Maybe I'm just a dirty stinking idealist, but I have a big problem with the idea of pregnancy and a child being used as a punishment for having sex.

Breaking it down?
 

Let's break it down to a few fundamental points, and see how we all differ in terms of definition:

1 - At what point does a "human life" begin? (JAM - now would be the time to provide cites for comments like "a baby feels pain at 6 weeks" . . . ) This is subjective, and is NOT strictly clinically defined - how do you all feel on the topic?


2 - To what extent can we extend 'beliefs' into 'legal authority'? This, quite simply, asks if you feel a law against abortion actually makes sense, from a moral and legal standpoint.


Open it up ladies and gentlemen . . .

I think this question has been debated since day 1. Everyone has their own opinions and beliefs, and there will never be a day when everyone unites and comes to a conclusion when it comes to abortion. What an individual wants to do in their own life is their business...I have no right to dictate what they are allowed to do..and other people shouldnt try to dictate what I do in my own. There will never be agreement to issues like abortion or gun control..but thats the best part of our country...we are allowed to have different opinions.

Amen to that. :)

One of my hometown buddies recently had a baby boy. His fiance is on the pill and he has used a condom every time they've had sex to avoid having a kid. So, it can still happen, and still does happen. Just a point of info.

now, shut up! (lol, just kidding about that, but i had to throw it in there :) )

d

Re: Breaking it down?
 

To be quite honest, i do not know or have an opinion on when life begins. I would like to say that the human life begins when it is conceived, but i don't say that. This topic is a really confusing point because some consider it life at the point of conception, because life has been formed. Others argue that it doesn't begin at conception because the lifeform depends on the mother for survival. As does a newborn baby, or a 9 month old baby and so on.


d

Just a mom-
I totally agree with you!!! I love reading your posts!!!

:D

It's a little different to depend on the mother by living inside of her body, feeding off the nutrients in her bloodstream, enlarging her organs and putting a strain on all of her major systems, as opposed to living outside of someone else's body and just needing the everyday things everyone does.

My view is sort of like this: Say your sister needs a kidney transplant. Sure, you have more than one kidney, it PROBABLY wouldn't kill you, and it would certainly be the altruistic thing to do, but - no one can legally force you to donate your kidney to someone else, no matter what. And I don't think anyone should be able to legally force any woman to basically donate her entire body to her fetus, even if for "only" nine months (but it's never "only" nine months...it's not like once you're done being pregnant the memory's erased or the result is out of sight and mind).

I'm talking about legality here. You can consider it right or wrong or WHATEVER, but to be able to legally force someone to do something - no. I think the KKK is abhorrent and I wish they'd disappear off the face of the Earth, but I'll defend to my death their right to say whatever they want. Because with every right comes some things we may not like, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be protected. With the right to free speech comes hate groups; with the right to medical privacy comes a woman's right to choose abortion. Like it or not.

Pro Choice.

Pro-choice
 

I'm Pro-choice. I would never tell someone that they couldn't do it, but I don't agree with women who use it as a method of birth control or late term abortions. I know someone who had one later on in her pregnancy and she almost died from it. :( With all that said who am I to tell any other woman what to do with their body, but I could never do it myself.

I'm definitely pro-choice. I think it's a personal choice for the woman, and that it's not up to me, the government, or anyone else to tell a woman whether she should keep a baby or not. Now, I'm not in favor of late-term abortions - I think the choice should be made early, and I think there are some very understandable reasons for making the choice early. However, I would never want to take away a woman's right to choose what happens to her own body. There's a lot more to how I feel with the issue, I could go on for a while about it, but that's where I'll leave it for now.

Collin

My take
 

Personally I could not abort a fetus living inside of me, but I do think every woman should have a chance to decide for herself.

If I were in my own perfect world, though, adoption would replace every case of abortion, but I know it's not always possible that way.

I am mostly pro-life (read the post that I just wrote for more info on that), but I am totally against bombing abortion clinics and killing doctors who perform such operations. I am against killing in general (well except for those who are criminals like Timothy McVeigh for example), and bombing clinics and killing doctors would go totally against my beliefs.

I think that that's just an immature, ineffective way to try to end abortion. Protests are one thing, bombing and murder are another...

Re: To relpy to damasa first......
 

I consider myself a "conservative Democrat" and am pro-life and in favor of the death penalty. Some people are like, "You sure you're a Democrat?" :p

DukeBlue, good point about how a woman "donates" her body for 9 months. I could not imagine being FORCED into donating my body to nourish and carry and support something that I didn't want. That is absolutely terrifying! I cannot think of anything more inappropriate for the government or anyone else to force upon another person.

I don't want to say much on this topic, because this is one, like so many others, about which I am very, very opinionated, and my opinions are set and will never, ever change. I am absolutely, completely, 100% pro-choice. I don't think that there should be ANY government interference whatsoever involved in stifling a woman's choice to terminate a pregnancy for whatever reason. There is nobody who should sit as judge and jury to tell a woman, well, you were raped, so it's okay, or you are just irresponsible, so now you have to suffer the consequences. Once governmental controls start being created, women will lose more and more control over their own bodies.

I remember reading the abortion cases in law school, and I would get SO mad. I am completely against things like parental notification and 24 hour waiting periods. If you are a good, supportive parent and your daughter gets pregnant, she probably will tell you. If she doesn't feel comfortable telling you, well, that is your fault, and you shouldn't expect the government to force her to do something that you have made her feel she can't. Waiting periods are an insult to women everywhere. What they are really saying is -- you are fragile, weak and stupid. Here, let me give you some information, and you go home and rest your pretty little, silly head and "think" about this for a while. That just steams me.

Women are powerful, and we need to remember that and stand up for our rights. My mom, bless her heart, is a republican but pro-choice. When I explain to her that putting a conservative republican (like W) in the white house will likely result in conservative supreme court justices which will likely result in a drastic change in the current law which would likely result in the elimination of a woman's right to choose in at least some states, her response is always, "Oh, that won't happen." It very well might, and as I always say (she thinks I'm nuts) -- oppression of one woman is oppression of ALL women, myself included.