ANSWERS: 20
  • may the fetus you save today grow to be gay.
  • Even if abortion ends a human life (which I'm not sure that it does), it's an issue of balancing rights. In the early part of a pregnancy, the woman's right to bodily integrity trumps. Period. Post-viability, only grave threats to the woman's life or health would trump the fetus's right to life. In between those two times, the balance shifts, and we as a society need to have a dialogue about some of the complicated issues involved.
  • I think it is essential to determine whether a person believes that a fetus is "a life". If I cease to draw breath, I die. If I have never taken a breath, have I ever lived? If a person believes that a fetus is a living being, that person has determined their own moral code regarding abortion. Why does abortion have to be such a public issue? Is it the business of anyone what decisions a person makes about their readiness (or lack thereof) to have a child? Conversely, why do Americans believe that everyone else has to believe in the same things they do?
  • I used to be pro-choice, but after a long time I realized that I didn't support abortion at all. For ANY reason other than both the mother and child will die by continuing the pregnancy. I thought, previously, that a woman should be free to choose. And, when I was younger, it irritated me that the government should have a say in such a private thing. But, to me, a life is a life, whether it is wanted, convenient, or even forced into creation, and killing is killing. There really is no gray area to me anymore, but it took me a long time to realize my own opinion.
  • I am one of those....I believe the woman has the right to choose, but I hope the choice is to not abort...I can not try to push my belief in what is right for me on to anyone....when does the soul enter the body?....even if the soul is not there till a certain part of gestation or not until it takes it's first breath does that make a difference?....I just know that three of my children were not planned...so does that mean the one that was is more important....not at all!!!
  • For that matter, if one does believe that abortion = murder, then how could anyone support exceptions for rape or incest. After all, a life is a life regardless of how it came to be, right?
  • I reconcile it because I draw a moral distinction between killing and murder. Killing can be sanctioned. Abortion, execution, and killing in self-defense are not, to me, murder. In each case the killing can be justified because it preserves the rights of another. I think those that argue about whether or not a fetus is alive or a person are avoiding the discomfort of admitting that it is killing. Abortion should be legal not because the unborn aren't alive or aren't human, but because forbidding it infringes upon a woman's right of control over her body.
  • I don't know why it's not letting me add this as a comment, so I'm putting it as another answer. Morg, I'm glad you would give your sight to bear a child, but you're voluntarily making that choice. Especially in the U.S., where healthcare is tied to employment, how can you force a woman into a situation where she may lose her means of support if she doesn't want to take on that burden? This is what I meant when I spoke earlier about it being a conflict of rights rather than a strict definition of personhood. In my opinion, the right to maintain a healthy mind and body overrides the right to life of a fetus until well after viability. (Or, as my Jewish grandmother used to say, "If you don't have your health, you've got nothing.") We as a society need to have a dialogue about where the balance point lies, and it shouldn't be conflated with a dialogue about personhood.
  • Oops... accidentally posted a repeat answer.
  • They seem to believe that human life's value is relative to age and capability. The younger one is, the less they are capable of, the less their value as a human. If they are very young, and capable of little or nothing, they have little or no value. Thus, killing them because their existence might be inconvenient is not seen as wrong. This concept spills over to the aged also, which is why the elderly get thrown away in nursing homes.
  • I don't. I'm very strongly pro-life.
  • I'm probably the most morbid pro choicer out there. I believe a baby is a baby from the get go and that abortion snuffs out their life before they have a chance to really live. I am pro choice because I want those who are having actual trouble with their pregnancy to have a choice, and I want those who just want to 'get rid of it' to have a way to do so that doesn't involve a baby suffering in the elements after being tossed in a dumpster, or drowned in a toilet.
  • People I think u should realise this a private business between a woman and what is inside her body, stay out of it! It's not a baby until it can live outside it's mother's body, whilst it is inside her body it is part of her. I really hope none of u mind if someone has to amputate their toe! I mean we are not despairing over the millions of sperm and ovaries we lose a day. Think of it, it's half of a human being! So would u not say that we are losing half of a baby every month, and billions of babies every day from males half? I think it's disturbing how ppl try to FORCE other ppl, responsible or irresponsible to keep their babies. Honestly I would really doubt a 12 yr old girls ability to raise a child on her own. Who has to look after a severely disabled child? the ppl who vehemently protest that abortion should be illegal or the ppl who are FORCED to keep the baby? Ppl need to make this descion themselves, and those campaigners should get of their high horse and realise not everyone is fortunate enough to have enough money to raise a child who typically requires 100,000 pounds over their lifetime. Giving them up to care is also heartless because u don't know who they are placed with and how will they be treated. Also our care system is stretched as it is. I think each case should be down two the ppl concerened and not to some campaigners who 'apparently' claim this is murder. While forcing a 12 year old girl to have a baby against her choice is ok.
  • I have no idea how people do that. I have one friend who is very against capital punishment because there is a slight chance that the person is innocent, but she's pro-choice. Now how do you reconcile that?!
  • everyone has free will, I'm not here to judge anyone
  • We are all here to do what we are all here to do. if someone has a good reason for an abortion (a result of rape etc) then its how God wanted it to be. its not my place to question what a woman that i have never known is to do with her baby. a mother knows what is best for her baby, if she has thought long and hard about it and feels that abortion is the only way then that is what i believe is best. i am against when a woman wants an abortion because she had not used protection ( yes its a 2 way thing, its both the man and womans fault if it is not used) she and the father should deal with the consequences. its a hard subject to deal with as life is such a delicate thing!
  • I am not "pro-abortion", but, there is no doctrine in my church of the infusion of soul or spirit into an amorphous blob of cells. However, when you observe a developing fetus, by the sixth month, it is a complete human being, with feeling, motor movement and even facial expression. And a six month old fetus (baby) is capable of surviving outside the womb, as many do in cases of premature birth. So, where and when do we decide that a 'fetus' is a human being? I cannot agree with those who say it is not a human until it is "born", i.e., exits the mother's body. And that is why I am appalled by the practice of "partial birth abortion" which means simply killing the infant as it is being born. Where do we as ignorant humans draw the line? I cannot say, but I think we had better examine ourselves and the whole situation very closely and carefully. What is the next step from "partial birth abortion"? Retroactive abortion? God help us! We have a guideline in the U.S. in which it states plainly that abortion should not be legally performed after the fetus is four months old. I think, with the liberalised abortion laws in place that any woman can have decided before that time whether to carry a 'fetus' to birth or not. I think deciding at the actual time of birth that she does not want it to live is ridiculous. So, how did the original law get hijacked? Long story, but it boils down to gutless judges, politicians and amoral lawyers and amoral women. Sorry, but that is it as I see it.
  • I believe the joining of the sperm and the egg and the subsequent mitosis creates the possibility for human life. At some point the development reaches a point where the fetal tissue becomes a viable human. Your question pre-supposes beliefs I don't share. Women suffer natural miscarrriages daily in America. Are anti-abortionists angry with God for allowing this phenomenon? These are age old arguments which will never be resolved by asking loaded questions designed to limit the answer of the responder. The majority of physicians share my belief, you know them, they're the ones who have dedicated their lives to studying and learning about the workings of the human body. A discipline which delves deeper into that study than the medical information contained in the Holy Bible. As for the moral issues surrounding this question, I believe one must be consistent in his moral judgments. You can't believe in the death penalty and be an anti-abortionist. You can't be in favor of the unrestricted proliferation of firearms (items designed for one and only one reason-- to destroy that at which it is aimed) and profess moral outrage at a woman's choice to terminate HER pregnancy. You can't demonize an entire religion based on the radical activities of a vast minority(such as the anti-Islamic movement in America) and then assume the self-proclaimed the high moral ground of the anti-abortionist. It seems to me if one wishes to assume such high moral ground one must do so in a consistent fashion by protecting all life, not just a life with questionable viability.
  • People are so afraid of standing up for what they really believe if they think that they will get slammed (or in the case of answerbag, receive a negative feedback demerit) that they say what they think others want to hear. IF someone is saying they are pro-choice they are saying that they are pro-abortion. PRO anything doesn't mean someone is actively doing anything, it means that is what they stand for, believe in, lean towards, agree with. Anyone who is not for God, is against God. Abortion is the same thing, if you are not against abortion, then you automatically are for it. If you think you are neutral, you are lying to yourself...it's like the fictional story of the bat. Once upon a time there was a feud between birds and rodents. The bat didn't want to choose either side and thought he could remain neutral, but both the birds and the rodents felt betrayed by the bats not taking THEIR side, so once peace came and feud was over, the bat was not accepted by either the birds or the rodents and has to fly around at night because it isn't welcome in the light of day.....just an analogy but people need to stop being so PC and take a stand one way or the other. By pretending to say you are not pro-or-anti anything but are neutral, you are saying you don't care at all and if that is so, then why state an opinion inthe frist place? To waver in your stand means you are NOT neutral and are just feeling GUILT when you are called on your stand. Good. Guilt is good, it leads to repentance and a change of heart.
  • I think the only reason human life is worth more than animal life is because of our self-awareness. Human children aren't self-aware at birth, but I accept birth as being an excellent (although artificial) boundry at which the ending of such a life should not be allowed. - According to this model, other self-aware primates, dolphins (and no doubt other animals) lives are just as worthy of protecting as human lives are. - Having said that, I am not pro-abortion, but I see it as a waste that should be avoided whenever possible, but not outlawed.

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