1. Welcome to SportsJournalists.com, a friendly forum for discussing all things sports and journalism.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register for a free account to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Access to private conversations with other members.
    • Fewer ads.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Abortion absolutism

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Dick Whitman, Dec 2, 2011.

  1. HejiraHenry

    HejiraHenry Well-Known Member

    I absolutely will never undergo an abortion. That's where I make my stand.
     
  2. The life of the mother issue is at least somewhat different from the others, as it brings in elements of self-preservation.
     
  3. Smallpotatoes

    Smallpotatoes Well-Known Member

    But if she gets pregnant because of a rape, tough shit, that's her responsibility?
     
  4. PCLoadLetter

    PCLoadLetter Well-Known Member

    Pretty much exactly where I stand. I'm unenthusiastically pro-choice, but I think there are valid moral arguments for a strict anti-abortion stance. The rape/incest exception, to me, is morally indefensible.
     
  5. Smallpotatoes

    Smallpotatoes Well-Known Member

    Why should there be any consequences for a rape victim? It's not her fault.
     
  6. Baron Scicluna

    Baron Scicluna Well-Known Member

    That, plus then you would have the rapist inevitably claiming he has paternal rights, and making her bring the kid to visit him in prison.
     
  7. PCLoadLetter

    PCLoadLetter Well-Known Member

    Because if you believe that abortion is murder, you would then be committing murder to alleviate the distress of a rape victim.

    Like I said, I'm pro-choice, and this is a big part of why. The bottom line to me is that if you think there should be a rape/incest exception, then you don't really think the fetus is a person.
     
  8. Smallpotatoes

    Smallpotatoes Well-Known Member

    And that's why I'm pro-choice. I'd have a hard time telling a rape victim she had to carry the baby to term.
     
  9. Of all the reasons to be on one side or another, this should be at the bottom of the list. If that is someone's concern, then the response should be to change the paternity rights laws, not the abortion laws.
     
  10. Smash Williams

    Smash Williams Well-Known Member

    Actually, that's very disputable because it's patently false.

    Conservative estimates are that 25 percent of all embryos are spontaneously aborted by a woman's body in the first six weeks of a pregnancy. Others say the rate is much higher, in the 40-50 percent range in the first 10 weeks. Heck, of all women who know they are pregnant, which usually doesn't happen for 4-6 weeks, about 15-20 percent knowingly miscarry.

    Several studies, including one by the National Institute of Health, indicate that about 50 percent of all fertilized eggs/embryos are spontaneously aborted/miscarried/stillborn throughout a 40-week pregnancy. Reasons include genetic abnormalities, utirine issues and a whole host of other things that may or may not be in control of the mother.

    Personally, I don't think "life" begins at conception, but that's a personal feeling. I start to get squicked by the idea of abortion around the age of viability, so 21-24 weeks. Before that, skin is gelatinous, eyes are sealed shut and a whole host of other systems don't work well enough that I feel the "person" part of a person has moved in yet, for lack of a better term.

    I hope like hell I never am put in the position where I have to consider abortion. I don't know if I could do it myself, though I can certainly think of situations where I would (rape, as mentioned above, health concerns, whether that's my own or possibly devastating genetic diagnosis like Tay-Sachs). But who am I to judge what another woman has to do with her body, and who is anyone to say what I am required to do with mine?
     
  11. Bubbler

    Bubbler Well-Known Member

    With respect, that's a cop-out equivalency, but in its way, I suppose the problem is with the verbiage of "life begins at conception".

    Let's put it this way. Instead of "life begins at conception", if a person wants to make the choice to have an abortion, its likely that the embryo has made it past the point of natural miscarriage and into the territory where that fetus is going to be a life. What's the life expectancy percentage of a fetus once a woman is aware she's pregnant? I guarantee it's not 50 percent.

    My general belief on all things is that no human being has the right to interfere with the life of another. And as others have expressed here from a non-religious point-of-view, I think that the life that is conceived inside a mother deserves to be protected.

    Except in the case of rape or if the mother's life is in danger, because in both cases, her life was/is interfered with by either a predatory person or sickness/ailment.
     
  12. Smash Williams

    Smash Williams Well-Known Member

    I understand that view, but we disagree on the fundamental question of when life begins.

    As to your question, across all age ranges, a pregnancy will result in a live birth approximately 80-85 percent of the time if the woman reaches a point where she knows she's pregnant. The older you go, the lower that number gets. I saw a stat that said among women older than 45, 75 percent of all pregnancies were spontaneously aborted at some point, likely because of the much higher rate of genetic or chromosomal abnormalities.
     
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page