A couple of thoughts on abortion

[mousme]

This has cropped up a number of times on my flist of late, which isn't all that surprising, considering my friends.

I don't know if it'll surprise many people on here if I say that, fundamentally, I don't believe that abortion is right. Maybe it will surprise people. It won't surprise those who know me well. I am the product of someone's choice not to abort, so I feel rather strongly on the topic, to say the least.

That being said, until there are safe, viable alternatives to abortion, I will remain pro-choice.

When there is a clear and present danger to the mother's health, I am all in favour of terminating a pregnancy in a safe, medical procedure that is authorized by law. Until dangerous pregnancies are a thing of the past, I will remain pro-choice.

Until everyone who doesn't want a child is given access to birth control and other safe-sex products, I will remain pro-choice.

Until little girls are no longer raped, I will remain pro-choice.

Until such a time as women are no longer abused and raped by men they thought they could trust, I will remain pro-choice.

Until such a time as abortion remains the *only* resort for some unhappy, desperate women, I will remain pro-choice.

Until such a time as women are entirely in control of their own fertility, I will remain pro-choice.




I am not anti-life. I am pro-choice. There is a difference.


:::ETA:::

I am leaving comments open for now. Everyone is welcome to their opinion, and to discuss in a sane, rational, and respectful manner. Most of you don't need to be told to remain civilized, but this is a sensitive topic, so if you get upset, keep your hands away from your keyboard. Close friend or online acquaintance, if you insult or otherwise flame someone on this LJ, I will ban your ass faster than you can say "Bob's your mother's brother." Capito?

Comments

[forthright.livejournal.com]

I'm more interested in whether there is anyone out there who actually thinks that human life starts at birth and that a woman's right to choose extends right up to that point. Because this is one of the bogeymen that the radical anti-choice people seem to raise very often, but I have never met any such person.

Everyone who I have ever met on the pro-choice side, including myself, believes there should be some restrictions on abortions. However, I do wonder whether, as a rhetorical tool or as a political position, some pro-choice advocates end up taking the 'unrestricted' point of view out of fear that any concession will lead to full re-criminalization (or at least, to the withdrawal of funding for abortion).

[alcinoe.livejournal.com]

I don't think that it starts at birth, but I believe that there is a faith that does believe that. I am "at the point of viability outside of the womb" camp, but preferably in the first two months.

[joane.livejournal.com]

Judaism allows abortion up until the point where the baby crowns *if and only if* the mother's life is in real and immediate danger.

That goes hand in hand with a sort of anti-martyrdom philosophy that extends to asking 'two of you are dying in a desert, and you have one sip of water left in your canteen - you, or the other guy?' and answering 'you, since you cannot prove that his life is more valuable than yours and *you* know that you'll go for more help if you survive.'

Apart from the danger thing, it's within the first 40 days (six weeks-ish).