If abortion were made illegal, what penalties would you support? (violent crime, state)
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Sorry. I totally agree with you about what you're saying might happen, but I CANNOT STAND the argument that we shouldn't criminalize something because someone might hurt themselves trying to break the law.
That's just ridiculous.
Using your reasoning, Prohibition would have never come to an end.
.........but instead Prohibition sparked its own public health crisis. Drinking tainted bootleg liquor caused blindness, paralysis, and an estimated national average of 1,000 deaths a year.
Don't have sex
Don't have kids
Problem solved? I guess not, right ? Why are people still fighting about this?
Why aren't people smart? Freedom to be dumb?
Don't get impregnated
What if you're raped against your will?
Call the police and do an incident report
Go down to the Pharmacy, get the whatever pill, and bill the government for your trouble
Have a little cry, get some therapy (hopefully inexpensive), some ice cream, and you're back in business kicking ass or whatever you do
I received a question about what to do about an imperfect pregnancy, disabled child birth scenario
I have a little brother who was born with cerebral palsy so I would be qualified to give input on such a scenario
I feel it depends on the mother. Because you can use imperfect ingredients and be still be satisfied with an imperfect outcome. Some won't be satisfied by the outcome. Eagles and other birds of prey push their imperfect children out of the nest, or the siblings do it for them. What's right and what's natural are two different things. The right thing to do is to not have children unless you and your spouse are young and healthy, when the chances of a 100% healthy pregnancy are highest. But roll the dice, you only live once! Or don't roll the dice and always wonder what-if.
wrong. don't have kids until you've got PLENTY of money invested and have a great income and secure job. If that's age 35, you can adopt. There's 100's of millions of healthy, already HERE kids you can adopt. Why burden others with the cost of education for YOUR kids, hmm? why AINT you got the necessary 1/2 million $ per kid? if not, why dont you do the right thing and not have kids?
If it's a healthy kid you want, be young and healthy
If you want a kid with all the best opportunities, be rich and hope you're both healthy (no radioactive gametes, etc.)
Just don't be old and poor
Don't be young and poor, but youth has its advantages
I say don't have kids at all! VHEMT (voluntary human extinction movement)
But I can't tell people what and what not to do
It's all a roll of the dice anyway
Just don't have unwanted pregnancies lol as per my original post
I'd personally adopt first if it isn't that big of a hassle nor too expensive
I haven't looked seriously into it yet
If the Supreme Court were to find that a woman did not have a constitutional right to abortion and individual states moved to make it illegal, how should the crime be punished?
PLEASE DO NOT LET THIS DEGENERATE INTO A DISCUSSION OF WHETHER ABORTION SHOULD BE LEGALIZED OR NOT.
Would you support a prison term for the woman? The man who fathered the child? The provider?
If so, what length of term for each party?
If the woman or couple has other children at home, should punishment be less?
Should it be punishable by death?
If it became illegal then it would have to be because the fetus is deemed a "life" by the Supreme Court. Therefore, abortion would be considered illegal and punishable.
Penalties
Prison term: Yes for the woman, and yes for the father IF he encouraged it (but not if he was unaware of it or tried to prevent it).
Length of term: A few months.
Other children at home: No affect - especially if the father is present.
If it became illegal then it would have to be because the fetus is deemed a "life" by the Supreme Court. Therefore, abortion would be considered illegal and punishable.
Penalties
Prison term: Yes for the woman, and yes for the father IF he encouraged it (but not if he was unaware of it or tried to prevent it).
Length of term: A few months.
Other children at home: No affect - especially if the father is present.
Punishable by death: No.
And, if a fetus is deemed a life by the Supreme Court, other laws would have to be changed too.
Off the top of my head.......fathers would be required to pay child support from conception and fetuses could be claimed as dependents for tax purposes.
Another unintended consequence......what about miscarriages?
Would law enforcement be required to investigate every miscarriage to make sure child neglect or child endangerment didn't cause the miscarriage?
What if the mother didn't eat a healthy diet? What if she drank coffee? What if she took OTC medication? What if she smokes? What if she had a few drinks? What if she was obese? All of these things could have a negative effect on a pregnancy......should she be charged with child endangerment if she has a miscarriage?
I was around before Roe v Wade, and here is how it went down:
If you got pregnant and were underage, you disappeared for a few months, until the baby was born. Then, it was given up for adoption. There were homes for unwed mothers. There was no really effective, widely available birth control.
If a woman had an abortion, she was not punished, but the provider was.
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Here are some random thoughts about the potential criminalization of abortion:
If the intent of criminalization of abortion is to uphold the right to life, fair enough, but then excess in-vitro fetuses must not be disposed of. They must be given to the parents, or to people who cannot conceive. A life is a life....
If the intent is to uphold the right to life, then killing someone who has an abortion is ludicrous.
The penalty for abortions should be to have semi-permanent birth control required. There should be stiffer penalties for subsequent abortions, up to permanent sterilization at some point.
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There should be no penalties for abandoning a newborn baby at a specified location, for as long as a month or two, or three. This would reduce the number of dead babies found in toilets, dumpsters, etc. The intent is to save lives, not to punish the mother.
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This is not an easy society in which to raise a child without a job or means of support. Unwed mothers must be helped, to include mandatory birth control to prevent subsequent pregnancies. Also, adoptions should be encouraged more, to ensure that the child has a chance to a good start in life....
And, if a fetus is deemed a life by the Supreme Court, other laws would have to be changed too.
Off the top of my head.......fathers would be required to pay child support from conception and fetuses could be claimed as dependents for tax purposes.
Another unintended consequence......what about miscarriages?
Would law enforcement be required to investigate every miscarriage to make sure child neglect or child endangerment didn't cause the miscarriage?
What if the mother didn't eat a healthy diet? What if she drank coffee? What if she took OTC medication? What if she smokes? What if she had a few drinks? What if she was obese? All of these things could have a negative effect on a pregnancy......should she be charged with child endangerment if she has a miscarriage?
It is just like everything else: Where do you draw the line???
In response to your last paragraph, I think society is headed there, pregnancy or not.
I'm no expert but like Annie53 said, who brought up a really interesting point ..
If the mother's body is designed to reject a fetus when conditions are not right for its healthy survival (miscarriage) and because the action's of a mother's body is involuntary, then wouldn't it be silly to classify that undeveloped child an individual since it can be "shut off" even without the mother knowing / aware of that bodily function happening?
Is there a stage or level of pregnancy upon which the mother's body will NOT miscarriage?
Should that be the cut-off? Is it?
I just looked it up and miscarriages occur up until the 5th month 3rd week
Most of which happens before the 3rd month 1st week
I honestly never really gave it that much thought before
If the fetus has an on/off switch in the mother's body then it is not a free individual, wouldn't you say?
If the fetus is in healthy condition past the on/off or miscarriage stage, then it would be murder to cancel that baby's good development which is going so well -- wouldn't it? It would be 'too late', no going back, or else be wasteful to human life. Makes sense to me
It is just like everything else: Where do you draw the line???
In response to your last paragraph, I think society is headed there, pregnancy or not.
My Mom told me that when she was younger, back alley doctors and some women used metal clothes hangers to abort and many women died; or were damaged. Do we really want to go back to the dark, dark ages?
My question has always been what about the hundreds of men that are not responsible for their actions?
I think men and young adolescent boys need to give some serious thought about consequences of sex without protection, for many, many reasons. Girls need to be more cautious about those darling guys wanting to have pleasure, without the consequences.
Most of the time it is up to the female to harbor all the heartbreak and decisions of a very personal and life changing time.
This subject is really heartbreaking.
Last edited by mollygee; 01-01-2016 at 10:31 AM..
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