A late addition to the abortion debate

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A late addition to the abortion debate 04.30.04 (8:06 pm)   [edit] I'm a bit behind the tblog times, I know, but I do have a few points I'd like to add to the discussion from yesterday that can be found [url=http://therealspartacus0 07.tb...]here[/url], [url=http://www.tblog.com/template...]here[/url], and [url=http://www.tblog.com/template...]here[/url]. There is a major flaw in the current political debate over abortion, and that is the misconception that the pro-life and pro-choice stances are opposites. They are not. To be pro-life means that you view abortion to be murder, and therefore wrong, and feel that it follows that abortion should be illegal. The opposite of this view is not equivocal to the pro-choice view. The issue of morality or whether abortion itself is right or wrong is not implied by the pro-choice stance. Being pro-choice only means that you support the right of the woman to make her own decisions regarding her health, her baby's health, and her private affairs. It is often stated by pro-lifers that the woman should have rights, but so should the baby. Agreed, everyone has inherent rights. However, to contend that the fetus' rights cannot be infringed upon by the mother denies the mother's rights. Since a fetus has no way to make the decision, does it follow that the mother should also have no right to make the decision? That is the real issue, not whether abortion is morally right or wrong. Being pro-choice does not necessarily imply a pro-abortion view. You can easily disagree with the act of abortion itself, while still maintaining that the woman has the right to choose. The ultimate question is whether the government should determine personal matters, or the individual.   posted by: DrForbush (reply) post date: 04.30.04 (5:11 pm) Excellent Blog! It was very clear and succinct. posted by: CheckItOut (reply) post date: 04.30.04 (5:14 pm) You make a very good point. But until we live in a world where ALL LIFE (post-womb) is truly valued instead of treated like slaves, cannon-fodder and kicked-if-down once-out-of-the-womb, it is barbaric for government to deny women the right over their own bodies and their own destines. Why should a woman be required bear a child if she is poor, if her baby is retarded, if her baby is the product of a rape or incest-- and when she has the child and asks for help, she is told to "get off her butt and work"? Ultimately a woman will make the choice. Even if outlawed, rich women would go to Europe to have abortions and poor women would die in illegal backroom shanty towns with hangers-abortions killing them. But then the right-wingers LUV such horrors... Look at Iraq. Where is the outrage or demand for a LAW against WAR to enrich Halliburton. Innocent lives killed (and, NO -- u.s. soldiers have NO CHOICE but to go or face jail time) ... Hypocrisy.... posted by: WhyNot (reply) post date: 04.30.04 (7:37 pm) Well said, sister! posted by: therealspartacus007 (reply) post date: 05.01.04 (12:15 pm) That is exactly the main confusion with the debate. Thanks for the excellent post. posted by: CissieColpitts (reply) post date: 05.01.04 (10:09 pm) Yes, and in fact I know plenty of women who are pro-choice who don't feel they could ever personally have an abortion. posted by: mblog (reply) post date: 05.02.04 (7:59 am) The biggest problem with all of this is that instead of the two sides working together to stop unwanted pregnancies, the "pro-life" group is actually causing them, and Planned Parenthood remains the single largest group in the US that prevents them in the first place (thus preventing more abortions than the entire "pro-life" movement.) posted by: GreenEyedGrrl (reply) post date: 05.03.04 (9:21 pm) Very well said. It's not the government's job to enforce morality. Every woman must weigh the moral/ethical consequences of such a decision for herself. Whether or not abortion is immoral is not the issue. I think the most basic human right is the right to control what happens to one's own body. That's why we have laws that say we cannot touch, hit, bind, drug, enslave, or have sex with another person without his/her consent. It's the same principle. And I like how you said that being pro-choice does not necessarily imply that one is pro-abortion. I think that pro-lifers often fail to see that. Your Name: Your Comment:

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