Even if you think people should not have abortions, they should be legal.
As I’ve stated elsewhere, no one wants abortions, per se. Abortions are used to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. Everyone should agree that the goal is to prevent unwanted pregnancies in the first place. This is why no one should ever do anything to prevent people from having access to birth control, especially young adults who are most adversely effected by unwanted pregnancies. The anti-abortion people like to characterize pro-choice people as pro-abortion, and that is not accurate. A better word for the pro-choice movement would be pro-privacy. Basically the pro-life folks think that the government should have an eye and ear in the room when you and your doctor discuss your personal health. The pro-choice people are saying that the decision as to whether to terminate a pregnancy should be between a woman, her doctor, her partner and her clergy. The government should not be at the table. It is hard for me to believe that anyone would disagree with this.
The argument they use, which is not irrational, is that abortion is murder. Is it though? There are two issues we have to tackle. 1) When does a fertilized egg become a person and; 2) when is the termination of this egg/person considered murder? If you want to argue that abortion is murder you have to establish that the unborn fetus is a person in a legal sense of the word, meaning a citizen. When is an unborn child endowed with rights? If you wish to argue that at conception a fertilized egg is endowed with rights under the State, we should issue a legal document at conception. Call it a pre-birth certificate. From that point on the welfare of that “child” is protected by the State. This essentially means a woman would have to notify the government as soon as it was clear she was pregnant. Do you believe we should do that? On top of this, there is a fuzzy line as to when a fertilized egg becomes a person, just like there is a fuzzy line between when a child becomes an adult. There are 18 year olds who are not adults and who are exploited because of the bright line legal definition. There are also people who are mature as adults who are less than 18 years old. The legal system had to adopt a bright line definition so we say if you are 18 or older you are an adult.
Do we have a bright line definition of when a fertilized egg becomes a person? If you say at conception, this means every failed pregnancy is the death of a person. Some of these deaths would need to be investigated as murder or negligence. The paper should be full of funeral notices for every failed pregnancy. Is it rational to say that a fertilized egg is a person? Note the difference between the words “life” and “person”. You can say that life begins at birth but that does not mean it is a person. My blood is alive but it is not a person. It is living cells. The way I’ve best heard it described is that a fertilized egg is a possible person, a fetus developed beyond 13 weeks is a probable person and a baby living outside the womb IS a person. Currently our bright line legal definition of when a fetus becomes a person is when they are born and issued a birth certificate. Prior to that time there is no legal person.
Let’s rewind a bit: abortions are bad. If we plan well there should rarely be a need for abortions. Let’s prevent unwanted pregnancies. Women have always had and will always have the ability to end their pregnancies, either safely or violently. When you are saying that abortion should be illegal you are A) putting the government in the examination room between a woman and her doctor and; B) dooming woman to ending their unwanted pregnancies through backroom and violent means. If you want to end abortions you should work to prevent unwanted pregnancies. You should not work to put woman and their doctors in jail.
This is a tough issue. A lot of people feel that abortion is immoral. They may be right. As a secular country, though, our task is to figure out whether it should be criminalized. The win-win situation is obvious: we can eliminate abortions without criminalizing them by working together to make family planning as effective as it can be. Let’s end the debate on criminalization and instead focus on our common goal of good, healthy family planning.
lolife 
as I do so agree with all of you it is not morally right, but it is also not right to put these people down I get the whole “its not the babies fault” But if a women decides (after a long time of thinking about it of course) that she is not capable of keeping the baby or just simply is not ready no matter the circumstances yes its not the babies fault if a women was raped but why does a women/teenager/child need to take care of a baby that will constantly remind them of that tragic event? and lets say this rape victim decided not to get an abortion and that child starts asking questions about their “father”, how is that innocent person that was attacked supposed to deal with that? like ” Oh he forced me to have sex with him and then you came” how do supposed that would make a child feel after finding out their father forced himself in his mom? there have been plenty of times where that child is scared themselves that they may be a rapist. and better yet what if that child goes and tries to find their dad just so that they can know him? how is that supposed to make that person feel? “LIKE OH I FEEL AMAZING THAT MY RAPE BABY WANTS TO FIND ITS DAD THAT RAPED ME!” so what she was wearing a short skirt.. short skirts don’t have BANG ME! written across them so for all those people out there who will say she was asking for it SHAME ON YOU have you no empathy??? what if that was you? put yourself in that scenario and tell me what you would feel? if you ask me Yes it should stay legal and for all you Pro-Life people out there if its not you in the situation bug off no one wants to get all up in your grill so stay out of others and don’t get burned
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abortions should be legal… who are we to decide what other people do with their lives?..if thats the case then i guess we can tell gays not to marry and people not to drink…abortion is a decision that should remain with the woman..partner and doctor…i mean everybody says they’re so against abortion.. but i dont see that many of you adopting?..people should mind they’re own business. who the hell are you to tell someone else what to do with they’re life just because you think it’s wrong…
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im against abortion. most of you use rape or you werent ready as an excuse. rape, okay, im aware that some of you cant live with that and something like that can really traumatize you but it really isnt the babys fault. i have a friend that got raped and had the baby and that baby is her world. and if you arent ready to have a baby then you arent ready to have sex. simple as that. when you lay down and you put yourself in that position then you should know what your getting yourself into. things happen and if you get pregnate its your fault. take responsibility. and most of you writing on here with the lamest excuses for abortion, especially the ones saying they werent ready for a baby or they had school why is half the things you typed on your comment spelled wrong? i thought you went to school?? but i guess that’s you. im just putting my opnion out there feel free to respond.
Karina09hdz@hotmail.com
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You do realize that if abortion was illegal then the mom would have to suffer a hard life because of the child they never wanted and the child would then probably grow up in a poor, abusive environment. Another thing that could happen is that the child would be placed into foster care. The number of kids in foster care is already hard for the government to handle and it would be terrible for the kids to be put in a situation that they have terrible or abusive foster families. Another thing that could happen is that the mother and child both die because the mother went through and illegal way to abort the child. All of these options lead to the pain and suffering of both the mother and child. Oh, and when you told that person you thought they went to school you forgot the capital I in basically every sentence so I guess you shouldn’t be talking. You said your friend got raped and had the baby well congrats but not everyone can live like that. Either they have terrible living conditions or they can’t afford the baby if they had the baby it would just make life worse for the mother. Sometimes in conditions like that, the children end up getting abused because of the hatred the parents have towards the child for ruining their lives or making it harder to survive. Not everyone can afford a child so next time consider others’ lives before you say something like that. All of you should remember that there are people that don’t have a lot of money so pull your head out of your a*s you a*sholes.
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Also, i wish to add that abortion should not be a last Minuit decision and shuld not be done once the baby i viable.
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Hum… Are there only to people on this entire forum who are not yelling at everyone based only on feelings (me and Jeszie)? “This is obviously a very emotional issue for everyone posting here”(Jeszie)
Have you thought about the child? Could you support him/her? Is it possible that death is better then what you could provide? If you are 15 and have a child you better be extremely rich, because if i were a child about to a poor 15 year old mother, and i had the capability to think, perhaps i would prefer death. And as for adoptions, there are more children up for adoption then there are couples willing to adopt. Some children put up for adoption end up miserable. On the other hand if you are capable of supporting the child (including emotionally) and the sexual act was voluntary the3n i don’t believe it is right to get an abortion (but am still against taking away the right of choice). And if some pro-life person starts bashing my point (as apposed to an intelligent rebuttal) they are just proving their own lack of inelegance.
PS:Also if you make abortions illegal they will be done illegally and will be more dangerous to the woman.
PS#2:Many children who are the result of a rape end up with miserable lives.
PS#3:Don’t reply unless you have an intelligent rebuttal pleas.
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How can people be so judgemental? How dare you imply that women who have abortions “deserve to pay for what they do”? Precautions don’t always work, and women do get raped. Abortion in these scenarios can save someone from a terrible degree of mental stress. Just because a woman has an abortion, it doesnt make her a monster or any less human. Some of them are simply terrified women who feel entirely alone and are not capable of taking care of a child. And as for “not blaming the child for the circumstances in which they were conceived” that is ridiculous. No one does that. What about the case of the woman in the UK who gave birth to her rapists baby and smothered it because to her horror, every time she looked at this baby she saw the man who did it to her. Wouldn’t it have been better if she had had an abortion? Besides if abortions are made illegal, people will just do what they did in the fifties and go to backstreet abortionists.
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Hey im 15 and i just recently had a beautiful baby boy named dax and i love him very much and when i look into his big blue eyes it makes me love him even more and when i read some of the things on this site about how abortions should be legal i cryed… because thinking about the fact that something that beautiful and that small and helpless is killed everyday is just mortifying. I know that sometimes women cant help it like if they get raped or something but you should still give it a chance to see the world.
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Were you responding to the penis enlargement guy or someone else? : P
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This is obviously a very emotional issue for everyone posting here and thats probably part of the reason why it appears that people are not listening to each other.
Several of the people who defend abortions use the example of rape to justify it and at least some of the people who are against abortions specificially allow for exceptions in the case of rape or incest.
Maybe we could get more people in agreement if we state allowances for rape, incest or danger to the health of the woman and say it should not be considered as an alternate form of birth control for consensual sex. As for the people who have consensual sex and do not feel they are ready for a family, there is always the option of adoption. There are millions of couples who want children, but cannot have their own. With people waiting later to marry, more are finding they cannot have their own children. If someone makes a mistake in a willing sex act and has a child, then why not carry the child to term and let it grow up in a stable, loving home with parents who will want it very much.
If we allow for abortion in the case of rape, incest or anything that might endanger the health of the mother and limit our argument to willing sexual activity that is not threatening the life of the mothter and allow for the huge number of people who wish to adopt a child, then we are really talking about a matter of convenience for the mother.
At this point, it becomes an argument about whether its more important for her to choose between ending a life inside of her or going through the inconvenience of carrying a child to term. Within the context I have just defined, I am against abortion as an alternate means of birthcontrol. A woman’s right to choose not to be incovenienced at the expense of a young life seems insane.
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I think abortions should be legal…. for thoes who are a parent of tennage girls……. you plan to see your daughter with a good educaion…..shes very athletic…she’s smart and pretty you know she could go far in life, she has a scholarship aand everything to one of the best unversities in the state and she’s 3 weeks from gaduating….. she comes to you with tears in her eyes and tells you that she was out partying, and a guy was hitting on her…. she remembers that she was hit over the head with something and dosen’t remeber anything that happened to her but that know she know’s shes’s pregneat!….. what wuld you do? I a mother of two chilldren am struggling with that, Im a widdo with a lot of reponsibility’s i wouldn’t have the money to support another bieng. What was i to do? I wasn’t going to see my daughter go down for something that wasn’t urt fault. we got an abortion, thanxs to the abortion shes doing well on her own and is going on to her second year in college, and yes u best believe we took this guy to court. Put your self in that situatuion and ask your self what road would you choose? or wha if abortion was ilegal?
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YOU PEOPLE ARE STUPID FOR HAVING ABORTIONS!!! YA’LL ARE COMITTING MURDER!!!! AND LIKE GOD SAID- “THALL SHALL NOT KILL” AND YOU GUYS ALREADY DID!! AND ONLY GOD CAN BRING BABYS INTO THIS WORLD, AND HE IS THE “only” ONE TO TAKE THEM OUT, ITS NOT YOUR CHOICE ITS HIS!!, TAKE RESPONSIBILITIES FOR YOUR ACTIONS!!!!!!!
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Why do you care so much? did someone abort your kid? or are you just saying this since you like to get into crap that’s not your problem? Do you like getting involved in drama that has nothing to do with you? and if not then why do you need to say anything? leave people alone and let them suffer from the consequences.
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Alright, First of all ABORTION is wrong!!! You should never kill an inoccent baby, just for your mistakes, and even if you got raped, its STILL NOT THE BABY’S FAULT, that you got raped!! “EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A REASON”, and every baby is a blessing from God, so stop trying to get abortions, because we just disobeying GOD!THANK YOU!
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ok! i think that if some1 didnt want a baby or didnt plan 4 it, then WHY did u (woman) open ur legs? its simple dont open ur legs and there is no possible way to get pregnant! use rubber, DUGH!!!!!!!
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I think that if you don’t agree with abortions then don’t worry about it. And I have a question, why can’t abortion be justified? I have a school paper do over it. Thanxs
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babies are a gift not something you should kill if it doesnt fit into your life plan…. you got yourself into this mess deal with the coniquences! and dont try to take the eaiser way out your killing a real person if the baby had a choice what do u think it would say..?
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All the reasons as to why abortions should remain legal is already said, I just want to add on to the list.
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I think that people should have the right to choose only because they know whats best for them and the life inside them!i can undertsand why people would want to get an abortion under certain situations, but everyone has there own opinion on subjects like this. Just try to make the right choice for you, but dont just think about yourself because there’s a whole other life inside you!accidents do happen but try to be smart, theres to much of this B.S going on today!
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when people say that if someone is mature enough to have sex, then they are mature enough to take care of a baby; i think to myself: how would they know? i had a cousin who at 12 had her first baby and decided that she didnt need to go school because her parents and boyfriend would support her… right now she is 17 with three kids and no boyriend and no job. she was mature enough to have sex or she would have never gotten pregnant. But was she smart enough to raise a baby without any schooling? I say that abortion is okay for those who need it so that they can better themselves in life. they learn from their mistakes.
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abortion should not be legan and it is unnessisary, if think your mature enough to have sex, than that mean you must be mature eanough to have a baby. for every action there is a conciquence. and if you cant have the child you can put them up for adoption
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abortion should not be legan and it is unnessisary, if think your mature enough to have sex, than that mean you must be mature eanough to have a baby. for every action there is a conciquence. and if you cant have the child you can put them up for adoption
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I think abortion is wrong!Anyone out there thinks abortins is rightthen they are saying that since people will murder and kill people anyways we should make legal!HELLO
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okay i am doing a research paper in school about being against all odds towards abortion. i feel as though abortion is murder. if you lay down and have sex then you should pay the price. there is always adoption. rape is not an excuse on haveing an abortion because like i said before you can get an adoption. i despise the word abortion!! i mean your parents didn’t abort you so why abort a child that you have growin inside of you. all of you girls need to get alife and if your having sex you must realize you can get pregnant and to have an abortion is not the right choice to make.
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one time i was walking down a dark alley and this 50 year old guy came up to me and took my cloths off and started to do me.i was only 16. i got pregnent and i didnt want the baby so i got an abortion. do you think that i was wrong for getting the abortion.
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MISS SUE HONEY HER
I am so proud of you. If I was somebodies wife and got pregnant of course I would keep the baby also. But so many of us aren’t as fortunate as you so. You are entitled to your opinion. You being married w/ a child at 17 was your choice. Me having a baby at 17 w/ no husband was not my choice. I am in love and 21 and doing wonderfully. With no regrets. If you have never been put in that position then don’t try to explain why someone else shouldn’t do what you THINK you would not have done.
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This is for MARIA and SUE HONEY HER
MARIA you so contradict yourself. You are saying that it’s my choice to have sex but not my choice the have an abortion….All I have to say to you is WHATEVER. you just stick to what you do because you do not carry the persons child, you do not pay for the abortion, or you do not raise that child and if I new your address I would have every person who has thought to get an abortion to have the child and leave it on your door step. Since you know what is good for everyone.
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I am 21 years old and if I wouldn’t have an abortions my child would be 3. For you people who say that abortion is bad. Fine, don’t get one, but, don’t worry yourself about my abortion. just make sure you are never in a situation to need one. It was my choice to have one because I had gotten excepted into a very good college and i wanted to do something with my life. I was not ready for a child. Also you can save the bull about precations, That b.s. The guy used my condom, I even put it on. The guy never let me now he had ejaculated or that the condom had broke. So don’t feed people the b.s. of precautions. Just don’t find yourself in the same situation.
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If you dont agree with abortion then you shouldn’t get one
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READ THIS! i used to ahte abbortions but then i was raped and got pregnant. do u think i wanted to see the child every day and think to myself (u know, your father raped me) NO WAY. i dont want a constant reminder of what happend in my past. abbortions are there to help women in need. sorry if u think i was in the wrong. but think about it. if you were me, what would you do?
spexa39@hotmail.com spexa, age 16
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For me abortions should not be legal and the reason that I think this is because If you have the right to chose to whether to have sex or not you also have the choice to take care of yourself and if you dont and get pregnant it was your choice therefor it becomes your responsibility so it wouldnt be fair to just get rid of “it” just because you’re not ready you need to face the consequenses.
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EVERYONE TAKE A SECOND AND READ THIS! I was raped and as a result I got pregnant. I didn’t find out for 3 weeks that I was pregnant and I got an abortion. Was I wrong? It was not my fault! Abortions are right!
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I believe this article is very right! All you people that say abortions’ are wrong, well YOU ARE WRONG, because everyone has sex. Just because you have sex and mistakingly get pregnant, does not mean you should PAY FOR IT! That’s rediculous. If it’s so wrong, it would be illegal right now, but as everyone can see it’s not, and it never will be!
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If you get in the bed and open your legs you should pay for what you did and not kill an innicent unborn baby
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innocent* learn how to spell before you want to lecture people about something that isn’t your concern
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Iam completly against abortions, but the reason why Iam writting this comment is to say that people dont have to stop having sex to prevent pregancy they just need a little mor e precaution thats all; example using a contraceptic method and having healthy sex; with only one partner
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abortion should be legal.its a choice and a woman should be able to make her own choices in life.
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I really agree with this article. Abortion is bad, but it should still be legal, otherwise it will be threatening the choices of the mother. No mother wants to kill her baby, but in some situations this could be the only option. To make abortion illegal, it would put many inocent women in jepordy. Insted we should work to decrease abortion rates.
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i believe that abortion is wrong…because if you wanted to have sex you should of used protection…!!!hello thats why condoms and birthcontrol is made for…and think about it..your mother gave you a chance to see the world and why would you take that chance away from someone…i am a friend, a sister, a daughter, a mother, and a wife of a wonderful family.. i have a little baby that was just born on october 3rd, 2003…and i am only 17…i know that now en days many young girls are getting pregnant! and we always think that we know what were doing! but we don’t! we never listen..! but not knowing that what we do can effect our lives…!! and including others…!
i love little kids…they are the future…when i found out that i was pregnant i was happy because i know that it is a gift!! i think that they are so special…!!
…..i believe that abortion is like killing..i just think that if you don’t want babys you shouldn’t make them in the first place…because they don’t deserve to be killed…
i just hope that people think about others that can’t even have kids..that is crazy to have kids…….
sua honey her
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I stil think that abortions are bad if a woman wants to have sex than she should do it the right way and use protection and than the government wouldn’t have a reason to interfere in their personal life behind doctor doors.
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I think you understandably misunderstood me. I agree with you that 9 months is too late. What I said, though, was that we do have a bright line definition of when someone becomes a person and that is when they are born and get a birth certificate. This is confused at times, though, such as when people get charged for the murder of an unborn child when they kill the mother. If, as you say, most people agree that nine months is too late, when is not too late? What’s the bright line?
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Although I agree with you regarding keeping abortions legal, using the argument that a fetus does not become a person until birth is a very weak argument. Would you say that abortions in the ninth month of a pregnancy should be legal? Clearly, most people would agree that when a fetus becomes viable, abortions should no longer be an option.
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To Sue and Sandy or people that think like that: let me ask you a question: could you live in a world where abortions were legal but never performed because people didn’t have unwanted pregnancies? Is the gist of the Pro-Life argument that abortions shouldn’t happen or that they should be illegal? Why is this debate on legality!?! Prevent abortions by advocating family planning, birth control and abstinence. We should all be able to agree on this one: work together to prevent unwanted pregnancies.
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I think abortion should be legal because sometimes u cant prevent being pregnant, like if u get raped! and people should have a right to chose if they want it done or not. so it SHOULD BE LEGAL!
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anybody who gets abortions should pay for what they have done
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it is totally sick ok? it should be illegal and ill see to it that it will be.
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Abortions is a one of the ways to prvent having a child, but a better way to prevent prenancy is by not opening your legs. Meaning dont have sex. Not even condoms are a hundred percent sperm proof.
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