I personally think that it depends on the case.
For example: a 14 year old gets pregnant (discard how) and the family can not raise another kid. The girl is very stressed out about the actual procedure of giving birth and doesn't want to go to school with a big stomach, and deal with the embarrassment. What other option is there?
I'm not saying that abortion is totally okay either. If a 30 year old women gets pregnant, and has a kid already, and just does not want another. She also has more than enough money to raise both, and just gets an abortion, that is not the right thing to do. Adoption would cost less, and it would be the right thing.
I am stuck in the middle. Is abortion okay if it is needed, or is it by no means in any way right?
Discuss.
Abortion
RE: Abortion
I don't believe that the life (or potential life) of an embryo/fetus, an innocent entity, is something we should govern. People will argue that an embryo/fetus is part of the mother, which in my eyes is incorrect because the embryo/fetus is made up of genes contributed by the father as well. Some fetuses have a different blood type than the mother does too. So i honestly don't see how a potential being is part of the mother. Also, we don't know who we're killing. The aborted fetus might have been one of the most influential people that the world has ever seen. This also branches into stem-cell research, which i also disagree with. In my opinion, the potential life of a child should not be the price to fix the spine of another man, or the kidney of another person. Overall, we should not be the ones to decide weather or not one being lives or the other dies simply because the parents don't want their child, or the mother was raped, etc. If you were raped and got pregnant, then you should at least put the child up for adoption. Its not the child fault that you got raped, or if it has a genetic defect, or if you're not ready. Getting raped is one thing, but being reckless and having unprotected sex is another. If you want to have unprotected sex and not accept the risk, then you shouldn't have sex at all (even if you're 14). Period. That particular person brought it upon herself, so she should deal with the consequences.
Last edited by garywoot on Mon Feb 02, 2009 11:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
RE: Abortion
It really depends what your definition is. Legally speaking, how can we call an embryo life? On the converse, how can we DENY that a fetus is life? Life begins when an individual has the capability to survive on its own. My take on this lies within that framework that we use. While an embryo must depend solely on the mother for sustenance, a fetus has the, albeit slim, capability of surviving on its own. For that reason, that's the line I draw on abortion.
Typically, laws that govern abortion follow this as well. Even Roe vs. Wade doesn't actually give that much free reign in determining abortion in third trimester abortions, which is a time when the fetus is actually very much a separate entity. In my opinion, if you really can't decide whether or not to terminate a pregnancy in 5-8 weeks time, you've already had your chance. Any further and the only reason that would be permissable is because of a medical condition/POSSIBLE excuse as rape/incest. The option of putting a child up for adoption is very acceptable, much more so than terminating a late stage pregnancy (if you've ever had a partial birth abortion described to you, you'll have a similar feeling >>;; ) At the same time, the argument that life begins at conception is really an opinion, not a fact. The life that occurs with an embryo is not the "life" that we define it as. Certainly, there is the POTENTIAL to life, but that vast definition would then include gametes as well, since a sperm and an egg each have the capability to produce life, and that just would be taking it a step too far.
I personally find abortion to be *morally* wrong, but *legally* acceptable. The problem with the label "pro-life" really is that this is erroneous. The issue is being pro or anti abortion, not whether or not you support "life". An overwhelming majority of abortion supporters would never think of terminating their pregnancies, and would wholeheartedly encourage those considering it to try and seek other means in order to preserve the child. Just like the majority of supporters of gay marriage don't happen to be homosexual, the same is true in this case. Legally, this is about permitting the ability for others to seek this option, however unfortunate it may be. The issue I have with prohibiting it is that by doing so, you don't actually stop abortions. You may prevent a majority of them, but the loss of life from would-be mothers terminating pregnancies unconventionally and in an unsafe manner is not acceptable in the same respect.
Typically, laws that govern abortion follow this as well. Even Roe vs. Wade doesn't actually give that much free reign in determining abortion in third trimester abortions, which is a time when the fetus is actually very much a separate entity. In my opinion, if you really can't decide whether or not to terminate a pregnancy in 5-8 weeks time, you've already had your chance. Any further and the only reason that would be permissable is because of a medical condition/POSSIBLE excuse as rape/incest. The option of putting a child up for adoption is very acceptable, much more so than terminating a late stage pregnancy (if you've ever had a partial birth abortion described to you, you'll have a similar feeling >>;; ) At the same time, the argument that life begins at conception is really an opinion, not a fact. The life that occurs with an embryo is not the "life" that we define it as. Certainly, there is the POTENTIAL to life, but that vast definition would then include gametes as well, since a sperm and an egg each have the capability to produce life, and that just would be taking it a step too far.
I personally find abortion to be *morally* wrong, but *legally* acceptable. The problem with the label "pro-life" really is that this is erroneous. The issue is being pro or anti abortion, not whether or not you support "life". An overwhelming majority of abortion supporters would never think of terminating their pregnancies, and would wholeheartedly encourage those considering it to try and seek other means in order to preserve the child. Just like the majority of supporters of gay marriage don't happen to be homosexual, the same is true in this case. Legally, this is about permitting the ability for others to seek this option, however unfortunate it may be. The issue I have with prohibiting it is that by doing so, you don't actually stop abortions. You may prevent a majority of them, but the loss of life from would-be mothers terminating pregnancies unconventionally and in an unsafe manner is not acceptable in the same respect.