pro-life v. pro-choice?

pro-life v. pro-choice? [+ favourites]

I was given the weekend to write a 6 page essay on the debate between the two.

I personally am strongly pro-choice. I can't even start to understand how someone would ever feel it's okay to take away the natural rights of women.

my mother was raped at 15 and became pregnant. I don't know how pro-lifers being so religious would force such a young girl to mother a child she didn't choose to have. it sickens me and i'm trying to figure out what approach to take on this essay with.

The abortion debate surrounds and extends and is centered around one point: When does sperm and/or an egg become a human being with individual rights?

"Hating everyone protects me from elitism."

When I was younger, I had a similar ideology - that babies should be protected.

I think this centered around a few naivities:

1) I failed to recognize the importance of civil liberties and how giving the government control of how one controls their body is a violation of liberty - which is more dangerous than killing developing fetuses.

2) The negative impact unwanted children have on society - economically, socially, and even morally: I find it (ridiculously) more important that a conscious breathing child be loved unconditionally than a fetus be protected from the possibility of pain. In other words, anti-abortionists fail to address, love, or even support what happens to the child after it is born.

The importance of the above two factors, and the impact they have on "saving lives" far outweigh the benefits that may be attained by protecting an unborn fetus from abortion. That being said, I would say until an unborn fetus is seperate from the mother, it should be up to her to abort it.

"Hating everyone protects me from elitism."

I don't know what a liberal is, but a libertarian will prioritize the rights of the individual. For all intents and purposes if the baby is within the mother, then her rights are being violated if she cannot choose to have it removed. This actually certifies that abortion should be legal until birth, from a purely libertarian perspective.

You mention someone being "responsible" or not - well, that's a debate on morality, not legality. So if we seperate the two, we have two different discussions.

Legally, the mother should have the right to do what she wants.

Does that mean that people should get pregnant and kill their fetuses 11 months into it? No, certainly not. Do they have the right to do it? Yes.

"Hating everyone protects me from elitism."

Regardless of the idea of "life", there are many things within your body that have life that are killed on a daily basis, from bacteria to intestinal worms to cancer (which is alive) to sperm and undeveloped eggs.

They all contain living cells.

In the end, I prioritize the rights of the mother over the child, because the mother is a living breathing thinking conscious human being. The choices of her life affect society more than the choices of a baby. She is more able to decide what is best for her body and for her life than the baby. She is more human than the baby.

Therefore, her rights are prioritized. No legal recourse or control should exist on a woman's right to decide what happens to her body. It is an unfortunate that as a result of this freedom people have the ability to be irresponsible and possibly cause an unborn child pain, but that is the nature of freedom: to make good AND bad decisions.

To me, it is absolutely ridiculous, to the point of being comical, to let the government force a woman to carry something in her womb against her will.

"Hating everyone protects me from elitism."

It would be nice if at conception the man could sign some document saying he wants to abort, so later the woman would not be allowed to force him to pay child support.

"I am Akba-Atatdia"

I hope you're taking the piss Wyote.
As that's a terrible idea.

Its bad enough men fuck around as much as they like, promising eternal love to women- then do a Houdini when the poor girl is pregnant and all of the above complexity is thrust upon the female. All because she cant just disappear when the seeds of their lust have taken root.

I wonder how many unwanted pregnancies there would actually be in this world if our anatomies were such that both men AND women had to share carrying a pregnancy and the consequent childbirth?

But moreso, could you imagine all the men who would sign that paper just to get out of paying child support?

Tsk tsk Wyote

"When I was a child I flew! Then as an adult- I watched others soar."

Daneaothoc, you keep using the word "child". Many legal abortions are done before the fetus even looks and functions remotely like a child. So what is a child? The fetus tt three months? Before? After?

How do you determine what has the right to live? What about the animals we kill and eat for dinner? They're living breathing beings capable of emotion, more capable than a three month old fetus.

"How can we be just in a world without mercy and merciful in a world without justice?"

"How do you determine what has the right to live?"

All things have the right to live. That is why it is ok to defend yourself. What we are trying to figure out is when does a fetus become a "thing" meaning aware of its own existence. Babys know the voices of their mothers and fathers before they are born, they react inside the womb and even play with their parents. What I believe is that as long as the baby does not have brain waves and before it feels then it should be ok. To proclaim being Pro-choice as the correct solution then backing it up with only saying that you can't believe how anyone would take away womens free rights without defining such an abstract idea is very surprising considering as you wrote a six page essay on it.

"What about the animals we kill and eat for dinner? They're living breathing beings capable of emotion, more capable than a three month old fetus."

But not human. It is natural for humankind to kill a creature in order to eat it, wear it, use it for anything practical. It is not natural for women to kill their un-born babies. If it were then no women would have post-abortion syndrome. On the other hand humans feel little guilt when eating a steak.

"Wht cry for those that often cry? Instead, help them smile, and smile for those that smile."

I very strongly believe that, if the woman is the one who is having the child inside her, it should be solely up to her what she feels she needs to do with the child. whether the reasons being predetermined physical or mental disorder and even in the event of rape.

Having a child in the first place is something where you are fully accepting the idea that you want a healthy child that will not have to go through life struggling. If the 'mother' is far too young and not willingly accepting the idea of wanting a child or not wanting to put a child through difficulties in life that will not let them conduct themselves normally, she is the only one who should have the final say in the matter. [assuming there is some small agreement or none at all by a father]

I think what pro-life people don't understand is the circumstances of a situation that would cause a mother to abort her unborn child. Either that, or they just don't care. Now, if a mother where to abort the fetus with no legitimate reason; just because, I'm not ok with that. I'm sorry but God does not determine whether you have a child or not.

A young girl gets raped, gets pregnant, most likely ruins her whole plans for the rest of her life. Did God intend this pregnancy and intentionally want this child to come into the world like that?

"I'm a human being, God Dammit!! My life has value!!!"

The core issues:

1) When is the zygote a “human”?
2) What has the right to live?
3) Why do women get to decide on the abortion alone?
4) What is a valid reason for an abortion?
5) What do you do when either the man or woman doesn’t want the baby?

1) If, let's say, we zygote is a human at 6 weeks, is it ok to have an abortion before that?
2) This is tough.
3) Because the foetus develops in her body and is usually weaned be her. But men should have the responsibility of the decision since they do play part in all of this.
4) If the baby/ foetus can seriously harm the mother's body, abortions should be legal. What about if the child has a genetic disease and won't live long? What about rape? Teen pregnancies? Unfit homes and parents? Poverty?
5) I don't know. This goes back to question 3 on who gets to decide.

"How can we be just in a world without mercy and merciful in a world without justice?"

One thing that is important to remember is that although the speciman is insignificant we all came from that insignificant speciman. However the other side of the issue has interesting points. In all practicality in an unwanted pregnancy it would be nice to have the option to let it go especially if the relationship is for amusement.

"I love to see people struggling for their purpose in life..."

I think I will be the first pro-life poster on this topic. Something you all need to realize is although it's the woman's body the fetus is growing and developing in it is a completely different human being body that you are completely destroying.

You say that it was not the mother's choice if she is raped and that she should have the right to say what happens to her body...what about the child? I can guarantee you that they did not CHOOSE to be conceived as a result of an act so terrible as rape. And shouldn't they have a say in what happens to their body? They cannot speak but I'm pretty sure that there is no fetus that is so depressed that they would say "yes, please kill me so that I'm not a burden anymore."

Even a natural abortion (miscarriage) leaves a permanent mark on the mother both mentally and physically. Imagine, the guilt you would feel to know that you chose to do something that most women have a difficult time dealing with when it was something they couldn't stop. How can you seriously say that it would be better for the mother to have the abortion? How can know what it would have been like if she had kept the child?

I'm not looking to upset anyone, I'm simply stating that regardless of women's rights and regardless of the situation that is caused by some horrible men, the child cannot be held accountable or murdered just because it wasn't wanted.

"May wisdom flow through my mind, and love burn in my heart"

I actually went to a Catholic High School and I have heard this argument a thousand times. I'm not saying your wrong for you have some good points. It's just that not everyone can grasp the fact of being parents. Not everyone who is capable of being a parent is actually capable of the responsibility of being a parent. A kid raised in a shit home makes a shit kid and a shit kid causes lots of shit. Now i know a shit kid doesn't deserve to get murdered but in the situation I'm sure it would pass many peoples minds. I'm not saying that's right in fact I think it's cowardly but it's become a part of life.

"I love to see people struggling for their purpose in life..."

I agree that it has become a part of life but what is upsetting is that people know that style of life exists and therefore they feel the best way to fix it is to keep the child from living all together. We have laws to protect children in harmful or unloving environments. We of course don't catch them all but at least it's a stand against such things. We need something to protect children from dying before having the opportunity to be saved. that sounds bad but i don't know how else to say it.

"May wisdom flow through my mind, and love burn in my heart"