't think of killing a baby, why did God let all those babies die in when the King was searching for Baby Jesus. He told Joseph to leave the Bethlehem in a dream and then let the King kill all those babies for nothing. Why didn't God tell all of those babies parents to leave?

Think about it?

Have you ever been pregnant? Do you think it's just like being an incubater. Bam 9 months later open the door and let the baby out? Do you understand that it affects the health of the person? It affect the ability in many ways. Do you think every child is adopted and that it is an easy process?

Have you killed any sperm today? Why aren't you using every one of your sperms? They are potential children. You are murdering them. You could be inplanting them in some female right now instead of letting them die a horrible death. Go out now and stop killing sperm.

You are obviously clueless. I will stop responding to your posts.

Amazing the justifications one hears to kill innocent humans. Now we have people who reject God using God as a validating source to continue supporting the death of innocent babies.

Fine. Read the thread though, all your points have been answered.

Seems entirely reasonable to me. In my view the Christian god is a complete prick. Even if there was conclusive proof that he existed I still wouldn't worship him. He's the undisputed king of killing innocents... already born ones at that.

Actually, I mean that religion should be outlawed.