Personal take: While I have issues with people who do use abortion is a form of birth control (it's safe, but not as safe as contraceptives; it's such a waste of potential; religious issues, which I still can't resolve) I will always come down on the side of abortion remaining legal and available. The alternatives are horrible. The number of attempted abortions wouldn't go down, but the number of women who'd survive them would. This may be a societal problem, that there aren't enough homes for those un-adopted kids, that we value babies and the illusion of 'always ours' over creating a family. It might be a problem with the shame some feel, still, over having unplanned kids, and the utter lack of social services when it happens... doesn't matter. Some children, are, sadly, unwanted. Until those guys at Operation Rescue are willing to pony up child support, they should shut up. Maybe if they protested more for decent day care, drug abuse treatments, and welfare, I'd be able to take them seriously.
Ahem. That may sound a little militant. Especially in light of the aforementioned religious issues. But that slippery slope goes both ways, if it exists at all. Personally, I look at it as a slope with a lot of mountaineering clamp-ons along the slide down.
I've never heard how Pro-Life people feel about the morning-after pill given to rape victims, either. It seems to be something they don't talk about, if they don't make the rape=okay-to-abort distinction. Given that fertilization hasn't happened within the first 24 hours, why do they have a problem with someone taking RU-249 even if they haven't been raped? *sigh*
"Abortion is sometimes necessary, sometimes not, always sad. It is to the woman what war is to the man -- a living sacrifice in a cause justified or not justified, as an observer may decide. It is the making of hard decisions-- that this one must die that that one can live in honor and decency and comfort. Women have no leaders, of course; a woman's conscience must be her General. There are no stirring songs to make the task of killing easier, no victory arches and medals handed around afterwards, merely a sense of loss." - Faye Weldon, The Hearts and Lives of Men
Weldon sounds like she doesn't support abortion there, but I think she makes some good points. Abortion is too personal a decision to be left in the hands of those who "think they know best". We should always debate it, always question if it's necessary. But forbid it outright? No. The day we cease going to war, we can make that 'moral' choice. The day we cease executing criminals. Until then, we life in an imperfect world where these choices have to be left in the hands of those it effects most.
no subject
While I have issues with people who do use abortion is a form of birth control (it's safe, but not as safe as contraceptives; it's such a waste of potential; religious issues, which I still can't resolve) I will always come down on the side of abortion remaining legal and available. The alternatives are horrible. The number of attempted abortions wouldn't go down, but the number of women who'd survive them would. This may be a societal problem, that there aren't enough homes for those un-adopted kids, that we value babies and the illusion of 'always ours' over creating a family. It might be a problem with the shame some feel, still, over having unplanned kids, and the utter lack of social services when it happens... doesn't matter. Some children, are, sadly, unwanted. Until those guys at Operation Rescue are willing to pony up child support, they should shut up. Maybe if they protested more for decent day care, drug abuse treatments, and welfare, I'd be able to take them seriously.
Ahem. That may sound a little militant. Especially in light of the aforementioned religious issues. But that slippery slope goes both ways, if it exists at all. Personally, I look at it as a slope with a lot of mountaineering clamp-ons along the slide down.
I've never heard how Pro-Life people feel about the morning-after pill given to rape victims, either. It seems to be something they don't talk about, if they don't make the rape=okay-to-abort distinction. Given that fertilization hasn't happened within the first 24 hours, why do they have a problem with someone taking RU-249 even if they haven't been raped? *sigh*
"Abortion is sometimes necessary, sometimes not, always sad. It is to the woman what war is to the man -- a living sacrifice in a cause justified or not justified, as an observer may decide. It is the making of hard decisions-- that this one must die that that one can live in honor and decency and comfort. Women have no leaders, of course; a woman's conscience must be her General. There are no stirring songs to make the task of killing easier, no victory arches and medals handed around afterwards, merely a sense of loss." - Faye Weldon, The Hearts and Lives of Men
Weldon sounds like she doesn't support abortion there, but I think she makes some good points. Abortion is too personal a decision to be left in the hands of those who "think they know best". We should always debate it, always question if it's necessary. But forbid it outright? No. The day we cease going to war, we can make that 'moral' choice. The day we cease executing criminals. Until then, we life in an imperfect world where these choices have to be left in the hands of those it effects most.