Pro-choice or not(Women only)

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I don't know why people 'should' have your view of god, christanity is just one of the many religions in this world, and there are athiests.

Trying to bring religion into the abortion debate is pointless for that very reason.

I am pro-life for a number of reasons.

1. As a former fetus, I object. I enjoy living, and I like to speak for those that can't yet.
2. As a former "accident", I object. See above. Accidents happen for a reason.
3. There are too many couples that can't conceive that are trying to adopt. You can have your pregnancy completely paid for, so financial reasons aren't a valid excuse.
4. It's murder. I don't buy the "not a human til it's born" thing. A human life is a human life.
5. I would hate to have a child. I am small, I don't want to be pregnant. Right now, I NEVER want kids. However, if I got pregnant, I would not kill it. I might put it up for adoption, I might keep it, I am not sure. But I do know I would not kill it.

The problem with the "woman's body" thing, is it's not just her body. The government does have the right to protect its people from murder.

I do think there should be an exception for medical cases. If a woman would cause out of the ordinary extreme harm to her body by having a baby, she should be allowed to have an abortion. I also think rape victims should be allowed, as that's simply not their fault. I don't agree with it, necessarily, but I don't know what I would do in that situation, so I don't feel like it's my place to judge there.

However, the chance of a baby is the chance you take when you decide to drop the pants. Like it or not. You decide to take that chance when you let him to his thing to you.

Edit: I do think I should note that, from a religious standpoint, I believe that women (and others directly involved) will be forced to pay for abortion at the final judgment, so to speak. I don't think God differentiates between different kinds of murder. I know not everyone believes that, but it's what I believe. That doesn't affect my pro-choice vs pro-life decision, though, only my own personal decision of whether or not I would abort if I were pregnant.

How is it the government's body? I strongly, strongly object to the government interfering with my body at all. The embryo is in my body, it belongs to me, it is mine. Just like they try and push vaccines on you and fluoride in the water. MY body, not theirs.

Also, yes, I was once an embryo. Can I remember it? No. Can anyone remember it? No. Why? Because there isn't even a brain yet!!

*rolls eyes*

Personally, and I've never been pregnant before so I realise my opinion is inexperienced, but I think that unless the baby is going to kill/severely harm the mother or will not survive itself you should not allow an abortion.

I realise that rape victims may not want to keep their child and I understand that they should have the right to terminate said pregnancy because of the circumstances in which the child was conceived. Not to mention the psychological health of the mother. Still, I cannot help but think that the unborn baby is being killed for something he/she had no part in -the kid is just an innocent bystander in all this and yet they're the ones who die.

My mom was a midwife, so maybe my opinion is skewed.

I understand abortion in cases of rape, teen pregnancy, maternal drug abuse, health threat to the mother, or in the case the baby has a fatal and painful disease that will cause it to die in childhood. Other than that, I tend to be pro-life. Yes, it's my body, but it's my child's life, and I don't think I could live with myself after having an abortion. My biggest problem with pro-choicers is their assumption that any 'unwanted' child will have a horrible struggle of a life in which nothing is accomplished and suffering is had by all. If that were true, i'd be pro-choice, but many babies are given up for adoption and end up with great homes. Even ones who do have rough childhoods can end up having wonderful and productive lives. Some of the most successful and generous people around were people who probably 'should' have been aborted - just look at Oprah Winfrey. I personally know many kids from rough backgrounds who have had their struggles but are doing very well - a lot better than some spoiled 'wanted' kids. That's not to say that some of these kids don't have awful lives, but so do some 'wanted' kids. I dont think pro-choicers are murderers, but I think assuming that someone is going to have a bad life based on their parents is very wrong. The same way I feel that people who say they'd never have a kid on the autism spectrum, or with a cleft palate, or with dwarfism are wrong. Just because someone is born disadvantaged or just different doesn't mean their life is a loss or they will be unhappy.

I don't think that us PCs say that any child who has come from an unwanted pregnancy will have a miserable life; what we say is that only the mother is in a position to examine all of the circumstances of her own pregnancy and decide if the total happiness (her own, that of the potential child, and the rest of the world all being of equal importance) will be greater with or without the child that would result from that pregnancy.

At the stage at which most abortions occur, a child does not exist yet. The mother, and only the mother - not you, not the state, not some old man with a gavel - should have the right to decide whether to bring that child into existence.

Exactly.

And it's a very, very difficult, heartbreaking decision - don't make it worse for people when they're so hormonal by trying to guilt them into thinking their growing blob that doesn't yet have even the beginnings of a brain, heart or lungs has more rights than they do.

The difference between the pro-choice and anti-choice factions in government is this: You have the right to get pregnant, keep your children or give them up for adoption, and nobody who considers themselves pro-choice would think of denying you those choices. But if it were up to the most rigid ''pro-lifers'', that twelve-year-old girl would have been forced to have her father's baby the same as the ''oops, forgot my birth control'' case. If you believe a fetus has the same rights as a living child, that goes for a baby that would suffer a short, excruciatingly painful life, or whose birth would likely kill its mother. We can hope and pray and work for the day when abortions would be limited to such instances, but if we allow the anti-choice forces to legislate our right to choose out of existence, the choice will no longer be there when it is medically warranted.

I think a lot of pro-'lifers' get very militant and don't really think things through to be honest, they just assume everyone who thinks women should have that choice say they should have it endlessly. I'm pro-choice, yes, but having been there myself I know that it's never an easy decision (something 'pro lifers' tend to assert over and over), and that no matter how many precautions you take and how well you use them sometimes things just don't work (3 forms of contraception in my case!). Also, I don't think they should be allowed past a certain point unless lives are in danger - 14 or 16 weeks would be ideal; enough time to realise you're pregnant and to make your decision. It's such a traumatic, horrible, painful time, you don't need people with no grasp of reality to be whinging about your scenario when they've never met you and don't know the circumstances and will forget about the child the moment it's born anyway.

Seriously, they'd be far better off going and adopting some kids in Africa or Asia or something...

In those cases, I am in complete agreement. Unfortunately incidents like anencephaly and trisomy 18 or 13 can just occur randomly (but very rarely) but when it comes to these other diseases like Tay-Sachs, Sandhoff or any of those horrible fatal genetic diseases, parents can be screened for those. If both parents find out that they for instance carry the gene that is responsible for Tay-Sachs, they have options to either do IVF through preimplantation genetic diagnosis (which is very costly and even risky), even use donor sperm/egg or take that 1 and 4 chance. A child that has a horrific disease like that will barely make it up to age 5 and probably live in agony. However, in my opinion.. whatever someone else does with their body is their business. I feel I have no place to judge whether I agree with their decision or not. I personally however, would never abort for having a baby at the wrong time. My son was a surprise and I was definitely NOT prepared to have him.. but he is here! And at the time I didn't think I would ever get pregnant naturally because I dealt with infertility treatments when I was trying to conceive my daughter! Boy was I wrong. But since my son was born and I knew for a fact that I would NOT have any more kids, I ended up having a tubal ligation and I don't regret it. AND I also avoid sex during the time that I feel I am ovulating just as a percaution. I had the tubal in 2005 and so far its worked Besides I am loaded with fibroids... not sure how easy it would be for me to get pregnant anyway now.

It is true that the fetus hasn't done anything wrong, it did not ask to be created, but what makes abortion such a hot topic would be is the fetus and 'actual' person? At what point does it become one? Can it feel? ect.

When people try to use religion as a way to force someone into a position they don't want to be in, it is the same way as forcing a belief on someone who may be a athiest, which is why religion has no say in this issue.

I have not been pregnant either, so if it where to happen I cannot say what I would do. I don't want kids, but I could give it up to adoption, but if I was raped I really cannot see myself willing to carry a constant reminder of a traumatic event for 9 months and go through needless pain. I don't see anything wrong with a person taking control over what happens to their body.

This is why choice is so important, there is no way that everyone on the planet can feel the same about kids or pregnancy in general. People who are against abortion, have your babies, but do not force your position on anyone else, their situation is most likely different. Pro-choice people don't tell anyone to have a abortion, they just think that a child should be wanted.

I'm pro-choice, but I do think it would be nice if abortions became a rare thing because of more available effective birth control, as well as support for parents.

http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=so ... e=041013#5

I am Pro-Choice. And I would choose not to have an abortion.

I thought this was a fairly convincingly ethical and logical bumper sticker slogan:
It's a Child, not a Choice.

But I'm Pro-Choice, definitely.

Yes, I do. I have several close friends who told me if they got pregnant they would abort because they're not married and want a career. These are people who are great with kids, love kids, and if they had a baby they would not be at all neglectful. They are not the type of people that would hate their kid from taking their bigger dreams away from them, because they are good people. So not having that baby is a selfish choice - because they think of the fetus as a clump of cells, they can just rationalize it to themselves as it's nothing and it would not be fair to the kid. But what is more fair, no life, or a life with younger unmarried parents? And yes, if the child was adopted, it would definitely have a better life than being killed. People react selfishly in these situations because that's natural - people are extremely fearful of a life change - even some people who purposely get pregnant freak out the whole time thinking it will be a disaster and they won't be able to handle it and they're not ready - but very few people regret having the child once its born. Once you see that it is an actual child, part of you, you love it and want to protect it, and you stop thinking it's a nightmare. Not in all cases, but in the ones I'm talking about when people would give their child a good life but are too afraid to take that step so they rationalize it away. I just feel like the woman like this could be overcome with guilt when they do marry and have children and it becomes real to them what they did. They are good people who love their children, but they deny that a fetus is a child to make themselves feel better until they have a child and realize this. Once again, i don't think people who have abortions are awful people and I understand how difficult it must be - I'm not a radical pro-lifer calling everyone murderers. But abortion seems wrong to me - and while usually things that I don't personally like but don't affect others are fine with me, abortion does affect someone else....leaving something like that up to choice is a bad idea.

quirky, think before you speak.

Really.

People abort for many reasons. Who the hell are you to pass judgement? How on Earth can you make the decision about MY life, MY body, MY child, when you don't even know who I am? What gives you any right to decide my entire future, and deign me to be incapable of it?! THIS IS MY BODY AND MY LIFE FFS!

I find it quite appalling that you'd suggest you know who can and can't be forced to have a child, and then go on to suggest SELLING YOUR OWN CHILD!

You want us to SELL our CHILDREN?! What?! Sorry, but for a lot of people adoption is simply out of the picture. Who in their right mind would want to go through nine months of feeling your own flesh and blood, your offspring, develop and grow, kick, go through all that change and bonding, then all that labour, only to SELL YOUR BABY to a complete stranger?! If they even get money for it, which most people don't - adoption usually doesn't involve money changing hands.

I love kids. I'm great with kids. I want lots of them.

But unfortunately, life throws you a curveball sometimes and you just deal with it the best way you can. There are infinite scenarios as to why a woman will have an abortion, infinite things go through your mind as you come up with you way out of your dilemma. What you idiots don't realise is just how difficult it is. You don't go "Oh no, I'm pregnant, right, I'll just get rid of it."

You sit down. You cry. You watch your body change before your eyes. You realise you have the potential to be a mother in just a few months if you let it happen. You think of where you are in life - your hopes, your dreams, you actual location, your finances. You think about what that would mean for the child, and what it would mean for you. You think about what you would be prepared to sacrifice to make it work - believe me, it's a lot - and you think about how fair that would still be to the child and to yourself. You think about the father and what he wants. You think about family and where they are, how they could help. What work you could do, how you could keep studying if you're in study, how you'd support yourself and your child. You think about where you are mentally and emotionally at the time. Endless scenarios for achieving what you need to achieve to give your child the best chance possible, and if it's possible to do any of them at the time. You think about what you feel if you got rid of the pregnancy, and how things would change - because believe me; nothing's the same after an abortion. You think about if you even want children, and if you do, how many. What you want for them and what you need to have in order for them to achieve those hopes and dreams of success and health and happiness. You think about what your joint situation would be like in a year, two, three, ten - would you be stuck in a tiny one-bedroom flat with no friends or family around, or would you be living closer to them with a job? What would your monetary situation be like then? Can you afford to feed and clothe and bathe another person for the next 16, 17, 18 years, and if you can even afford to feed yourself at that point?

The questions go on and on.

And I hate to say it, but cosy as you little world is, sometimes love just isn't enough.


Quit judging. You clearly have absolutely no idea of what an abortion involves and of all the pain and grief and anguish that's involved. Women who abort don't do it off the cuff. It takes a lot of consideration, a lot of pain, and yes, grief for the loss of your unborn child, even if you chose to do so. Pregnancies don't automatically turn off, and neither does that motherhood feeling. It takes a long time to get through it and many, many women never do. But it's not reason enough to stop it. I still cry, I still resent the fact that I got into that situation - and still don't know how; lots of protection, none of which failed, but somehow I found myself in that state - I still hate the fact that I had to do it, and I still want kids badly. But I know that it was the right decision, and that there's no way I'd be ready to be a mother right now, for an infinite number of reasons, and that keeping it would have been even worse.

Speak of what you know. Please.