Reader Comments on Abortion Issue
Ann:
From my experience, many people I know or have met say they're
pro-choice. I couldn't understand it for a long time why they thought this
because abortion is killing babies. And I respected them. But eventually,
it occured to me that they seemed to be equating "choice" with free
will,
which God has given to us already. The problem for these people maybe
is that with the end of legal abortion, which many are against anyway,
comes the end of free will. "How can I follow my own concscience about
life at conception, when God also wants us to respect other's free
will"?
So abortion stays legal, out of fear.
I think part of the problem in ending abortion is to change the
mindsets of people in this kind of rut. Life and free will(choice) can and
do coexist, but not everything was meant to be moral or legal, as they
know.
I'm addressing this aspect because of those who say, "I would never
have an abortion, but it must be legal for others". Let's make it easier
for pro-choice people to follow their core beliefs about life at
conception.
Let's end abortion!
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Steven Cornell:
There is a false dilemma at the heart of abortion talk. It goes like this: Oppose
abortion and you side with politics; support abortion and you side with the health
and safety of women. Is it possible that the exact opposite of this is true?
Perhaps those who oppose abortion side with the health and safety of women.
What do the facts substantiate?
The medical effects of abortion and post-abortion stress disorder clearly indicate
that abortion is rarely a good health decision for a woman. In a congressional hearing
on the impact of abortion, psychologist Wanda Franz stated, “Women who report negative
after-effects from abortion know exactly what their problem is. They report horrible
nightmares of children calling them from trash cans, of body parts, and blood. When
they are reminded of the abortion, the women re-experienced it with terrible
psychological pain … They feel worthless and victimized because they failed at
the most natural of human activities — the role of being a mother.”
Many women battle long term emotional and psychological damage because of profound
regret about their abortion. Abortion proponents, who attribute these effects to
induced guilt from religion and pro-life activists, trivialize the actual trauma
these women endure. As a result, it is not surprising that the greatest measures
of support for women facing post-abortion stress disorder comes from pro-life
ministries. These ministries treat seriously the feelings of women rather than
trivializing them.
How long will we be duped by politically motivated deceptions? Defending abortion
is not about protecting a women’s health. Should it bother us when an organization
like Planned Parenthood (while prospering on the abortion industry) intentionally
deceives people about the traumatic effects of abortion? The irrefutable fact is
that abortion, as a procedure, and in its after effects, is not about the health
and safety of women. It’s more about a culture of convenience, self-absorption
and money.
It’s frightening that a person’s “being wanted or planned” is the criterion of
her right to life. Yet here is another source of blatant deception. Is the life
of the fetus no more than a product of conception? When a woman chooses to
terminate her pregnancy is she actually terminating the life of her baby? Why
do we have laws related to fetal homicide? Why do Doctor’s perform fetal surgery
on a baby in the womb? Consider the following facts:
“Scientifically we are human beings by virtue of our genetic makeup. The human
code in the chromosomes is there from the start. We are utterly different from
monkeys or rats or elephants as soon as the chromosomes of egg and sperm meet.”
“At eight weeks, all the organs are present - brain functioning, heart pumping,
liver making blood cells, kidney cleaning the fluids, fingerprints formed, etc.
Yet almost all abortions happen later than this date.”
“Ultrasound has given a stunning window on the womb that shows the unborn at
eight weeks sucking a thumb, recoiling from pricking, responding to sound.
We can see the amazing pictures in Life Magazine or various books or Web pages.”
“There is a principle of justice that, when two legitimate rights conflict -
say the woman’s right not to be pregnant, and the baby’s right not to be
killed - the right that should be limited is the one that would do the
most harm.” (Above facts from John Piper)
We must enact laws that would compassionately protect both the women
facing unplanned pregnancies and their babies. But, until we accept the
truth that induced abortion is both detrimental to the physical, emotional
and psychological health of women and the deliberate destruction of an
unborn child, such laws will be considered extremist.
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Elysia A:
I have a few problems with your reasons on the "No" list.
Number one states that making abortion illegal gives the government control and takes
away a woman's personal freedom. I understand that many feel this way, however,
it should not surprise a woman who makes bad choices when she eventually gets
pregnant out of wedlock.
Another problem I have with this argument is that the last few questions are overly
exaggerated and irrelevant. The government is not saying by this that every woman
should have a child, but that every woman who engages in sex should live with the
consequences. Also, birth control has nothing to do with the topic. Birth control
is a responsible way to prevent a future pregnancy, not a way to terminate one
already existing.
In number six, you also bring up birth control. Birth control is not the same as
abortion, because it is a preventive measure. Wearing condoms or a birth control
patch is very responsible, and it is not destroying anything. It is preventing
conception from occurring so that two people can have sex without worrying
about pregnancy.
The other four points, I respect as good points, however, I do not agree with
them. I am strongly pro-life, and I believe that from conception on, every
human being is loved unconditionally by our heavenly father, and that
aborting a pregnancy is in fact murder.
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Anonymous:
Killing a child and having the government control a
woman's body is wrong.....the government isn't controlling the woman's body, the
woman is by having sex knowing what could happen, therefore the government
controls the mistakes a woman is about to make because they are controlling the
fetus' life...not the woman's
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Ryan A:
I have some arguments with your reasons on your "Yes" list, and some additions to the "No" list.
I would argue with #1 on your "Yes" list, simply because you refer to abortion as "murder",
and "demeaning the value of human life". You also use the kicking of the baby as an indicator of life.
Babies don't start kicking, according to http://www.babycentre.co.uk, until anywhere
between 15-18 weeks. Most abortions are performed in the first trimester - well before the
15 wk. mark, and most pro-life advocates argue with abortions as early as 12 to 15 weeks
according to www.plannedparenthood.org. 15 weeks seems to be the threshold for your
definition of life - i.e. kicking. Therefore, it is not murder, nor is it demeaning
the vaule of human life to abort a fetus prior to 15 weeks, since prior to this point
the baby is alive neither from a scientific point of view, or from your point of view.
The baby isn't a human being until at least 15 weeks, depending who you ask. Until then,
it's simply in its formative period - it has no individuality, intellect, or potentially
even soul, as different religions argue for different times at which the soul occupies the
body, and I've never heard a stipulation from Christianity stating that the soul enters
The body at conception. It seems far more reasonable to assume that the soul enters just
before birth, because there is nothing for the soul to learn or experience while within the
womb. Clearly aborting a soulless, brainless mass of tissue is very different from smothering
a child in its crib. The fact that you say that pro-choice advocates only claim that it
isn't a real baby to justify their actions also seems very biased, because it is scientifically
proven that the baby has no thought processes. It is simply a parasitic mass of tissue
feeding off of the woman - similar to a tapeworm actually. Does this mean that we should
allow tapeworms to reside within our stomachs if we happen to become infected? Where does it stop?
I also object to the fact that you refer to women "callously stomp[ing] out a living
being simply because they're inconvenienced". For many, abortion is a very difficult decision,
and usually done in contemplation of what is best for the baby - college and high school students
have no way of bringing up a child to lead a decent life, because they have little chance of
getting a decent job without a college degree. Their child will be brought up in squalor.
Additionally, if it can be proven that the child will bear some genetic or physical abnormality,
is it truly fair to bring it into a world in which it will be immediately placed at great disadvantage?
It's not likely the child will thank his/her parents in the years to come for putting him in such a position.
2. Birth control does not always work. Condoms are not 100% effective, nor is the birth control pill.
I have friends that were "birth control babies". It's not that people are being careless - they are
trying to be safe, but sometimes their safety precautions simply fail.
5. This brings me back to my earlier point - if you know that your child will have Down's Syndrome or
a low IQ, you are doing it a favor by aborting it. There is no reason to bring a child into a world
in which it cannot compete - it will not thank you for making it struggle every day just to live.
It can cause trauma on the parents to have a child so disabled, and often is responsible for domestic
disputes and divorces. The child will see this as his/her fault, and suffer psychological trauma.
6. I have a severe argument with number six. People spend years on wait lists trying to adopt babies.
There are countless older children and teenagers residing in orphanages until age 18, when they can
enter the workforce. Abortion limits the number of babies available for adoption, thereby increasing
the chances that these children will be adopted. Also, if you outlawed abortion, orphanages would be
inundated with unwanted babies. How many of these babies would go unadopted, getting shuffled through
the system year after year until finally they turned 18 and got a job at McDonald's? Are the
statistics for abortions equal to the number of people who want to adopt babies? I highly doubt it.
7. Maturity is not dependent on age in some cases, one, and two, young adults should be able to make
a decision about abortion for one reason: it's their body. Young adults are capable of making
decisions considering what clothes they want to wear, how they want their hair cut, and whether
or not they want piercings or tattoos. An abortion is the same exact thing, assuming you agree with
the scientific fact that the fetus is not technically a living being during the first trimester.
Plus, in some states minors are required to have parental consent before getting an abortion, which
means that the decision is being made by adults who, according to you, possess the capacity to
make good decisions. Which does not necessarily mean the adults will be pro-life, because in some
cases that's not a good decision.
8. Funnel abortions through doctors in private practice exclusively, with the aid of insurance.
Tax dollars do not go to doctors in private practice.
"No".
You should probably add that making abortion illegal would inundate the adoption system with
unwanted children, placing the added burden on society of caring for these children with their tax dollars.
You can also add the anti-tax plan I stipulated in question 8, if you'd like.
Really, I suppose you could add any of my arguments from the "Yes" section if you feel they're worth it.