regard@ttidcc.UUCP (Adrienne Regard) (03/26/85)
> If you think this is emotional, you are right! I get emotional over > the thought of killing unborn babies just because you don't want one. > My God, who told you to get one started in the first place! > How about abstinence for those of you who don't want a baby right now! > Good Heavens, I must be crazy, right. RIGHT! I must be crazy to think > that the life of an unborn would ever be important enough to make a > sacrifice like that for! "_I_ get emotional. . .because _you_ don't. . ." (emphasis mine). There has got to be a way to deal with the issue of "murder". Science cannot verify a date for acquisition of a "soul", so that's out. If we define the acquisition of life as the time of conception, then IUDs are out and abortion under victimizing or dangerous circumstances (rape, entopic preganacy) is out, and first trimester (as opposed to second trimester) or even first MONTH abortion is out. So what to do? Those who believe that abortion is murder are impelled by that belief to attempt to control the actions of others (given our civilization base). That is respectable at least. But the question "what to do" remains. Does each person who rejects abortion philosophically undertake financial responsibility for the children? Do we support birth control information? Do we sterilize people willy nilly who refuse to use it? Do we insist that raped women bear the child? Do we insist women in danger of their lives because of the fetus bear the child? When is it _not_ murder? Do we condone a society that condemns women with children to a second class citizenship? Do we elevate the status of women with children to a first-plus class citizenship? Do we crucify the responsible man for a few years instead of the woman? Do we lock-up the criminals that unwanted, uncontrolled, unraised children become? Do we wait 18-20 years and kill them in the gas chamber then? IF your beliefs impel you to attempt to control actions of others, then you are equally responsible to consider ALL the actions dependent on your pivotal point (and I certainly haven't the imagination to list them all). "No abortion" treats a symptom, and treats it ineffectively. What to do? What is your "best possible world" scenario? Maybe we can bypass all the rhetoric. I personally don't know anybody who thinks abortion is a game, to be undertaken on a lark, "hey, everybody ought to go through it once." The camps seem to be divided between those who consider an unwanted pregancy a personal issue (I do) and those who consider it a social issue, open to the discussion and control of society at large.