Limonchiki
This is a complicated question. I guess my answer is "both". I do believe in the sanctity of human life as a creation of God, and I don't believe that that sanctity begins upon birth, or in a certain trimester. I believe that a fetus is a person and not just a thing or a group of cells, and I feel that every person's death is a tragedy.
However, I also believe that the choice is best left to the woman herself. It would not be good, in my view, to turn thousands of women into criminals over this issue, and it is definitely not good to encourage them therefore to seek out unsafe underground treatments. I see women as sacred creations of God who should not be treated as objects in this debate, or ever.
Rather than trying to make abortion a crime, I wish that people of faith would focus on changing the environment that women and children live in. I hate that people expect single mothers to take on unplanned children, but refuse to support them because it's "not our responsibility to take care of people who don't help themselves." I hate that the same conservative leaders who are lamenting abortions because of rape are still blaming women for that rape and doing nothing to protect them. I hate that they expect every women to embrace motherhood in a society that doesn't value its mothers. How many people would fight to prevent a woman they don't know from getting an abortion "based on their religion" but wouldn't bother visiting their own grandmother in a nursing home? How many people would tell a single mother she's a murderer if she aborts her baby but a bad parent if she keeps it? If people really want to decrease abortion, these are the problems that need to be addressed.
That was a very good answer and very good points. Especially the point about people judging those who abort and not really taking into consideration what could be done to prevent situations like those for forming.
I'm not so sure it's a religious things though...I think all sorts of people fall into that at some point.
I debated over posting on this but eventually chose to put in my two cents also thank you Rainbow for posting this question I've been chewing on this for a while.
I am pro-life, I have always been, people assume it's because of my religion but it's not really all cut and dry as that.
The arguments I've kept hearing for pro-choice ( yes I read about both points and actually see them both as having good reasons and points) are:
It's not really killing because it's not really a baby:
I understand that. But irregardless that will be a human life after some time unless something or someone stops it so technicalities aside while perhaps not ending a life it does put a stop to it.
Better to abort a child than he/she being born to a horrible life.
How many people in this world have been trough hardship and come out and rose above to make a difference? How many people who grow up to make a difference in the world go trough something that marks and defines them? I have seen too many people be shaped and forged through the hardships in their lives and make good out of bad and something ( sometimes something incredible) out of nothing that this argument in particular while a good point doesn't really resonate as truth for me. Everyone, every single person, has hardships in store for them no one is free from it. Who are we to decide to take someone out of the race before he/she even forms because despite having no clue what that child might grow into or accomplish we just figure he/she won't make it? How do we know if a child who grows up in a hard life won't grow up to help others who grow up like him/her? Maybe be the next psychologist or missionary or perhaps a foster parent who takes another child from a bad place? The next police man who works against sex-offenders? The next caseworker who tried their hardest to help addicts or troubled teens?
We don't know...I think that's more of a point than anything. Humans as a whole have potential if allowed and willing to reach it.
The mother will not be able to care for the child.
Again, how do we know? While the choice comes down to the woman ( which is something of pro-choice I do believe in) How do we know that woman won't grow into a good parent? Aren't good parents made rather than born?
Born out of rape= no good.
I understand how horrible and traumatizing this is. I will never disregard it. I fail to see how that relates to the fetus/baby however. He/she has no real fault of who the father is. Adoption is always an option if the woman in question can't or doesn't want to raise the baby.
With what I've stated above and my belief in this matter clear I will also say that I don't believe in judging those who might have an abortion or enforce those beliefs on other people. Again who are we to know? Who are we to judge? We were given free will. Will I give my opinion? Yes if asked I will answer truthfully. Will I react in anger or enforce my believes if that person chooses to have an abortion regardless?
No. Never. I will be sad, both for the baby and the mother ( as abortion has psychological and physical repercussions and whenever someone is in pain like that it is a sad situation) but that's about it. At the end the woman in question will be the one who should make the choice. It is her life the outcome of that choice will affect. At the end no one should get to choose but her. If anything I think compassion is needed, as Limonchiki said, help, don't judge. Everyone is born with a path to walk and is free to walk it at their own pace and pick their own trails and make their own choices. We all are called at some point to make a hard choice and we might not always make the right one so who are we to judge?
That seems to be the main thing presuming to know , some people might say 'I know this is wrong she should step up and have and raise the kid...." others go "I know this kid won't have a good life she shouldn't have the kid..." and all the while I'm thinking, is there really a sure way to know?
Help those you can, pray for those you can't. That's what my approach comes down to I think. Help at-risk teens, help people who might be going trough that..even typing I can't think of all the people who need help, there's so many. If anything that might be the best way to prevent it rather than the general crack-down approach. That's what people should focus on rather than judging.
I'm not so sure about making abortion a crime. I think a law that compromises ( like you can't abort after a certain time) might actually work better as people will be forced to think about this as individuals and form their own beliefs and make their choices. It is a very individual personal choice and every case is different. Though some times I wonder how many people will chose abortion simply because it's 'the easier way'? Like they won't be as careful because unplanned pregnancy won't be as much a risk? Like maybe they won't consider the choice as much as they should ( regardless of the conclusion) especially if they're of the younger ones? For example should a teenager (age as young as 14) be allowed to make this choice without a parent's consent?
It's the one thing I get snagged on sometimes, I like to believe there's good in everyone and people might surprise you, but sometimes I see the latest news or just see how some people treat each other and I wonder.....
At the end that's not enough to make me think people shouldn't be given the choice though. I like to think the good outweighs the bad.
So definitely pro-life trough and through. But with a belief that every individual should be given the option to choose for themselves and should not be judged on that choice.
That's my two cents and opinion.
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