Abortion: a child not a choice OR a choice not a child?

Question

For the sake of the question limit your OPINION to the first trimester only.

Answer 1

My opinion: A child not a choice. But I will never force my opinion on anyone.

Answer 2

Though abortions are legal upto the third trimester.
Morale grounds in most arguments seclude to the fact that the featus/baby is alive enough for it to be considered a life.

Others would say that as long as the child is in the early stages of growing then its more acceptable.

A child is a child at the end of the day but with the society of the world being as it is a present people find abortion a better option than bring a child into the world where the parents arent yet in a situation where they can give the child the kind of life they would wish upon it.

With the increase of the population around the world being on an increase more than ever due to lack of contraceptive means in both developed and developing countries, abortion has become necessary. Although all would agree that its better to use protective measures to ensure the situation of an abortion being needed is far more preferable.

Answer 3

Abortion is almost always WRONG. I have heard all the arguments.

"It's a woman's right" (haven't seen such a right in the US Constitution). "It's only a lump of cells." "It isn't alive" are the most popular of the "Pro-Choice" crowd.

Meanwhile, the "Pro-Life" crowd says it's God's will that there shouldn't be any abortions.

Quite frankly, none of those arguments do anything for me.

Is there something that all people of good will can agree upon? Perhaps it is this. An innocent human life should not be taken without just cause.

One may argue about the morality of killing during a war. Or if there should be the death penalty for people convicted of murder. And there is self-defense. I think that just about covers it.

Your neighbor plays his TV too loud at 3 AM? Not a reason to kill him. Your boss won't give you a raise? Not a reason to go postal (I used to work at the USPS during my college days). You're not ready to be a parent? I guess that's the question here.

Certainly, except where the life of the mother is in serious danger from the pregnancy, none of those arguable cases applies. For example, if she is a diabetic and the pregnancy might destroy her kidneys, then I think it should be up to her.

Well then, why do I say the abortion is wrong most of the time?

Simple. I was born in January. Working backwards, I guess that I was conceived about the early part of April of the previous year.

I am now an old f@rt. I claim to be human. I claim the right to be not terminated without just cause as stated above.

My DNA is the same as when I was 12 years old. Same person, different package. It's the same as when I was 3 1/2. Same person, different package. It's the same as when I was born. SPDP. It's the same as when I was just conceived. SPDP.

Unless you think that I am not a person now, I was also a person that April many years ago. I claim for that person the same right to Life, Liberty and Property that the Constitution gives to me today.

BTW. You are invited to answer a question I asked yesterday. Just click on my "SPLATT" profile and scroll down to my question section. Just pick one of the three venues (Medicine, Law and Politics) there.

Answer 4

There is _always_ a choice. The question is whether the choice includes a safe, sanitary option or a black market/coat hanger.

I am anti-coat hanger.

People get caught up so much in idealism and what _they_ think is right they forget the sheer number of abortions performed every year (over a million in the US alone). Obviously some people think aborting the pregnancy is the best option (each year, 1 in 50 women aged 15-44 have an abortion). This is a serious decision for ALL of them, and it won't stop if someone passes a law saying they shouldn't do it, you'll just end up with more people in jail (not working, not contributing to society), and more people in poverty (one of the chief reasons pregnancies are aborted is parents not having the financial ability to support another child).

Yeah, abortion is wrong, but think about what a pro-life position _really_ means before you declare your intent to strip someone else of their decision as to what's best.

Answer 5

Although personally against abortion, I feel it is the woman's choice whether to continue the pregnancy, within limits. Situations of rape, incest or the health of the mother should be the only considerations for whether or not to continue the pregnancy. There should be a lifetime maximum of once on being able to use abortion as an option. It should also be within the first three months of pregnancy. Less is better.

There are too many other options than abortion for it to be the first choice. Adopting out the child is the best in most instances. There are many many people who would be overjoyed at the prospect of adopting a child.

Learn to use birth control. It ain't that hard, only requires a minimum of effort and saves a lot of headaches.

Answer 6

It depends on the circumstances really. What good is it to bring another life on this earth if it will not be taken care of sufficiently and this is going to be the situation, then I'm all for. On the other hand however if someone would get pregnant by me I'd be very much against abortion.

It has to be a right though in my opinion for everyone to have the choice whether to child or not.

Answer 7

A child, not a choice:

Photos of 1st Trimester Abortions:
http://www.cbrinfo.org/Resources/pictures.html

Video of First Trimester Abortions (with the exception of the final clip shown):
http://www.abort73.com/HTML/I-A-4-video.html

Photos and Facts About 1st Trimester Prenatal Development:
http://www.justthefacts.org/clar.asp
http://www.abort73.com/HTML/I-A-2-prenatal.html
http://www.studentsforlife.uct.ac.za/foetal%20dev%20photos.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/3847319.stm
http://www.lifeissues.org/ultrasound/11weeks.htm
http://www.pregnancy.org/pregnancy/fetaldevelopment1.php

Pain Perception in the Unborn in the 1st Trimester:
http://www.advocatesfortheinnocent.com/fetalpain.html

Answer 8

The choice lies in whether or not you really want a baby, thus also choosing whether you should be having sex.

Even though abortion is not easy for anyone I would hope to think that you can make up your mind in the first few day or at least within the first week as to whether you want an abortion. If you carry a child for 2 months, you should not have an abortion.

Answer 9

This is a question about womens rights. Foetuses do not have rights, they are not a part of society and rights only make sense in their social context. The woman carrying the child has the right to choose not to. Deny women that right and you deny half the population control of their own bodies and lives. The hypocrites who condemn abortion as murder conveniently forget that our health services make life and death decisions every day - based on the affordability of treatment and specialised equipment. People die whilst waiting for operations because the waiting lists are so big. These anti abortionists are the same people that support the war in Iraq, where countless people including babies and children have met their deaths. They sat back and never said a word during the 12 years of sanctions against Iraq which through lack of basic drugs and enough to eat killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children. The list continues.

Abortion is about womens rights. If people want to make this world a better place why not try confronting some of the real causes of death and suffering in this world.

Answer 10

I'll go with child, not a choice. Now, I have an issue with abortion on moral grounds, but our nation is not run by my morals, so the will of the people as determined by their elected officials determines the legality of this practice. Education about moral values on the family, as well as social responsibility is the way to fight abortion, not in courts, and definitely not in clinics with bombs!

Even more than my moral objections, I see abortion as a fundamental erosion of personal responsibility. It used ot eb that sex was the ultimate expression of personal responsibility, in that anyone who chose to have sex would also be accepting the consequences of having and raising a child. Abortion removes that consequence, and has helped lead to changes in the attitudes toward sex, especially on the part of young people. Personal responsibility is something of a crisis (as I see it) in this nation, and I am against anything that attacks it, or does harm to this concept.

That includes abortion, cheating on taxes, drug use (recreational and atheletes), and poor choices in government (neither Clinton nor Bush was really given any consequences for serious mistakes).

Answer 11

You already had a choice to be safe and avoid pregnancy at the time of conception. If you must go through abortion limit it to the day after pill for instances of rape. You cramp horribly and go through what is like a menstral cycle but it is better that murder. Even in rape cases I would still put it up for adoption. It may be hard but I am not sure the child should be raised like that. If a drunk hits a pregnant woman he goes to prison for 2 counts on volentary manslaughter, shouldnt women be held accountable also?