Abortion

[andrewducker]

I say that I'm pro-choice, but the truth is that I'm actually anti-abortion. Rather, I'm pro-making sure that women have the resources and education available so that there's no need for abortions save those performed for medical reasons. The best way to stop abortions is to stop the need for abortions -- not with abstinence education that tells girls they're naughty for getting knocked up but doesn't tell them how to prevent it, but with realistic sex education and more resources for young women who find themselves pregnant and unable to afford prenatal care and postnatal expenses of raising a child

Which pretty much sums up how I feel.

Stolen from the ever-vigilant Lady Sysiphus.

Comments

[heron61.livejournal.com]

I agree 100%. Then again, I also don't see human life in itself as in any way more sacred or special than the life of any other complex organism. OTOH, I place great value in human experience and sentience, but not in the lives of mindless or near mindless beings that happen to share human genetics, regardless of whether they are irreparably brain-damaged vegetables or fetuses. Until a child is born the only wishes that I consider to be of any import or moral worth are the wishes of the woman whose body it is in. Until it's born it should be treated no differently from any other body part. The only coherent arguments that I can see or treating this situation differently are religious ones from faiths that I neither share nor agree with.

[sylphigirl.livejournal.com]

you are treating the idea of "when a child is born" as a fixed term, but births happen at all kinds of times, regularly while the baby is not fully developed and in some cases where it cannot survive without medical aid. however, without further complications, a baby can finish its development and survive without that aid.

so at what point while the baby is still inside the mother and capable of survival using medical technology is it acceptable?

[nickys.livejournal.com]

UK law defines human existance as starting from birth - that's when your birth certificate says you became a member of society. Doesn't matter at what gestational age you are born.

This does cause problems for premature kids - I know a couple of children who were born around 26 weeks gestation and who were forced to start school at the age of four (due to the inflexibility of the current education system), which is bad enough, but even worse when you consider that they were actually only the equivalent of three and a half years old in developmental terms.

However I don't see how else you could organise the system, unless you want to completely deprive women of all rights to an independent existence from the moment they enter puberty.