This is for a project for school, and I have chosen my topic on abortion. I am aiming for a friendly debate... if you are offended in any way, please do not comment.

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Our topic is abortion. We all know what that is, right?

Lets go on and state some of the obvious. Some people are for it, some are against it, and some are stuck in the middle.

I will be speaking from multiple viewpoints... it makes you think in a way. Sort of.

-Legal Abortion:

Asking asking various people and doing research, I keep on running into the same answer for the question "Why are you for abortion?", and that would be "It is the mother's own choice, and I am not in control of her actions.", but most of the time these answers would end in "...but I am not FOR abortions. I am just not in simply in control of the actions of another and do not wish to interfere with one's personal rights."

After going through a number of articles and interviews, people (well, those that I've seen.) do not want to abort babies just for the heck of it. They do not support reckless behavior from women of any age and say that abortion is just another form of birth control, they just believe that a woman has her rights and can choose what she wants to do with her unborn child, no matter how the woman was pregnant to begin with.

There's also the "Life begins at conception" thing... is it alright if we take away a living thing if it isn't even aware of itself yet?

-Against abortion:

Top answers (no order) I received for why people are against abortion:

"It is Murder."
"Your actions are your responsibility."
"You're taking away a human life due to a mistake that you made."
"Murder is a sin."
"It goes against my religion/morals."

No matter the situation, if the baby is the product of careless sex, rape, or even if they have a deformation/birth defect/uncurable disease, a child has the right to live, right? If you got drunk and turned out to be pregnant, it's not the child's fault. You chose to get drunk.
As for rape.. of course, we can't control if you get pregnant from a rape or not. There's adoption, and that's certainly better than killing someone.

And just as a note... the Bible says nothing about abortion. There is "Thou Shalt Not Kill", which most people stick with. But there is nothing about abortion.

-In the middle:

"Abortion should be legal... under VERY certain circumstances."

The other option, which I am supporting, is this one. Abortion should be legal, BUT... for certain situations, such as if the pregnancy is life threatning towards the mother, baby, or both. I am completely against aborting babies due to careless sex, or if you're in a situation that you are certainly aware of your consequences.

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So there we go. Thoughts on all three sides... including my personal opinion.

I'd appreciate thoughts on your own views to get a friendly debate going on, meaning no flaming or harsh comments on another person's view if you are against it. Thanks!

quote:

Then click on the EDIT feature. I think you have an 8 minute limit in which you can edit something within a post (which is (retarded*moronic)^infinity). But you're posting several times within a couple minutes.

True, this is the only forum where people aren't allowed to freely edit their owns posts. If there is a reason for this then I think the editting time should be extended to atleast 15 minutes to give people a wider margin to spell check and correct other errors(for those especially long political and science related posts).

quote:

I don't think that's an excuse for killing a child. They would need more attention, yes, but they pose no threat to the mother.

Child involves human, human involves sentience. A cluster of cells isn't a sentient being, thus it's not human, thus it's not a child. So no, you're not killing a child, you are merely eliminating the chance of one coming into existence. Imagine the nazis won WWII, you can't because it didn't happen, so it doesn't matter.
And yes, a child can pose a serious threat to the mother in many non physical ways. First of all you have to account for the fact that most 17 year old girls aren't psychologically prepared to raise a kid, and if you add down syndrome to that, well you can figure...

For abortion. Simple, it doesn't have a consciousness, therefore it doesn't care if it comes into existence or not. I'm not about to fuck up my life because of an accident(broken rubbers anyone?). Simple as that.
And to clarify that I don't say this out of pure ignorance, I worked as a waiter when I was 17 to pay for one.

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Originally posted by Brilliantmumbler:

quote:

Originally posted by YNmod1:
Welcome to YN, guys!

Just one nit-picky point from the mod: when responding to other posts, please try your best to condense all your writing into one post. We prefer not to see multiple posts by one YNer on the same topic in a row, as it can disrupt the flow of the boards.

And congratulations on starting up an abortion thread that hasn't devolved into oversimplified opinions or name-calling. That's pretty rare here.

well what if there is something we forgot to say and we would like to get it out there so aren't misunderstood?

Then click on the EDIT feature. I think you have an 8 minute limit in which you can edit something within a post (which is (retarded*moronic)^infinity). But you're posting several times within a couple minutes.

quote:

Originally posted by YNmod1:
Welcome to YN, guys!

Just one nit-picky point from the mod: when responding to other posts, please try your best to condense all your writing into one post. We prefer not to see multiple posts by one YNer on the same topic in a row, as it can disrupt the flow of the boards.

And congratulations on starting up an abortion thread that hasn't devolved into oversimplified opinions or name-calling. That's pretty rare here.

well what if there is something we forgot to say and we would like to get it out there so aren't misunderstood?

Welcome to YN, guys!

Just one nit-picky point from the mod: when responding to other posts, please try your best to condense all your writing into one post. We prefer not to see multiple posts by one YNer on the same topic in a row, as it can disrupt the flow of the boards.

And congratulations on starting up an abortion thread that hasn't devolved into oversimplified opinions or name-calling. That's pretty rare here.

quote:

Originally posted by Brilliantmumbler:
got to go Im not ignoring people or anything

That's alright. Thank you for joining in on this discussion.

quote:

Originally posted by Mugiwara:

quote:

Originally posted by Brilliantmumbler:
what about the mothers financial problems? She may be confused with none to turn to. I think that many abortions have reason to be considered and even acted out, the ones I hate are the women who have sex get pregnant then kill it because it would get in the way or some other lame excuse.

I highly agree with that.. They mess around, get pregnant, then abort the kid as if it were no big deal.

After looking on.. some site where they took a poll, it turns out that a lot of women get abortions due to not being able to support it financially.

Of course, there's always putting the child up for adoption in that situation.

online high five.

got to go Im not ignoring people or anything

quote:

Originally posted by Brilliantmumbler:
what about the mothers financial problems? She may be confused with none to turn to. I think that many abortions have reason to be considered and even acted out, the ones I hate are the women who have sex get pregnant then kill it because it would get in the way or some other lame excuse.

I highly agree with that.. They mess around, get pregnant, then abort the kid as if it were no big deal.

After looking on.. some site where they took a poll, it turns out that a lot of women get abortions due to not being able to support it financially.

Of course, there's always putting the child up for adoption in that situation.

quote:

Originally posted by Mugiwara:

quote:

Originally posted by PinkCow:
I suppose you're right--there are cases when not having an abortion is the right way to go. This is why I still stand by my belief that it's got to be considered on a case-by-case basis. It's just a shame that there isn't a more efficient way of figuring out the individual cases of every woman; if asked, what's to keep a woman from lying and saying she was raped, for example? This is why it's such a sti
cky subject, I think.

I ask why a woman lies about being raped.. in serious situations, it's not really a thing to joke around with.

There is technology now that can show if a child has a defect, such as down syndrome and autism (so I've heard.) But... I don't think that's an excuse for killing a child. They would need more attention, yes, but they pose no threat to the mother.

what about the mothers financial problems? She may be confused with none to turn to. I think that many abortions have reason to be considered and even acted out, the ones I hate are the women who have sex get pregnant then kill it because it would get in the way or some other lame excuse.

quote:

Originally posted by Brilliantmumbler:
I do not believe that life begins at conception. I do believe it is wrong to kill them before they are born because it is taking away their chance to live. And if they had a say in it do you think they would agree to not having a chance at life?

I can agree with that. At conception, it's just a.. blob of cells. Once the fetus begins to develop human functions, such as actual body shape and organs, you shouldn't be allowed to get a abortion. Well, anything past the first trimester, basically. I actually think it's illegal in the US to have a abortion during your third trimester..

quote:

Originally posted by PinkCow:
I suppose you're right--there are cases when not having an abortion is the right way to go. This is why I still stand by my belief that it's got to be considered on a case-by-case basis. It's just a shame that there isn't a more efficient way of figuring out the individual cases of every woman; if asked, what's to keep a woman from lying and saying she was raped, for example? This is why it's such a sticky subject, I think.

I ask why a woman lies about being raped.. in serious situations, it's not really a thing to joke around with.

There is technology now that can show if a child has a defect, such as down syndrome and autism (so I've heard.) But... I don't think that's an excuse for killing a child. They would need more attention, yes, but they pose no threat to the mother.

I do not believe that life begins at conception. I do believe it is wrong to kill them before they are born because it is taking away their chance to live. And if they had a say in it do you think they would agree to not having a chance at life?

Personally I think that abortion is wrong but should be available to women because we cant control them and because we have no right to tell them what to do. And I agree with the other people it depends on the situation.

I suppose you're right--there are cases when not having an abortion is the right way to go. This is why I still stand by my belief that it's got to be considered on a case-by-case basis. It's just a shame that there isn't a more efficient way of figuring out the individual cases of every woman; if asked, what's to keep a woman from lying and saying she was raped, for example? This is why it's such a sticky subject, I think.

quote:

Originally posted by PinkCow:
Well, here is what I personally believe, first of all.

I believe that life does begin at conception. However, I do not believe that all abortion should be illegal in every single circumstance. I think it would be great if there could be some way of screening each woman on a case-by-case basis, but unfortunately, that's probably not a realistic thing to hope for. I don't think women who get pregnant as a "byproduct" of being careless should have the ability to have an abortion; you're right, the baby could be put up for adoption and that would be better than killing a child just because the mother was careless.

However, I also agree with you that there are instances when it is appropriate. These instances, in my opinion, are in the cases of a life-threatening problem to the mother or the baby, as well as in rape situations. Basically, I agree with what you posted as your opinion.

I discussed this with a very religious friend of mine once, however, and she is totally and completely against abortion. I don't agree with this, but I thought it might help you in your project to know of the story she told me. She mentioned knowing a girl who had been date-raped; when the girl woke up the next morning, there were signatures written all over her body from the multiple men who had raped her that night. The girl ended up pregnant, and she did not abort the baby. The friend of mine telling me this said that the girl and the baby were both very happy and healthy, and living a normal life together.

So, I suppose it really does depend upon the situation. I, personally, do think that health problems and rape are grounds for abortion, but I suppose there are those who would disagree.

I also have a religious friend like that, who is completely against abortion as well. I told her about it only being acceptable if the mother or baby were to be harmed or killed, and she brought up a story about her preacher at her church. His mother was told that the baby would not survive and that she would die too, but.. here he is today, both he and his mother healthy and well.

It's a gamble for situations like those... doctors do make mistakes at times, and a baby, when told that it would not survive, could survive. If you go on and get a abortion, you will be killing a baby that wasn't going to die in the first place. That's what I worry about.

In a odd and paradoxal way, abortion could save women too, and not in the way of the example above. If abortions were illegal but women tried to get one anyway, it could leave serious harm to the mother... there was an article I read about abortions being illegal in South America, and a woman wanted to get one because her baby was the product of her cheating on her husband. She went to secretly get an abortion, and she ended up getting hydrochloric acid sent into her uterus.

Now it was the woman's choice to cheat, and she ended up being pregnant as a result... This is where abortion discussions can get tricky. Legalizing it only to medical cases can be helpful, but we don't want anymore women to have hydrochloric acid put into them.

Well, here is what I personally believe, first of all.

I believe that life does begin at conception. However, I do not believe that all abortion should be illegal in every single circumstance. I think it would be great if there could be some way of screening each woman on a case-by-case basis, but unfortunately, that's probably not a realistic thing to hope for. I don't think women who get pregnant as a "byproduct" of being careless should have the ability to have an abortion; you're right, the baby could be put up for adoption and that would be better than killing a child just because the mother was careless.

However, I also agree with you that there are instances when it is appropriate. These instances, in my opinion, are in the cases of a life-threatening problem to the mother or the baby, as well as in rape situations. Basically, I agree with what you posted as your opinion.

I discussed this with a very religious friend of mine once, however, and she is totally and completely against abortion. I don't agree with this, but I thought it might help you in your project to know of the story she told me. She mentioned knowing a girl who had been date-raped; when the girl woke up the next morning, there were signatures written all over her body from the multiple men who had raped her that night. The girl ended up pregnant, and she did not abort the baby. The friend of mine telling me this said that the girl and the baby were both very happy and healthy, and living a normal life together.

So, I suppose it really does depend upon the situation. I, personally, do think that health problems and rape are grounds for abortion, but I suppose there are those who would disagree.