quote:
Originally posted by Dave:
Wow there is some blind unthinking proaganda if I've ever read it.

On the other hand, CJ asks, properly and intelligently, where do we draw the line on life? This tends to be the eye of the storm when it comes to abortion debates. Its hard to know. I watched my daughter on an ultrasound when she was a "foetal pole" in the womb, a little line with a flickering pulse. Looked like life to me. This was at 10 weeks or so. Cute! Not sentient. A tiny streak of flesh with a tickling proto-heart. A potential human. But not yet a human. This is a really tricky question to answer, CJ, and I don't think anyone can answer it definitively or honestly.

But a law which says, "You must carry a foetal pole to delivery" is not a law I can approve of. This means that the state requires a woman to use her uterus in a certain way. That certain way is to preserve the life of a smear of flesh / a potential human, sure. But governments do not have the right to govern a woman's uterus, any more than they have the right to imprison you without a trial.

Another argument, which I dislike but is just as true, is that people will still perform abortions, whether we like it or not. Do you want young mothers shoving coat hangers into their wombs in bathtubs and alleyways, with the attendant risk to health and life of the mother? Some people might say, "Well, it serves them right because they are murderers." That is an irresponsible attititude. If its going to happen anyway, then let it happen under the supervision of a doctor. There is no reason why a mother can't be actively discouraged from an abortion. But at the end of the day, if she wants one, she is going to get one. The choice of how that happens lies with a responsible legislature, with an eye to gritty reality.

Incidentally, just to throw this up in the air, anyone who is anti-abortion but pro-capital punishment is in my humble opinion a hypocrite. If someone thinks the life of a foetal pole is precious, then equally so is the life of a serial rapist. Why bring a man to life, just to kill him for committing a crime later?
Great post, Dave. I agree with you 100%. ( From a personal standpoint, I actually do find abortion to be very sad and unfortunate--- as well as immoral/unethical--- but in the end I have to support a women's right to choose.)


I'm actually not against the death penalty for capital murder offenses--- why waste $40-$80,000 a year keeping a scumbag murderer alive? Shit, that money could be put to so much better use (Hell, give it to the victim's families if nothing else... ).