Monday, September 8, 2008

In polite company... Abortion

I'm pro-choice. I don't think it's an easy choice to make, but I believe it should be a choice. Aside from all the what if stories like, mentally/physically handicapped, rape, incest, etc, the main reason is - who am I to tell someone else what to do with their body? Having a child is a huge commitment, and sometimes mistakes can force you into that commitment. There isn't a shortage of people on this planet, but there is a shortage of food, space and love. Raising a child is difficult even in the most perfect situation.

Another big part of accepting abortion, is my lack of belief in miracles. A pregnant women isn't miraculous. It's beautiful, it's amazing, but it's nothing special. Everyone got here that way. It's just the way things work. There isn't even anything special about a fertilized egg. Eventually it becomes a baby, but until then it's nothing special. A good percentage of fertilized eggs are broken in some way and eventually become a miscarriage. A significant amount of fertilized eggs never even attach to the uterus. An even more significant amount of eggs don't even get fertilized and get discarded in one way or the other. Thousands of eggs lie dormant in the ovaries and never even leave the body, left to die when the woman dies. Don't even get me started on how much sperm is wasted. The point is, there are millions of times a day where all the living parts of the beginning of a child fail to live up to their possibility, and actually become a child. If I'm not bothered by the nearly infinite number of people that fail to become people all the time, why would I be concerned if there are any more? One thing I never understand. If someone is pro-life, how come they aren't screwing every person they meet? Every moment that a pro-lifer isn't reproducing, they are potentially murdering their offspring.

On the other hand, I think there should be limits. If you are 9 months pregnant and you decide to have an abortion, I don't think you should be allowed to. If you've waited past the first trimester to make a decision, then you've already made a decision. Once it has really started to become a baby, with arms and legs, and a heart and brain, then you should have the baby. Basically, if you are showing, you're birthing. Also, if you decide to have the child, then you should do it responsibly. Quit doing drugs, drinking and smoking, and start eating right, it's not just your body anymore. That's all I have to say. It's just my opinion, please feel free to disagree.

4 comments:

  1. I don't disagree with your opinion, per se, but I think the post is a little vague. It seems to assume "nine months pregnant with an otherwise perfectly healthy baby" without saying it. At least, I'm assuming for you that's what you meant. I actually agree completely with your post, if that's what you're saying. However, you didn't mention health issues. I read this article (and it took me forever to find it again) a few years back and it has stuck with me ever since. I recommend reading it to anyone concerned with abortion. http://tinyurl.com/6aqmna The article really touched me the first time I read it and still does to this day.

    Also, I wanted to thank you for your point about pregnancy not being miraculous. I never really thought about it in quite the way you put it, but you can be damn sure I will now.

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  2. Yeah, in this post I was only speaking of a healthy baby. Bringing a child into this world, purposely, with major mental and physical handicaps, is far more cruel than aborting. It may be a tough decision, but I believe it's the right one. Sometimes the hardest decision is right, and many people don't have the strength. That was a powerful article. The women definitely did the right thing.

    Glad to enlighten. My only goal for this blog was to make at least one person think in a different way. Now I guess I'll have to raise my standards to two. :)

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  3. I've changed my views quite a bit on this as I've grown up, so I can somewhat sympathize with the anti-choice people. If you consider human life to be sacred, and you consider a fertilize egg to be a human life, then it follows that you would consider abortion murder.

    I just don't view the world that way, anymore. As your post pointed out, a fertilized egg isn't a miracle. It's not even the start of a new life. It's just a continuum of life.

    Terra - thanks for the link to the story. As Eric said, it was very powerful.

    I remember another eye opener for me was watching a documentary called The Boy Whose Skin Fell Off. It was about Johnny Kennedy, who had a rare, extremely painful genetic condition called Epidermolysis bullosa. One of the things he said in the documentary was, "I was asked one time if I would carry on with a birth knowing that an EB child would be born and I said ‘No. I would terminate’."

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  4. I worried so much both times that my wife was pregnant. There are so many horrible genetic diseases that can manifest. There is nothing you can do about it. We were lucky and I thank Bob Saget for that. In a lot of situations I don't just see abortion as an option, but the moral thing to do.

    The only time I get uneasy about abortion is when it's someone who is old enough to know better (like >25) there are no health complications and only gets an abortion because they aren't ready. In that situation I think the right thing to do would be to have the child and put it up for adoption. I still don't think I have the right to force my beliefs on them though.

    I can kind of understand the anti-choice side as well. A co-worker of mine thinks that America has failed morally because every fertilized egg that we kill is condoned murder. He of course doesn't see every stillborn child caused by god as abortion though. I'd be more sympathetic to more of the anti-choice advocates if there justification didn't start with "thou" so often.

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