Pro-Choice vs. Pro-Life: The Abortion Discussion

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a·bor·tion
–noun
1. Also called voluntary abortion. The removal of an embryo or fetus from the uterus in order to end a pregnancy.

Are you pro-choice, one who supports or advocates legalization of abortion, or pro-life, one who is opposed to abortions?

I'm pro-choice. I believe that there should be no restrictions towards abortions, though I do consider it somewhat immoral after the 20th week (at which point it has the ability to survive outside of the uterus). I wholeheartedly disagree that it should be constituted as murder, and I also don't think that it should be used as a form of birth control: only as a last resort.

Some interesting articles:
Pro-Choice
Judith Jarvis Thomson - A Defense of Abortion George Carlin - The Sanctity of Life

Pro-Life Michelle de Groot - Why Be Pro-Life
Larry Bohannon - What About Abortion?

Thoughts? Opinions? And please, lets keep it friendly.
 
I think there was a thread for this before, but I can't find it right now :lol:

This is a very tough decision and I have debated it with myself several times. Personally, I would never get an abortion, because I wouldn't be able to stand the thought of killing my unborn child. If I was raped, I would keep the baby. It's not the baby's fault I was raped. I would love that child and fight to the death to protect it.

I don't think abortion should be used as a form of birth control like say someone was drunk at a bar, let themselves get picked up, slept with some random person and ended up pregnant. Abortion is a big decision, and it's not just an "Oopsie, I was stupid so I'll just get an abortion!" type of thing.

If a woman was raped and didn't want to keep the child, there's always the option of putting the child up for adoption after giving birth but I would understand if they would not want to go through with the pregnancy. I think that truly is the only exception.

I do strongly believe that women should be able to make their own decisions about their bodies, but using it as a form of birth control like the pill doesn't sit right with me.
 
I once knew a person who got raped and was in a situation where they were considering an abortion. She wasn't fit financially to pay for all the doctor bills that came with having a baby. And I think that an unborn baby shouldn't be killed under any circumstances. So I called around and got in touch with the appropriate autorities and got her some help. She had the baby and then put it up for adoption.
 
I'm against abortion definatley. Its not fair for a life to get killed just because the mother didn't want it. I knew this girl that had a couple of abortions and she really didn't care. It really broke my heart when she told me that she had an abortion especially when she told me that it wasn't the first one. Women can just use condoms or birth control pills if they aren't ready to give birth.
 
Condoms and Birth Control pills aren't fool proof, though. Condoms can break, the Pill and spermicide can fail, caps can slip, etc, etc. One of my friends was forced to take the morning after pill after she realised the condom had broke, but had she not noticed then who's to say what would have happened?
 
I am, in a heartbeat, pro-life. I believe that an embryo is a life from the point of conception, and to me, there are two exceptions to when abortion would be considered okay.

One would be if a woman were raped. However, I think if I were raped, I would keep the baby. I agree WHOLEHEARTEDLY with Ann, on every count. Let me just add, though, that I have never been in that situation and I understand that it may be easier to say "No, I'll NEVER have an abortion, even if I were raped," than to actually be in that situation. I'm not saying it's an easy decision to make!

The second case, in my opinion, that an abortion would be considered acceptable would be an ectopic pregnancy (when the egg implants in the Fallopian tube rather than in the uterus lining). Ectopic pregnancies more often than not kill both mother and fetus - I think, if the fetus is guaranteed to die, and the risk to the mother is so high, then it may be wiser to have an abortion.

Of course, the question of abortion can also be extended to this: What would you do if you found out that you were pregnant with a child who the doctors were certain had some sort of severe disability, for example, quadriplegic, severely autistic, or something like that? What would you do then? Just posing a question here. ;)

Okay. I'll get off my soap box now. :)

*Steps off soap box*

ETA: *gets back on soap box*

And you know what else? You know who's going to be making the final decision on whether abortion is legalized?

Men.

How's that for irony?
 
I do not think anyone has the right over another woman's body. Regardless of my personal choices/feelings towards the actual abortion process, I would never in my life tell another woman what to do or not to do with her body. I believe it is very important for women considering abortion to have psychological help and to know about other options than abortion, but who are you to force your own personal/religious believings onto another human being. Of course it should not under any circumstances be used as a form of birth control, but just because a small percentage of abortions are done due to reasons like that it would be insane to make it illegal alltogether. Women have always abortet, even before there was the option of a surgical procedure. In the Middle Ages and even a few decades ago women would throw themselves down flights of stairs, swallow pills and do all sorts of stuff in order to lose the child. If you were to make abortion illegal you would only increase the risk for women to die trying to abort on their own. As long as there will be heterosexual intercourse there will be unwanted pregnancies and thus abortions or attemptet abortions which would put a woman under a higher risk of dying herself.

Try to educate children in school, do not, like so many religious groups are actually trying/are in favour of, keep children of a certain age (read: children 12 years and older) from the facts of life, they do need to know about sex, the risks of having it (pregnancies and STDs) and forms of birth-control. I believe that only well educated children/teenagers can actually make healthy choices, and proper sex education from an early point on is the only way to fight the number of abortions.
 
Where are you from? Over here in Germany it is already legalized (until after the third month of pregnancy; but I believe in Holland you can abort until a much more advanced state). And what kind of argument is this, anyways? Countries are run by men, even if they are not head-of-state they are the ones holding most offices, so naturally they are the ones making decisions. If anything, this would be an argument for the pro-choice movement, seeing as how outrageous it is for men to make decisions about the one thing they have no idea of.
 
Sorry, I wasn't actually making another point there. :lol: I was just adding that, as Jorja_Rain said, countries are indeed run by men and I just find it dreadfully ironic that the legalization (or banning) of abortion, which, for obvious reasons, largely involves women, will be made or has been made by men. I wasn't making a point either pro-life or pro-choice...just a general observation that I find rather humourous. ;)

And I'm not sure if you were talking to me, but I'm from Canada. ;)
 
I don't believe in abortions. A lot of people against abortion say that before the third trimester, a baby is not a baby, and that's just a ridiculous thing to say. My aunt was born in the second trimester of pregnancy, and she WAS a living baby then. she moved, breathed, drank, she needed help to do so for a very long time, but she WAS a baby, and she lived many years affecting many lives. I can't stand people who say that if the baby is not at a certain stage of development it's not a human being and it doesn't matter if it dies. It just makes me sick.
 
gregslabmouse said:
I don't believe in abortions. A lot of people against abortion say that before the third trimester, a baby is not a baby, and that's just a ridiculous thing to say.
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I believe the question of wether it's a living-being should be left to scientists. Would you ask for the opinion of a milkman if you were to undergo organ-transplant surgery? Plus, abortions after the first trimester are mostly illegal, anyways.

And did you even read what I wrote?
Women have always abortet, even before there was the option of a surgical procedure. In the Middle Ages and even a few decades ago women would throw themselves down flights of stairs, swallow pills and do all sorts of stuff in order to lose the child. If you were to make abortion illegal you would only increase the risk for women to die trying to abort on their own. As long as there will be heterosexual intercourse there will be unwanted pregnancies and thus abortions or attemptet abortions which would put a woman under a higher risk of dying herself.
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Another thing I find quite disturbing is that aborting fetuses is called murder but killing animals is not. How is it that people are allowed to treat animals with less respect than other people, and abusing (even to the point of said anmial dying of the effects of abuse) is less of a crime than aborting a fetus?
 
I am definitly pro-choice. Any human being has the right to decide about their own body. And women have the right to decide whether they have a baby or not. And I know we can come up with pro's and con's about every single situation and it is a debat that will probably go on for life..

* A woman gets raped and gets pregnant. As she has this baby she will be faced with her attacker. Having the baby would mean carrying the product of evil for nine months and giving birth to it. If she does, she can choose to give the baby up or keep it. Keeping it will mean being faced with your attacker every day for the rest of your life. Giving it up means surrendering the baby to the system. And when the child grows older it will want to know who is mother is, who his father is. And if it goes to find his mom, she will be faced with the product of evil again. And what about the child.. learning he was concieved in a crime of violence? And learn his/her dad is a rapist. Imagine what the child would feel like finding that out one day..

I would decide for abortion is this would happen to me. As would I decide for abortion when I would get pregnant and know it was a medical risk to actually have the baby. Or to know I can never provide for the baby. I've always said that I would get pregnant I would keep it, unless the child is a product of rape. Not so much because of myself. But for the burden it will put on my child. I don't want that.

And nobody else but me has the right to decide about my body. And if I am not mistaking, a fetus is not considered a life form untill it reached a certain stage (not quite sure how long) so at that point there is nothing involved called life. In my oppinion. Others are feel free to feel different. As I am free to decide for myself.

And I am with Jorja_Rain: aborting fetusses is called murder but killing animals is not? At least abortion happens in a decent way.. the killing of animals is not!
 
Of course, the question of abortion can also be extended to this: What would you do if you found out that you were pregnant with a child who the doctors were certain had some sort of severe disability, for example, quadriplegic, severely autistic, or something like that? What would you do then? Just posing a question here.
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I wrote about this in the other thread....wherever it is. :lol:
My mum found out that the baby she was carrying had Spina bifida. For the record she WAS taking the supplements. ;)
Basically she was one of the unlucky cases where it was fatal, the doctors told her that as soon as the foetus' nervous system developed enough to feel pain, it most likely would be in a great deal of it, and IF it survived to full term, once born it could only live, at best, a couple of hours.
So my mum pretty much did what she thought was best and had an abortion. I was very young at the time, so I don't remember, but I can imagine it was a very difficult dicision, we don't talk about it.

So naturally I'm pro-choice, if abortion wasn't legal in England, well who knows what would have happened, I can't imagine it would've been particularly nice.

Basically I don't think anyone knows how they will react unless it happens to them. Personally I don't know if I could live with myself if I had an abortion with no valid medical reason. There are a lot of couples desperate to adopt, and I think that would be a better option. :)
 
Jorja_Rain said:
I believe the question of wether it's a living-being should be left to scientists.
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True, but would you agree that a single-celled, water-dwelling amoeba is still alive? A fetus is larger than that almost instantly.

Also, eggb4thechicken, I'm sorry to hear about what happened to your mom. :(
 
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