(no subject)
Today a judge declared that the partial-birth abortion ban in the United States is unjust. This is likely to be a long meandering thought process, so I've cut for those who don't care, or don't want to hear my opinion. :)
I've been a believer in the pro-choice movement for as long as I can remember, and in my experience people are either VERY pro-choice or VERY anti-choice. I won't call it "pro-life" because that makes pro-choice seem like we're pro-death and that's not true. I would NEVER tell any woman that she should have an abortion. I'm happy for people when they find out they're pregnant and are genuinely glad about it.
My best friend recently had a miscarriage and she wanted that baby so badly I was afraid she might hurt herself. I certainly didn't want her to have an abortion.
But there's a HUGE difference between being pregnant and wanting to be pregnant, and being pregnant and hating it.
Let's look at some facts.
A. Not everyone wants children. Anti-choicers will argue then that women shouldn't have sex, or have non-safe sex. Agreed on the second part. But crap happens. Condoms break, pills don't always work, etc. So if the birth control methods fail, we should force the woman to have a child she doesn't want?
Well, she could give the baby up for adoption right?
Sure. But do you know how many children in the U.S. are waiting to be adopted already? Millions. So okay, she keeps the baby. And then beats the kid and tells him/her that she wishes he/she had never been born. Or worse yet, shakes it to death when it won't stop crying at 2 a.m., or drives it into a lake and claims insanity when the baby drowns.
B. Let's talk about a "baby" that's created from incest or rape. I don't know too many women who would honestly want to carry a child to term that results from a hideous act of violence. I certainly wouldn't. See above for reasons against adoption/keeping the child.
C. Something wrong with the fetus. I also don't know that I would want to bring a child into the world knowing that it had something fatally wrong with it, or even a very serious health condition such as Down's Syndrome. You have to look at quality of life in these cases, too.
D. The mother's life is in danger if she carries the baby to delivery. This is a very personal issue, as well. Some women would be more than willing to take the risk in order to have a baby. Why should others, however, who don't want children for whatever reason, put their life in jeopardy for a child she didn't want to begin with?
That being said, my personal belief is that abortion should be a choice as long as the fetus/child is unable to live on its own outside of the mother's womb. To me, if it can't breathe, eat, drink, etc, without her, and she doesn't want to have a baby, she shouldn't have to.
However. I'm against partial birth abortions. Maybe someone can change my mind on this, but I doubt it. There are some very pro-choice people who say that a woman she be allowed to have an abortion at ANY point during her pregnancy, including the ninth month.
That, to me, is murder. By then, the child can live outside the mother in the majority of cases, it can feel pain, it can hear, and see, and breathe. I'm sorry, but if you haven't decided by a certain time that you don't want to have a baby, you can't just decide the day before you're due that you don't want the child. Fine, give it up for adoption, because at that point, abortion becomes murder.
Just my humble opinions. And if you're going to disagree with anything (which please, feel free to), I ask that you don't use religion as your standpoint. While I respect everyone's right to their religious beliefs, your religion won't sway me in the least. I guarantee it.
I've been a believer in the pro-choice movement for as long as I can remember, and in my experience people are either VERY pro-choice or VERY anti-choice. I won't call it "pro-life" because that makes pro-choice seem like we're pro-death and that's not true. I would NEVER tell any woman that she should have an abortion. I'm happy for people when they find out they're pregnant and are genuinely glad about it.
My best friend recently had a miscarriage and she wanted that baby so badly I was afraid she might hurt herself. I certainly didn't want her to have an abortion.
But there's a HUGE difference between being pregnant and wanting to be pregnant, and being pregnant and hating it.
Let's look at some facts.
A. Not everyone wants children. Anti-choicers will argue then that women shouldn't have sex, or have non-safe sex. Agreed on the second part. But crap happens. Condoms break, pills don't always work, etc. So if the birth control methods fail, we should force the woman to have a child she doesn't want?
Well, she could give the baby up for adoption right?
Sure. But do you know how many children in the U.S. are waiting to be adopted already? Millions. So okay, she keeps the baby. And then beats the kid and tells him/her that she wishes he/she had never been born. Or worse yet, shakes it to death when it won't stop crying at 2 a.m., or drives it into a lake and claims insanity when the baby drowns.
B. Let's talk about a "baby" that's created from incest or rape. I don't know too many women who would honestly want to carry a child to term that results from a hideous act of violence. I certainly wouldn't. See above for reasons against adoption/keeping the child.
C. Something wrong with the fetus. I also don't know that I would want to bring a child into the world knowing that it had something fatally wrong with it, or even a very serious health condition such as Down's Syndrome. You have to look at quality of life in these cases, too.
D. The mother's life is in danger if she carries the baby to delivery. This is a very personal issue, as well. Some women would be more than willing to take the risk in order to have a baby. Why should others, however, who don't want children for whatever reason, put their life in jeopardy for a child she didn't want to begin with?
That being said, my personal belief is that abortion should be a choice as long as the fetus/child is unable to live on its own outside of the mother's womb. To me, if it can't breathe, eat, drink, etc, without her, and she doesn't want to have a baby, she shouldn't have to.
However. I'm against partial birth abortions. Maybe someone can change my mind on this, but I doubt it. There are some very pro-choice people who say that a woman she be allowed to have an abortion at ANY point during her pregnancy, including the ninth month.
That, to me, is murder. By then, the child can live outside the mother in the majority of cases, it can feel pain, it can hear, and see, and breathe. I'm sorry, but if you haven't decided by a certain time that you don't want to have a baby, you can't just decide the day before you're due that you don't want the child. Fine, give it up for adoption, because at that point, abortion becomes murder.
Just my humble opinions. And if you're going to disagree with anything (which please, feel free to), I ask that you don't use religion as your standpoint. While I respect everyone's right to their religious beliefs, your religion won't sway me in the least. I guarantee it.