Comments on: When Abortion Goes Very, Very, RIGHT

By: Mark

Mark — Fri, 15 May 2009 22:26:16 +0000

I like the “What would Jesus Do” approach to this kind of discussion. First, I think he would start out as the Son of God, and be born in a manger, spend a lot of time ministering to the poor, healing and forgiving, then he would sacrifice himself for the wellbeing of other people. Only THEN, would appoint right-wing judges to the Supreme Court so that he could get Roe V. Wade overturned. See how easy it is to resolve these complicated issues with just a little faith and good, old-fashioned reasoning.

By: Derek Colanduno

Derek Colanduno — Thu, 14 May 2009 15:18:07 +0000

Maybe they all should be forced to listen to the Doug Stanhope comedy routine about being PRO Abortion… “Suck all of them out before they corrupt the world and ruin my nights out at nice, quiet restaurants!”. ;)

By: Rach

Rach — Wed, 06 May 2009 15:17:35 +0000

Personally – I think anyone who is NOT capable of ever becoming pregnant should even be allowed to voice an opinion on this topic as they will never find them self faced with such a situation or understand the depth of the decision.
But why even argue this topic? Each and every person has strong feelings on it they have to come of their own accord. And arguing it out never changes anything – just gets people worked up. Heck – even Roe of Roe vs. Wade tried to get the decision reversed many years later and SHE couldn’t change it.

By: MAK

MAK — Fri, 01 May 2009 14:15:03 +0000

What I really loved about this piece was the part where you wrote that your sexual choices were not an expression of your parents’ parenting but an expression of your own desires/whatever. I love that: we so often criticize the horrors of such things as honor killings in many parts of the world without looking at how much we treat girls’ and women’s sexuality as still the possession of the family. I’ve actually heard people say things like “that father should lock up his daughter” because she was perceived as promiscuous, whether she really was or not, and whether or not she was having sex safely and with consent.

By: Karen M-W

Karen M-W — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 16:23:42 +0000

Contrary to some of the discussion, birth control is not always readily available to individuals or it is priced out of their reach. I know from speaking with friends raised in Eastern Europe that they did not always have access to even condoms and even they did, they were poorly manufactured and had an extremly high failure rate. Abortions were often one of their only options to deal with a pregnancy. As far as finances being a reason, recent stats show that abortion numbers are up due to the poor economy. Even married couples who planned their pregnancys are finding that they had to opt for abortions due to losing their jobs/foreclosures and so forth. If you think it is an easy decision to carry a baby that you wanted and can’t afford and then have to give it up for adoption…well I can’t think of anything more difficult. Maybe I am being overly sensitive, since I am pregnant myself with a child that we have tried for 4+ years to concieve. But that has not changed my view of being pro-choice and respecting that it is the individual’s right to make their own reproductive decisions. At the end of the day, it is not our job to impose our moral belief system on anyone else. They need to make the decision about what is best for them and their situation.

By: GeekGirlsRule

GeekGirlsRule — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 14:14:15 +0000

Oh, and my one pregnancy scare occurred while on the pill AND using condoms. I was on antibiotics, using the pill as a back up, and the condom ripped.
So my irresponsible ass who was having sex with my husband, but who neither wanted nor intended to have kids and took every precaution should have been forced to bear a child that in all likelihood would end up bearing the burden of my fucked up genetics?
Yes, I can see how that would have been a very moral and ethical decision on my part.

By: GeekGirlsRule

GeekGirlsRule — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 14:12:11 +0000

Jim: Whose morals and ethics are we talking about here? Those are amazingly subjective terms. Some folks seem to think it’s perfectly moral and ethical to deny rights like marriage to the percentage of our citizens who happen to be attracted to people of the same gender.
Some people think it’s perfectly moral and ethical, nay mandatory, to beat their children to death for being gay, or for not conforming in other ways to their religion.
Some people think it’s perfectly moral and ethical to shoot doctors who perform procedures they don’t agree with.
I’m just curious, who gets to decide which morals?
For the record, morality isn’t a very logical argument.
And I never equated legal and moral. I happen to think this country has a lot of immoral laws on the books.
If you think having a child adopted is easy, try it with an interracial baby, or one born addicted to drugs, or who has special needs through no fault of the mother’s save losing the genetic lottery.

By: Jim

Jim — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 13:34:19 +0000

“While most women who have abortions don’t regret them, none of them have them lightly, and by considering their decision disgusting you’re discounting the thought and time that goes into making the decision to abort.”
Ok lets set the context here. We are talking about morality and ethical decision making. Everything you just mentioned is irrelevant in regards to whether using abortion as birth control is moral and/or ethical. You are talking from emotion not a rational standpoint.
“For some of us, like me or Heidi, it probably would have been a no brainer: This is not what I want, and I’m not going to go through with this pregnancy.”
So your BAD choices in life trump(not using protection) the potential life of another? Once again, adoption while sucking ass in this country, is always a choice AND more ethical choice than abortion. You choose abortion because once again it is the EASY choice, not the most ethical or moral choice.
“But for a lot of women, they look long and hard at their reality before making the decision. The Guttmacher Institute has a study. Most women who get abortions have already had at least one child, and cite financial reasons for not having another one right now. In fact, they are being INCREDIBLY responsible by making sure that they can take care of the child(ren) they already have.”
Financial reasons? It is a “reason” but lets call that what it is….BULLSHIT. Last I looked it doesn’t cost anything to give up a child for adoption. Not to mention financial reasons HARDLY make it an ethical or moral choice. And if you are going to talk about financial reasons, you should be able to understand the finances involved with buying a condom.
Lastly, I would like to point out that legality doesn’t mean something is moral. So that argument completely fails.
While Heidi doesn’t care about a male perspective, it doesn’t take having a vagina to look at a choice and evaluate the morality of it.

By: Carlos Vidal

Carlos Vidal — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 13:12:21 +0000

How does a fetus adversly affect a woman’s destiny?
You know nothing about what could have been.
Your arguments for killing a fetus on the basis of destiny are nonsense

By: GeekGirlsRule

GeekGirlsRule — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 11:47:48 +0000

Jim, I don’t know how to tell you this, but abortion is a form of birth control. It is.
I’m grateful that you realize that you have no business attempting to legislate control over anyone else’s body, but I still find your attitude toward abortion troubling because it conjures up the Right Wing demons of Abortion Happy Feminists scheduling them after their pedicure and before martinis.
While most women who have abortions don’t regret them, none of them have them lightly, and by considering their decision disgusting you’re discounting the thought and time that goes into making the decision to abort. For some of us, like me or Heidi, it probably would have been a no brainer: This is not what I want, and I’m not going to go through with this pregnancy.
But for a lot of women, they look long and hard at their reality before making the decision. The Guttmacher Institute has a study. Most women who get abortions have already had at least one child, and cite financial reasons for not having another one right now. In fact, they are being INCREDIBLY responsible by making sure that they can take care of the child(ren) they already have.
And that’s disgusting to you?