~.: At the risk of starting a flame war/argument/what have you on LJ, I'm going to ask how someone can be pro-choice and anti-death-penalty. Please, someone, explain to me how this makes sense. :/
No offense, but "pro-responsibility" doesn't really mean anything to me.
I mean, being "pro-responsibility" as you just described it means that women who were raped, or women who did want to have a baby and discovered during their pregnancy that the child has serious mental or physical disability that they can't care for, for whatever reason, or that there is some serious threat to the mother's life are being irresponsible in some ways. There are situations that can't be helped. I also have noticed there's this rampant and incorrect assumption that the majority of women who seek abortions are using it as some kind of birth control, and that's just not the case. It's not. I'd rather a bundle of cells be flushed out of someone's system than have a child brought up in an environment where it isn't wanted or won't be properly cared for. And honestly, there are women who do everything in their power to not have a child - they're on the pill, they make their boyfriend use a condom, they use spermicidal jelly - and shit happens.
Think of it this way - if someone was stupid enough to have unprotected sex, do you really want them raising a child? I don't. There are a lot of unpleasant implications.
Also, I take enormous offense at your closing statement, that people are "always so focused on killing things they don't like." A woman who gets an abortion isn't killing something she doesn't like. She's making an extremely difficult decision about her body and her life, and the life that's inside her. Don't for one second assume that women make this decision arbitrarily. Women who actually need to have abortions are never that flippant about it.
I think I need to clarify what I meant. I wasn't implying that women who get pregnant as a result of circumstances outside their control (e.g. women who are raped) are being irresponsible. All I mean is that I think both men and women should do everything in their power to prevent things from happening that they don't want to happen/aren't ready to cope with. Firstly, I think that if a person doesn't want a child, they shouldn't be having sex. I don't see how anyone can be surprised when a baby/fetus/fertilized egg is the result of pretty much the only thing that causes it (outside of a laboratory). However, I know that's alot to ask of people, so my personal feeling is that if one is going to have sex, they should be very cautious, and be sure they are physically, mentally, emotionally, financially, and spiritually ready to handle whatever consequences may arise from sex, whether one is confronted with the choice to have or not have a child or whatever those consequences may be. If a person doesn't think they'd be able to handle the choice to abort or not, they shouldn't be setting themselves up for the potential to have to make that decision. I know abortion is never an easy choice for a woman. I also know that it leaves long-lasting effects on people besides the woman making the choice, and obviously the woman herself.
And while the majority of women who get abortions probably aren't going in there with their minds at ease, I'm willing to bet there are women who do use it as birth control, and really feel no remorse or sadness or sense of loss. That's fine for them. It saddens me, but it's none of my business, it's their lives, their choices.
I never meant to offend anyone. There are many (at least three) women in my life now that have had abortions, and I don't love a single one of them any less. I support their opportunity to choose, even if I didn't/don't agree with the choice they made. For one of them I know how hard it was on everyone, and it's a choice I would never want to wish on anyone. If I had one wish, I would wish for a society that was less hostile to children. An adoption system that afforded women a much more physically and emotionally healthy choice in circumstances of unwanted pregnancies, and a medical system that didn't cater to the lies of teenagers (liveaction.org -- not as much propaganda as it looks at first glance). There is so much reform needed, and I don't know that we'll ever get it. For now, all I can do is hope that people treat themselves and others with respect and dignity, and trust that they really are making the choices they feel are best for them in the long-run.
I mean, being "pro-responsibility" as you just described it means that women who were raped, or women who did want to have a baby and discovered during their pregnancy that the child has serious mental or physical disability that they can't care for, for whatever reason, or that there is some serious threat to the mother's life are being irresponsible in some ways. There are situations that can't be helped. I also have noticed there's this rampant and incorrect assumption that the majority of women who seek abortions are using it as some kind of birth control, and that's just not the case. It's not. I'd rather a bundle of cells be flushed out of someone's system than have a child brought up in an environment where it isn't wanted or won't be properly cared for. And honestly, there are women who do everything in their power to not have a child - they're on the pill, they make their boyfriend use a condom, they use spermicidal jelly - and shit happens.
Think of it this way - if someone was stupid enough to have unprotected sex, do you really want them raising a child? I don't. There are a lot of unpleasant implications.
Also, I take enormous offense at your closing statement, that people are "always so focused on killing things they don't like." A woman who gets an abortion isn't killing something she doesn't like. She's making an extremely difficult decision about her body and her life, and the life that's inside her. Don't for one second assume that women make this decision arbitrarily. Women who actually need to have abortions are never that flippant about it.
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And while the majority of women who get abortions probably aren't going in there with their minds at ease, I'm willing to bet there are women who do use it as birth control, and really feel no remorse or sadness or sense of loss. That's fine for them. It saddens me, but it's none of my business, it's their lives, their choices.
I never meant to offend anyone. There are many (at least three) women in my life now that have had abortions, and I don't love a single one of them any less. I support their opportunity to choose, even if I didn't/don't agree with the choice they made. For one of them I know how hard it was on everyone, and it's a choice I would never want to wish on anyone. If I had one wish, I would wish for a society that was less hostile to children. An adoption system that afforded women a much more physically and emotionally healthy choice in circumstances of unwanted pregnancies, and a medical system that didn't cater to the lies of teenagers (liveaction.org -- not as much propaganda as it looks at first glance). There is so much reform needed, and I don't know that we'll ever get it. For now, all I can do is hope that people treat themselves and others with respect and dignity, and trust that they really are making the choices they feel are best for them in the long-run.
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