Opinions please people! Abortion ban in America- what do you think?

Question

Ok, so I read the other day that there was a state in the 'great' US of A, that had banned doctors from performing abortions, even in cases of rape and incest. How can they justify that? As well as going through a horrific experience, they then have to give birth to the product of that experience? I just really, really dont get it, that in the 21st century, we are still so backwards! Opinions please people!

Forgot to mention, that they will only perform the abortion if the mothers life is in danger.

Relevant link:- http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3706456a12,00.html

Ok, to the people who believe in adoption instead- thats all good, but then the poor woman still has to go through 9 months of that baby growing inside her, feeling it move and kick.... can you even imagine how she must feel? Not even to mention that the people she comes into contact with will congratulate her etc (if they dont know the background) and she will probably end up with serious issues because she feels like she should love her baby but she cant due to the circumstances.... What happened to the right to choose?

Answer 1

Watch this space - if certain fundamentalists get their way it'll be happening in the UK too soon enough. This just means more women will die or become permanently infertile having abortions in illegal backstreet clinics just like in the bad old days. In the case of rape or incest, abortion should be offered without any guilt being applied as it's an awful thing for a woman to have to go through without, as you say, giving birth to the product of that "unholy" union which will be an unloved being as it would be a permanent reminder of the crime committed upon that woman. Mistakes or accidents resulting in pregnancy should be considered carefully before abortion is undertaken but women should be educated so that abortion is the last option available and not just "another form of contraception". However, all women have the right to decide what happens to their bodies - no one else has the right to tell them what they can and can't do.

Answer 2

I don't think abortion should ever be banned

I don't agree that it is used by those women who cant be bothered to get the birth control but i do believe that when a woman is pregnant and does not want the child then she has a right to terminate.

Why- because its our right to choose.
people say about rape and incest but what about those who are not ready to be a mother, those who believe a baby would be the end. There are young woman who fall pregnant every day and because of fear from those who say abortion is wrong and adoption is no answer go out and commit suicide. There is also the fear for some of carrying a child for nine months and then having to give that child away knowing that one day they may turn up at their door asking WHY, WHY DON'T YOU LOVE ME, WHAT DID I DO WRONG.

There are people that say it is unjustified murder, well how can you judge because there may be a time when you yourself find that abortion is your only way out your only answer.

Everyday when you turn the TV on you see dying children in other countries, mothers drowning their children why may be because they are like many woman in this world they were not ready to have a child.

This is the 21st century but many things are still in the dark ages.

These woman make hard decisions, they have to live with that for the rest of their life.

Do not judge those who do not judge you.

Answer 3

I think it is a violation of a woman's right to choose, but I also think women have the responsibility to choose before a certain point in their pregnancy. If a woman is raped she should go to the doctor immediately and if in a few weeks it turns out she is pregnant she should be able to choose to have the baby or not. Now, if she wants to wait three months... that's a WHOLE other issue. She has plenty of time to get herself checked out and I realize that rape is a very tramatic thing, but sooner or later a woman has to face the reality of the situation and deal with it.

This is really a question of responsibility. Accidents happen, sure, but the issue of responsibility still comes into play. When a condom breaks during intercourse a woman should take responsibility and ger herself checked out and if it turns out she's pregnant shouldn't take so many months to decide what to do. After a certain point in pregnancy I think it should no longer be a choice - if you are not responsible enough to prevent the pregnancy or not responsible enough to make a decision quickly you will just have to consider other options like adoption.

Now if their are health issues to think about... a WHOLE other ordeal all together and I still haven't decided how I feel about it. Part of me thinks that just because a baby will be born with defects and/or diseases doesn't mean you should abort it and try again. Of course, if you can detect it early enough I don't see a problem with it, but six months down the line is a whole other story. If having the baby will cause severe health problems in the mother or if the mother won't survive giving birth... it's a tough call. Again, though, if problems are detected early enough I don't see a problem with it, but six months down the line... which is worse? Killing an innocent life that has not yet seen the light of day or sentencing a mother to death simply for having a child? I would have to say that it is by far more fair to the mother to abort the child and save her life - because by letting her die would mean trama for an entire family. It sounds kind of cold, but the unborn child is still unborn and the family will still grieve, but it just seems far less harsh than forcing a mother to give birth and die in the process.

Those are my opinons.

Those are my opinons.

Answer 4

First of all, people making these decisions probably have never been raped or molested and have no idea what that experience can do to a person. Second, you cannot say what you would do in a situation until you are put in it. So for someone to say they would never have an abortion or would never "kill" their fetus is absurd. These woman having abortions will have to live with this decision forever and should not be judged by someone who has never been in their situation.
Plus, they can make it illegal to have one all they want. Someone out there will still make it possible to have an abortion whether it is legal or not. A desperate woman who was raped or a teenager who made a bad choice or that poor woman who was left by her boyfriend who wants nothing to so with the baby will find a way to have the abortion even it kills her. That is the scary thing about this whole issue.
I am a woman who has had one about 10 years ago and made the choice to do it for many reasons. My life was a wreck and a baby would have made things worse. For the baby's sake and mine I chose not to have the baby and to this day I know this was the right thing to do.
The government should stay out of our private lives and stick to what really needs our attention - Iraq and getting our troops home!

Answer 5

First of all not sure if you misread the article if you are reading more media crap, but no state has done this yet, but SD has it on the Nov elcection.
Secondly hardly anyone who hasnt grown up in the USA and many of those that have dont really understand our constitution, and in this case specifiacally "States Rights" What States Rights means and why it originally was put into the constitution was because America was and is a melting pot, and people in certain parts of the country have different opinions on different ideas, and this allows to set thier own laws basd on the beliefs of the people of thier state and not the average belief of thecountry on the whole.
There are very few Federal or National laws, the ones that are mostly pertain to Taxes, Discrimination, Treason, Antitrust, Rico(organized crime) Kidnapping, Bank Robber etc.
For example there only laws against Murder is if you murder a federal emplyee or kindnap someo one and take them into another state and kill, but there is no law against kiling somebody that you havent kidnapped, same for rape, robbery, assault etc, etc. In almost all other countries in the world they laws are national/federal and the same no mater what state you live in, but not here.
Roe v Wade was a bad decison by our supreme court making it the law of the land so to speak. I am not saying that abortion shouldnt be legal, what I am saying that theyhad no legal right to do so and that according to our constition it should be a state law decided by the populous of each state. And it looks like that is where it is going to be as the law looks like it will pass in SD, and will immediately go back to the Supreme court and most likely they will follow the constitution this time.
Having said that there will be very few states where abortion bans will pass. Having said that the is one remaining option left if the above happens and that is put it on the ballet in the 2008 National election and if 65% of all the voters vote to make abortion a "right" it will be added to the Bill of Rights and make it legal in all 50 states once again, and I think that is the most likely
senario.

Answer 6

I'm a guy so I know that sometimes male opinions on the subject can be pretty different from female ones. However, for what it's worth... I think to ban would be a very dangerous thing to do as it would lead to so called illegal 'backstreet abortions' which can be extremely dangerous to the woman if not done professionally.

Under normal circumstances I am against abortion, meaning that I don't think it should ever be used as a form of contraception. However, if a woman had been raped then I think it is perfectly acceptable for this to be an option for the victim.

Answer 7

It just shows how much right wing religious fanatics dominate USA voting and politics. Not only is it evil to ban abortion when women's access to contraception is limited - consider that chemists/pharmacists are not obliged to provide contraception in emergencies or otherwise - but what could be more horrific than forcing a young woman to bring to term a child conceived in rape/incest?
Presumably they are not interested in the facts that pregnancy can leave a woman's body massively changed, that despite a relatively low maternal death rate compared to the third world giving birth is still a dangerous procedure in western countries, not to mention the inconvenience, pain, having to leave work etc. The USA has to be the most backward, anti-female western country - with laws like these they have more in common with Iran and Taleban-ruled Afghanistan than anywhere civilised. I can only hope that the UK doesn't follow suit, I'll have to move somewhere else.

Answer 8

Hell No!

Our founding fathers built this nation with the specific intent to separate church & state. This abortion thing is not a legal issue, but a moral; religion, or belief system. That has zero to do with our government and everything to do with those who make this nation. If ever there comes a time that the surpreem court rules against legalized abortion, I hope that they also make judaism the national religion, and spanish the national language.
Then those who want abortion to be legal will understand what these great men meant when they said:
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Amendment XI

The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State.

Long Live The U.S.A!!!!

Answer 9

There is a worse case. Ectopic pregancies (egg fertilised in the Fallopian tube), If allowed to develop, it will probably kill the woman. And where is the Sanctity of Life in that?

Totally agree with you on rape and incest, To deny women such terminations treats women just as breeding machines, dutifully producing a crop of new citizens as their duty to society, This smacks of Kinder, Kirche, Kuche (children, church, cooking) which is how the Nazis saw women's roles,

Women musr have the right to choose whether to proceed with a pregnancy once they know they are pregnant.

Not the church, not the state
Women must decide their fate

Every child a wanted one.

A Sanctity of Life argument that shows no compassion for women who do not want to have a baby at this juncture shows no respect for the lives concerned and needs to be rejected as sanctimonious dogma,

Angel is right, In the UK the head of the Catholic Church, a cardinal, is wanting to reopen the abortion debate, 40 years after David Steel's 1967 Abortion Act.

Answer 10

Abortion is a horrible thing and you are killing the future generations and the beauty of life is destroyed. In the instance that a woman is raped she should be allowed to perform an abortion. But, people that want abortions may just lie and say they were raped to justify having an abortion. Luckily there are rape kits to have doctors tell wheather a person was forcefully having sex, therefore raped. So there is a form of confirmation, but not a good one.