Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Do you consider abortion when choosing a candidate?

levite · 02-20-2008, 07:49 AM

Yeah, I think about it. It's not my first go-to point when evaluating a candidate, but I consider candidates' stances on all kinds of civil rights issues. And this is a civil rights issue, in that it involves the government telling people what they can do with their bodies, and what kind of medical treatment you are and are not allowed to get.

The argument that people are killing babies that are more than 8 months is largely fictitious. Even doctors willing to perform third term abortions generally will not abort after the middle of the seventh month, and in any case, it is still almost irrelevant, in that third term abortions account for 0.2% of all abortions performed in the United States annually, whereas 97% of all abortions performed in the United States annually are first-term (according to the statistics of the Surgeon General). Practically speaking, this is not an issue of whether terminating fetuses potentially viable outside the womb is ethical or not; practically speaking, it is an issue of whether a woman in the first term can abort.

I have yet to hear any argument for impeding a woman's right to decide whether or not she wishes to be pregnant that is not ultimately based upon religious views. In my opinion, that has no place in determining public health practices. If one does not believe in abortion for religious reasons, then one should not get an abortion.

02-20-2008, 07:49 AM	#17 (permalink)
levite Minion of Joss Location: The Windy City	Yeah, I think about it. It's not my first go-to point when evaluating a candidate, but I consider candidates' stances on all kinds of civil rights issues. And this is a civil rights issue, in that it involves the government telling people what they can do with their bodies, and what kind of medical treatment you are and are not allowed to get. The argument that people are killing babies that are more than 8 months is largely fictitious. Even doctors willing to perform third term abortions generally will not abort after the middle of the seventh month, and in any case, it is still almost irrelevant, in that third term abortions account for 0.2% of all abortions performed in the United States annually, whereas 97% of all abortions performed in the United States annually are first-term (according to the statistics of the Surgeon General). Practically speaking, this is not an issue of whether terminating fetuses potentially viable outside the womb is ethical or not; practically speaking, it is an issue of whether a woman in the first term can abort. I have yet to hear any argument for impeding a woman's right to decide whether or not she wishes to be pregnant that is not ultimately based upon religious views. In my opinion, that has no place in determining public health practices. If one does not believe in abortion for religious reasons, then one should not get an abortion. __________________ Dull sublunary lovers love, Whose soul is sense, cannot admit Absence, because it doth remove That thing which elemented it. (From "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" by John Donne)