Why I am 'Pro-Life'... (ethics, heroin, weapons, abortion)
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Don't bother. I bring that up every time and no pro life person ever responds. Probably because they know their support for it is hypocritical and can't bring themselves to admit it publicly.
I can't speak for pro-lifers, but maybe they don't respond because it's a dumb argument. As someone in post 16 said --- "I would never use either of these simple-minded little labels to describe my stand on such a complex issue." But, for those who use the terms pro-life or pro-choice, the labels are for the abortion issue. Even most choicers have limits on when 100% choice ends, and don't favor 'choice' on every issue. I suppose many pro-lifers would distinguish between 'innocent' life [the embryo, fetus, parasite to others] and a murderer or a nation acting through elected leaders.
I'm pro-choice because I know that for many abortion is better than the life they'd live.
I'm pro-choice because I know extreme conservatives only care about the fetus until it's born, then don't want to feed, educate or otherwise support healthy, productive living.
I'm pro-choice because reproductive issues play a major part in women's lives. Men simply do not have the baggage that women do when it comes to children.
One must be simplistic when it comes to moral thought- You have to think in black and white eventually. I am pro-life because I asked myself a simple question and answered my self in total honesty. Is surgically removing a human being from the mother and tossing the remains in the medical waste bin a good thing or a bad thing?
My heart and intellect said IT IS A BAD THING.
As we evolve as a society...we will look at back in 100 years at the practice of abortion and say...Good Lord - they really did that back then? How primitive..what were they thinking?
Abortion in time will fall out of fashion and so will the man hate goes along with those who support it.
In 100 years abortion will be gone? Abortions are recorded as far back as ancient Egypt. They aren't going anywhere. As long as unplanned and unwanted pregnancy exists so will abortion.
Thanks to all that have responded, especially those who read the linked article in advance.
Friedman changes the direction of discourse regarding abortion, (spurred by the offensive public comments about rape over the past several weeks), opening up the categorical label of "pro-life" to more than just the specifics around the termination of a pregnancy.
"The term 'pro-life' should be a shorthand for respect for the sanctity of life. But I will not let that label apply to people for whom sanctity for life begins at conception and ends at birth. What about the rest of life? Respect for the sanctity of life, if you believe that it begins at conception, cannot end at birth. That radical narrowing of our concern for the sanctity of life is leading to terrible distortions in our society."
He succinctly calls out the hypocrisy of the general pro-life stance or view, as it myopically focuses on abortion, (as evidenced by the series of comments on this thread), bypassing everything else such as gun control, the death penalty, war, the environment and global warming, entitlement programs for the needy (and the desire to limit/stop programs of this kind), universal healthcare, etc. You get the gist.
"'Pro-life' can mean only one thing: “respect for the sanctity of life.” And there is no way that respect for the sanctity life can mean we are obligated to protect every fertilized egg in a woman’s ovary, no matter how that egg got fertilized, but we are not obligated to protect every living person from being shot with a concealed automatic weapon. I have no respect for someone who relies on voodoo science to declare that a woman’s body can distinguish a “legitimate” rape, but then declares — when 99 percent of all climate scientists conclude that climate change poses a danger to the sanctity of all life on the planet — that global warming is just a hoax."
Hence, with all this in mind, yes, this is why I am pro-life; and I am also pro-choice, and pro-respect.
"If you can name an issue, you can own the issue. And we must stop letting Republicans name themselves “pro-life” and Democrats as “pro-choice.” It is a huge distortion."
Last edited by MobileVisitor09; 10-28-2012 at 11:31 AM..
Reason: Fixed a word or two. :)
I think there will always be abortions taking place.
If abortions are made illegal, they will still happen in every city and every state in the US. However, we will see the rise of back-alley abortions, the procedure done by non-medical people, coat hangers, etc.
Prohibiting abortions would be a new "Prohibition" era in the US, and we see how "Prohibition" worked regardless of how well intentioned the advocates were for that measure.
This is exactly why abortion was decriminalized in the first place.
That is like playing God and imagining that you can clearly see the future and the future of every human being born- "for many abortion is better than the life they'd live"- that is absurd- that is like saying death is better than life. Life in any form is better and superior to death.
Meh. Every time we take a pill (whether for birth control, diabetes, heart disease, etc) we are playing God. You don't want to play God? Deny all life saving measures for yourself and loved ones.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oleg Bach
If you believe that "extreme conservatives" do not want to feed or educate or in general take care of children and bring them up to be happy and productive people...well maybe YOU the liberal would like to take care of the children? Apparently there are few liberal volunteers also
I support social programs to help those in poverty. I support education and healthcare for all.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oleg Bach
Reproductive issues? That is so clinical...You say that having babies only effects "women's lives"? Why is that I see this over and over again...This brainwashing and eccentric feminism that is being pushed on woman..to get them to believe that their male counter part has nothing to do with reproduction?
It's not brainwashing. It's a fact. Men do not have the issues that women face during an unwanted pregnancy. You don't have to worry about prenatal care, being on bedrest, giving birth, watching the child etc. It almost always falls on the woman. Why do you think there are so many women raising children and so many men not? Because the onus falls on the woman.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oleg Bach
Men do have the "baggage" ...My eldest son lived in the middle east for almost five years...He married and has a child who is less than a year old- My son because of the collapse in the economy..Had to return and is now struggling to bring his child and wife home...I have never seen a young man so distraught over being separated from his child- He has powerful maternal instincts.
I'm sorry for your son but I really don't understand what this has to do with facts.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oleg Bach
So I don't know what you are talking about- I know many men who are more maternal than some woman..so forget that dated sexist thing- Men are also mothers!
I find it interesting you believe this. You are the one who doesn't believe adoptive parents are actually parents. How can a male be a mother?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oleg Bach
You call yourself a realist? You should keep your pro-choice doctrine for yourself and apply it only to your own life and body- What other woman do and what other men do is none of your business...It is not YOU who bore the child...when you are pregnant then you can make your OWN choice- I an sick of people making choices for others.
Exactly. Which is PRECISELY why I am pro-CHOICE. Let everyone decide for themselves. Thanks, Oleg!
I am and always will be for prochoice. Number one is that I grew up in a poor family, my Mom did migrant farm work in the 40's and 50's and some up to the early 60's to make sure she could afford food to feed 6 children she could not afford. We lived in a small shack in the Middle of Hanford California with water pumped from a well and an outhouse for a toilet. My Mom cooked everything on a wood burning cookstove. She had her first child in 1947 at the age of 17 and her last pregnancy was in 61 when she was 31 and had her tubes tied to prevent any more. She was pregnant 10 times in those 14 years because she had no choice, the catholic church forbid birth control and it was not till they approved tubal ligation that she had a choice. Being dirt poor and in hand me downs was not a fun way to live. She could hardly feed us sometimes and at the ends of the month we may be eating oatmeal for dinner with no sugar and drinking powdered milk and she would not eat. If she had had a viable option to access, she would have had fewer children that would have had a healthier and fuller childhood, maybe I would have never been born, but neither would the 4 she misscarried or the second daughter she had to give up for adoption. Number two; there are way too many children already in adoption homes and foster homes, making abortion not an option will overwhelm both with many more children that are unwanted or undesired. Number three; there are over 7 billion of us on this planet and our resources cannot handle it nor can the planet. It is negligent to keep on reproducing as if there is endless room and resources at our disposal. If anything there should be a cap set on how many children a couple can have. There is not enough room for all of us as it is. Number four; it is mostly males setting these rules and laws forbidding women from getting abortions, till a man can squeeze a child out of his body, it is none of our business what women do with theirs. How would you like it men, if women could tell us what to do with ours?
I'm prochoice because everyone is even if they won't admit it. There is no alternative.
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