Okay, I know a lot of people are going to hate me for posting this. In fact, I'm going to hate myself for posting this. I'm so absolutely SICK of reading posts about abortions. I'm sick of debating the subject. It's leaking out of my ears. I mumble statistics in my sleep.
But you see, what I'm even MORE sick of is the lack of good arguments that touch on ALL the important arguments of abortion. No one ever seems to cover all the little details, and then back everything up with statistics and studies and reliable sources. There have been some good posts that covered PARTS of the abortion debate, and there's been some excellent comments, but not a proper, conclusive series that covers EVERYTHING (at least, everything I think is important). And I cannot bear it any longer. I must put an end to it.
So please, don't hate me for this. I'm very sensitive and will likely cry if I get yelled at for posting a redundant subject. I promise I will do my very, very best to make this series the best pro-abortion argument ever. It will be EPIC. Really. I think. I hope.
Anyway. As I said, the problem with the abortion arguments now is that they don't actually cover all the important bits. There's many, many different arguments that make up the Great Abortion Debate. To my mind, they are thus:
1. Is the embryo (I will be using the term "embryo" as most abortions are performed during the embryonic period or right afterwards) a person? Is killing it murder? Before this question is cleared up, nothing else can really be answered, because two wrongs don't make a right. If a woman was raped, it's still not okay for her to commit murder. If it's NOT murder, however, that opens a whole slew of different questions.
2. How did the woman get pregnant? Who is the typical woman who gets an abortion? There are many common misconceptions about who it is who has unplanned pregnancies, and why they choose to abort, and I want to clear those up.
3. Is an abortion dangerous? Is it medically dangerous - more so than pregnancy? What about the aftereffects? Does Post-Abortion Trauma exist or are women better off abortion than giving up for adoption, as far as their mental health goes?
4. What are the dangers of abortion when it's illegal? A look at what making abortion illegal would do. Even if you're strongly anti-abortion, you should consider this section, because making abortion illegal may not be the way to reduce abortion rates.
5. What CAN reduce abortion rates? Because I can't really think of a reason why abortion is GOOD... it is, after all, a rather nasty medical procedure that should be kept to an absolute minimum if possible.
6. Why I believe some girls/women should get an abortion instead of carrying to term and keeping the child.
7. Why I believe some girls/women should get an abortion instead of carrying to term and giving up for adoption.
8. A Biblical look at abortion... for those who care. :p
9. Men's role in pregnancy and abortion. Because it takes two to tango and no one ever seems to talk about the guys and THEIR responsibilities.
I want this series to cover ALL the important aspects of abortion, so please let me know if there's anything additional you think I should add to it!
Please, however, do NOT debate here. Save your debating energy for the next posts. 
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I will be looking forward to your thoughts on the questions provided. I believe that when one develops a view on the issue, these are questions the answers to which should play a part in their belief.
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"Faith is to believe what you do not yet see; the reward for this faith is to see what you believe"-- St. Augustine
I, for one, am looking forward to reading an intelligent take on abortions. That, in itself, is going to make this an epic series.
If you can find the info, you could talk about the argument people make about aborting because of birth defects--some can be fixed by very skilled surgeons who operate on fetuses, but there are risks involved with that as well. And then the whole argument for when the fetus can feel pain, as many of these surgeries are done without anasthesia for the baby because it's a risk to the mother or something. It can also tie in to your adoption section. It's not something I'm very knowledgeable on, so I'd be interested to read about it. ;-)
I guess it's not really part of the abortion debate, but perhaps you could touch on how not all abortions are medical procedures. Many women have spontaneous abortions (or, miscarriages) without even knowing they were pregnant.
And I don't know if you're going for a pros and cons of abortion thing, but their are future risks associated with abortions (natural, or not)--low birth weight babies in future pregnancies is one I'm aware of.
**edit** I just read your tags. And then I laughed out loud, for real. :-)
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/sawaboof
"...There is a crushing guilt that comes with being a Catholic. Whether things are good or bad or you're simply... eating tacos in the park, there is always the crushing guilt."
-30 Rock-
That would probably tie in to why abortion's sometimes better than keeping the baby. And the argument about the pain would also tie in to whether or not it's a person, etc. And I'll be taking a look at possible medical risks as well and seeing how likely they really are (hint: not very).
I think about a third of pregnancies end in miscarriage... but I don't really see how it's relevant to abortion? Feel free to enlighten me if you think it is though. :)
I have no enlightening to do as far as statistical data. I'm just here to hear what others are tossing around, if I feel compelled I may comment just to be enlightened myself.
As a person that is individually pro-life, but politically pro-choice, it's difficult to want a conversation with many people on the topic. I just feel as though it is wrong, but that there are circumstances that have huge shades of grey. I feel that morally, my vote should be one that considers what is best for everyone, and that Christians who feel so strongly about it being "murder" need to look at what they can do personally to help remedy the problem (accepting, counceling, etc..) as opposed to legislating it.
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"Faith is to believe what you do not yet see; the reward for this faith is to see what you believe"-- St. Augustine
I think our views on abortion might be incredibly similar.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/sawaboof
"...There is a crushing guilt that comes with being a Catholic. Whether things are good or bad or you're simply... eating tacos in the park, there is always the crushing guilt."
-30 Rock-
I know I would personally suffer psychologically from having an abortion, and I believe under most circumstances, I would not have one. I have been raped and had pregnancy scares as a result and always thought I'd keep it anyway. But there was one situation where the first thing I did was look up abortion clinics... x.x
Christians who feel so strongly about it being "murder" need to look at what they can do personally to help remedy the problem (accepting, counceling, etc..) as opposed to legislating it.
I think you mean as opposed to NOT legistlating it (or making it illegal, where it is already legal)? :)
Assuming that's what you meant, I totally agree with you. Banning abortion does absolutely no good, there are far more effective and safe ways to reduce abortion rates. I don't think anyone's arguing that abortion is a GOOD thing.
I have no enlightening to do as far as statistical data. I'm just here to hear what others are tossing around, if I feel compelled I may comment just to be enlightened myself.
As a person that is individually pro-life, but politically pro-choice, it's difficult to want a conversation with many people on the topic. I just feel as though it is wrong, but that there are circumstances that have huge shades of grey. I feel that morally, my vote should be one that considers what is best for everyone, and that Christians who feel so strongly about it being "murder" need to look at what they can do personally to help remedy the problem (accepting, counceling, etc..) as opposed to legislating it.
-----------------------------------
"Faith is to believe what you do not yet see; the reward for this faith is to see what you believe"-- St. Augustine
I have no enlightening to do as far as statistical data. I'm just here to hear what others are tossing around, if I feel compelled I may comment just to be enlightened myself.
As a person that is individually pro-life, but politically pro-choice, it's difficult to want a conversation with many people on the topic. I just feel as though it is wrong, but that there are circumstances that have huge shades of grey. I feel that morally, my vote should be one that considers what is best for everyone, and that Christians who feel so strongly about it being "murder" need to look at what they can do personally to help remedy the problem (accepting, counceling, etc..) as opposed to legislating it.
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"Faith is to believe what you do not yet see; the reward for this faith is to see what you believe"-- St. Augustine
the miscarriage thing... I'm not sure where I was going with that. A thought started forming in my head and I know it was going somewhere, but then it faded and was gone.
I hate it when that happens.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/sawaboof
"...There is a crushing guilt that comes with being a Catholic. Whether things are good or bad or you're simply... eating tacos in the park, there is always the crushing guilt."
-30 Rock-
Perhaps that an abortion is insignificant since so many pregnancies end in miscarriage anyway? That logic doesn't really hold true though if you consider the embryo (or xygote, more commonly) to be a person, because then it's just accidental death as opposed to "murder".
that wasn't it, but I did think about it.
It would have gone with when the embryo becomes a person, and under what circumstances. Example, one doens't consider an abortion murder, because it is not a person yet. But, perhaps 2 years later, they're pregnant again and want to keep the baby, but miscarry at the same point of gestation. They may feel saddened by the loss of a life. But it's not exactly a likely scenario, and I don't really think it can contribute to an abortion debate, now that I think about it.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/sawaboof
"...There is a crushing guilt that comes with being a Catholic. Whether things are good or bad or you're simply... eating tacos in the park, there is always the crushing guilt."
-30 Rock-
Anything I would like to see answered is already a sub-category of the things you already have listed. However, I'm not so sure if it's a biblical view that people debate or more of a religious view. Abortions aren't mentioned (at least I don't think they are) directly in the bible, but rather indirectly through the "Thou shalt not kill" commandment, which will be explained in question 1. If abortion isn't murder, there really shouldn't be a biblical concern, right?
Here are some questions for your debate:
Is the woman a person? Do women have the same right to control what happens to their bodies as men? Do men lose their right to go to the doctor and have something removed when they have sex?
If a sixteen-year-old has cancer and requires a bone marrow transplant, and the only compatible donor is his mother, but she doesn't want to give bone marrow, should she be forced by the law to do so? Should the police track her down and handcuff her and drag her to the hospital and force her to give bone marrow so her sixteen-year-old child can be saved? If not, then why should she be compelled to use her body to save his life before he is even born?
i'm glad to see someone is finally looking at all the aspects. i'm excited to see you answer these questions.
I cant wait to read what you have to say about abortion. Abortion is such a hard issue, sometimes you have to look at it from a statistical point of view. And no matter what, emotions and beliefs will never be seperate from the debates reguarding this issue.
I cant wait to read what you have to say about abortion. Abortion is such a hard issue, sometimes you have to look at it from a statistical point of view. And no matter what, emotions and beliefs will never be seperate from the debates reguarding this issue.
Are you going to present material from the Torah, Koran, and from religions other than Christianity [for those who care?] ...Think this whole plan is great, Kiota, sounds more like a personal memoir or a book than an essay ....
"To be on the wire is life. Everything else is just waiting. " :Joe Gideon
The Torah is the OT, so, yes. I won't be doing Islam though because my audience is primarly Christian. Sorry. :p You could write one though from the Islamic POV. I'd definitely read (and probably cite) it.
1. It is not right to kill a baby but a lot of people feel it is ok to kill the baby if the woman was raped. Why? Because she did not ask to be raped and didn't know that on that one fateful day she was going to get sexually abused.
2.As far as asking how did the woman get pregnant..... come on now . We all know what it takes to get a baby.Some women that get abortions are the ones who think of their self only, feel like they don't know how to take care of a baby. Slept with somone but did not mean to get pregnant by that person. I saw something like this happen on Cheaters. Someone I know had about 3 abortions and when she got pregnant last year she decided to keep this baby. I asked her why she got all the abortions and she said," I wasn't ready to have kids yet." But she is ready now? I really think she does not like the baby that much. No seriously.
3.Not sure if it is dangerous.
You are starting off on a good track. You need to also mention eptopic (tube) pregnancies because a lot of doctors recommend that you get the pregnancy terminated in that situation.
I remember when I was asking myself the same thing about keeping the baby I was carrying or not. I wrote my feelings towards abortions, adoptioins and just keeping the baby in my blog : The Burden Stopping you From College 1,2, and 3.
Good insight so far.
Please read my recent blog and rate it. If you leave a comment great . If you don't thats ok. But at least rate it please. Thanks. I even provided the link.
http://www.progressiveu.org/134728-you-can-find-me-and-others-progressiv...
It is not right to kill a baby but a lot of people feel it is ok to kill the baby if the woman was raped. Why? Because she did not ask to be raped and didn't know that on that one fateful day she was going to get sexually abused.
Please don't call it a "baby". Of course it's not okay to kill a baby. That's called infanticide, or murder. I am talking about xygotes, embryos, and fetuses. Not babies.
As far as asking how did the woman get pregnant..... come on now . We all know what it takes to get a baby.Some women that get abortions are the ones who think of their self only, feel like they don't know how to take care of a baby. Slept with somone but did not mean to get pregnant by that person.
If they're not ready to take care of a baby, why should they have one?
How did she get pregnant - did she use contraception? Was she having safe sex? Was she sleeping around? Was she young? Old? Married? Did she want to have sex or was she forced, coerced, or manipulated?
You need to also mention eptopic (tube) pregnancies because a lot of doctors recommend that you get the pregnancy terminated in that situation.
I don't think that's a relevant issue...? If the mother is going to die if she does not get an abortion, of course she should get one, it's self-defense.
Please don't call it a "baby". Of course it's not okay to kill a baby. That's called infanticide, or murder. I am talking about xygotes, embryos, and fetuses. Not babies.
Well excuse me. Xygotes,embryos, and fetuses all eventually equal up to a baby.But I will try my best to call it a fetus.
If they're not ready to take care of a baby, why should they have one?
I wasn't ready to have a "fetus" yet and I decided to keep it. I told myself that my mother did not abort me . She did not even abort my sister and trust me my sister was not planned. I was. Besides getting raped, if people decided to have unprotected sex, let their lover convince them to do it without a condom well shame on you but don't take it out on the fetus.Yes there are people who use protection and that doesn't work, but at the same time, all contraceptives are not 100% effective. Most of them are 99% or lower effective. But yes if they choose to have one , that is their choice.
In a way if your going to talk about abortion, you might as well mention every reason why women get them. The eptopic(probably spelled it wrong)would play in that catagory of abortion. It's just an idea though.
Thanks for the feed baack.
Well excuse me. Xygotes,embryos, and fetuses all eventually equal up to a baby.But I will try my best to call it a fetus.
...and children become teenagers and then adults, but you don't call babies adults, do you? O.o
Besides getting raped, if people decided to have unprotected sex, let their lover convince them to do it without a condom well shame on you but don't take it out on the fetus.Yes there are people who use protection and that doesn't work, but at the same time, all contraceptives are not 100% effective. Most of them are 99% or lower effective. But yes if they choose to have one , that is their choice.
What about married women?
I strongly recommend you read this: http://www.progressiveu.org/061328-step-step-argument-abortion-teen-sex-...
I'm sure everyone has strong opinions on this topic. PBS has a lot of great statistics and debates online about abortion, and to be quite honest, PBS is one of the few places I trust sources.
I'm pretty vocal about this topic, and I want to make crass bumper stickers that say "Anti-Abortion = Pro- Coat hanger." Not really, because people want to think that once it's made illegal, no one will ever do it, and the reality is just too.... real.
-Sonja :)
"Democracy works only when you vote. When you don't take the time to vote for the candidate you find the least offensive, you run the risk of electing the candidate you find the most offensive."
I'll definitely check out PBS.
Abortion is a very touchy subject. I have an opinion on this but there are so many scenarios that could happen that change my opinion. I think that abortions should not be made illegal because that would be as effective as drinking underage, it would still happen even though it was illegal. I do however think that aborting a fetus for the wrong reasons is wrong. It should be available for rape victims and such but also something to think about would be teenage mothers. No baby should be brought into the world in certain types of environments that they do not get cared for like they should. I know that the parents made the choice to have sex and knew it was a possibility but most of those babies of teenage mothers do not come into a healthy environment for them to live in.
I know a lot of people are going to hate me for posting this.
To the contrary: I commend you for it!
There have been some good posts that covered PARTS of the abortion debate, and there's been some excellent comments, but not a proper, conclusive series that covers EVERYTHING (at least, everything I think is important). .. There's many, many different arguments that make up the Great Abortion Debate.
I agree! I posted a three-part series that attempted to address some of the most important issues as I see them, but my analysis was not as exhaustive, nor was it handily laid out with numbers and such.
I shall eagerly await your series! And almost as much, the conversations it will no doubt engender.
/jkh
Yep. Kiota. There is only one.
What she's doing is not just for academic credit, either .....
"To be on the wire is life. Everything else is only waiting." :Joe Gideon