Quote:
Originally posted by DukeBlue
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.
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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.