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ratbastid · 08-07-2009, 07:08 AM

I have a really hard time with abortion.

I'm as liberal as they come. I actually think that under certain conditions, Socialism could work pretty well (not any way we've ever seen it implemented so far, but just maybe...). I don't say that to start a threadjack (so PLEASE), I'm trying to make the point: I'm liberal.

I really want people to have the freedom to do whatever they want with their bodies. Crazy body modifications, physician-assisted suicide, you name it. I'm for individual liberty, and I'm for that being damn-near absolute when it comes to people's bodies and their reproductive choices. And there was a time in my life when I thought anybody who made abortion more than an issue of personal choice was pushing some sort of religious agenda and should be dismissed.

But the more I think about it, the harder it is for me to shake the concern that we're talking about ending a life. The state and condition of that life at its end doesn't matter to me as much as the potential future that life could have. I don't know.... I'm really really torn about this. I want women to have reproductive freedom--I'm all for open and free access to birth control from her very first period, no matter what age she is. But once the genie's out of the bottle, so to speak... Is it still birth control of the same category as the pill or the IUD? I have a hard time equating the two the way some pro-choicers do.

I hate to admit it, but I think I'm against abortion. I think so... I don't know. I really don't. And I really do hate to say that. It goes against some pretty fundamental beliefs, but there it is. I'm super torn.

Maybe in my ideal world, abortion would be legal and available on demand, but nobody would ever get one.

Cases of rape and incest are a different deal. I'm talking about abortion for reasons like "the time isn't right/I can't have a baby now", etc. For sure "I wanted the other gender" doesn't for me rise to the level of a sufficient reason to terminate that pregnancy--so to answer the OP, that just seems like a no-brainer. I think that if that's a sufficient reason, you're just not taking what you're doing seriously enough.

08-07-2009, 07:08 AM	#29 (permalink)
ratbastid Darth Papa Location: Yonder	I have a really hard time with abortion. I'm as liberal as they come. I actually think that under certain conditions, Socialism could work pretty well (not any way we've ever seen it implemented so far, but just maybe...). I don't say that to start a threadjack (so PLEASE), I'm trying to make the point: I'm liberal. I really want people to have the freedom to do whatever they want with their bodies. Crazy body modifications, physician-assisted suicide, you name it. I'm for individual liberty, and I'm for that being damn-near absolute when it comes to people's bodies and their reproductive choices. And there was a time in my life when I thought anybody who made abortion more than an issue of personal choice was pushing some sort of religious agenda and should be dismissed. But the more I think about it, the harder it is for me to shake the concern that we're talking about ending a life. The state and condition of that life at its end doesn't matter to me as much as the potential future that life could have. I don't know.... I'm really really torn about this. I want women to have reproductive freedom--I'm all for open and free access to birth control from her very first period, no matter what age she is. But once the genie's out of the bottle, so to speak... Is it still birth control of the same category as the pill or the IUD? I have a hard time equating the two the way some pro-choicers do. I hate to admit it, but I think I'm against abortion. I think so... I don't know. I really don't. And I really do hate to say that. It goes against some pretty fundamental beliefs, but there it is. I'm super torn. Maybe in my ideal world, abortion would be legal and available on demand, but nobody would ever get one. Cases of rape and incest are a different deal. I'm talking about abortion for reasons like "the time isn't right/I can't have a baby now", etc. For sure "I wanted the other gender" doesn't for me rise to the level of a sufficient reason to terminate that pregnancy--so to answer the OP, that just seems like a no-brainer. I think that if that's a sufficient reason, you're just not taking what you're doing seriously enough.