What makes a the mother's life more important than the child she is carrying?

Question

On the topic of abortion.

If the only "reasonable" cause for abortion is if the mother's life is in danger, what makes her life more important than the baby?

Why is that the only "OK" reason? Why not for rape victims? Or for a mentally deformed child?

I will listen to all arguments.

I kinda garbled the question. It should read "What makes the mother's life more important than the child she is carrying"

Answer 1

simple.

if the mother dies than the child dies...we have 2 deaths
if the mother lives but the child dies then we only have 1 death.

are you saying its better for the mother to die with the child than the mother to live to have another?

rape victims should be allowed to abort their child absolutely, why carry and nurture a being that wasforced upon you. what sort of life would a mentally or physically deformed child have? always being an outsider or a problem. if i knew (before i was born) that i would come out mentally or physically deformed then i would say abort me now.

youre giving rights to whats called biomass. a biological mass. until the child is born he/she is nothing but an extension of the mothers body. the mother can choose to do what she pleases with the child. if she chooses to have an abortion there is nothing you can do.

why it effects you religious people i dont know, i have no say wether someone on the other side of the US has an abortion. because of that i keep my mouth shut. why cant you learn to do the same. here, follow my simple rule

RULE: if it doesent apply to you.....SHUT UP!

if youre not in the middle of it (becoming bregnant or getting someone pregnant) keep your mouth shut. your opinion is your own and everyone doesent necessarily beleive the same thing.

the second that child breathes on its own it is officially alive and human and all those inalienable rights apply. until then the child relies on its mother (like a liver or heart relies on the other organs for survival) and the mother can do with it as she wishes.

Answer 2

The argument that the mothers life is more important is more a secular argument than a Christian one.

In Christian circles, it is not addressed at all for the simple reason that it is mostly an individual situation and only can be decided with specific details.

For the most part, if I were in a hospital and the choice was both mother and child were going to die if nothing was done, then of course, the decision would be to save the one that could be saved, rather than both of them being lost.

It is never OK just to make a blanket "rule" in these matters as each circumstance is so different.

Now in the case of rape, the mother does not have to raise the baby and be reminded of that part of her life each day. If she were to abort it or adopt it out, she would still in both cases have thoughts of the baby that would have been, or the childs well being and how old it would have been or is. So, no reason to abort it, let it live and be loved by parents not haunted by the way it came into the world.

In the case of mentally or physically deformed children. Same arguments, you will never know just how much good that child could have been or done. IF aborted, you will always wonder.

Abortion never solves any worldly problem.

Abortion can be an option if the mother can be saved, but such cases are so unique that it should be left to the parents and the doctor, not our governmental or law system.

Answer 3

There are certainly some interesting philosophies being expressed here!

My view on the "life of the mother" issue is that it assumes that both mother and child would be lost otherwise, so the baby is doomed either way. I suppose the reverse could be true, but I can't think of a case right off the top of my head. The closest is when a pregnant woman is fatally injured (brain dead) and she's kept on life support until her baby can be delivered safely.

Rape, incest, deformed babies...these are all the threshold issues that cause most people to think about where they would draw the line on allowable abortions. But just because there are these threshold issues doesn't mean that we should say "let's just make all abortions legal and let the mother decide".

Who speaks for the child?

This developing child is NOT "biomass" (as has been suggested here). What it is is a very fragile human, not yet fully developed and which relies on its mother totally for its life. If the mother arbitrarily decides to end that life I do believe that the state has a role in regulating those decisions.

To me, it's no different than a frightened young mother deciding not to save a baby she delivered at home and doesn't want. When they find these infants in the trash, the mother is charged with murder.

But 90 days sooner, it would be called "the mother's right to choose"?

Define it any way you want, but in either case, we have a dead baby.

Answer 4

even though i would not personally have one ( or at least i have never been in a situation that i have had to make that decision )
my mother has
and she was raped and did have an abortion ... and at the age of 7 i helped her emotionally and physically through it , because she almost died also as a result
i know my mother thinks of this baby every day , even 30 years later
but
i know she made the right decision for her and the baby at the time
each case is different and i for one would not condemn anyone who has to make this difficult choice xx

Answer 5

She isn't more important in my personal opinion! There is no good reason for abortion if you ask me! The child didn't do anything to deserve being killed! And for everyone out there who is saying "If you were raped or facing one of these issues you'd have an abortion" No, I absolutely will not under any circumstances have an abortion!!!

Answer 6

I've asked that question myself - it seems ridiculous to me that if you're anti-abortion you would make a statement like that. "If the mother is in danger of death, abort the baby to save the mom." Huh?? Hypocritical, that's what I call it. If you're anti-abortion, you should be anti-death, too.
And I know that some will say - have the baby anyway if you're raped, then put it up for adoption. WRONG. Not only are there thousands of kids in this country who never get adopted at all, but what woman wants to spend 9 months of her life with the constant reminder in her belly of that rape? I say to the anti-abortion, pro-adoption crowd - go adopt a kid. Adopt a challenged child. Stop picketing Planned Parenthood and women's clinics unless you plan to take in those kids yourself. Abortion is not a birth control device - people who think that are mislead.

Answer 7

One life is not more important than another, but without the mother, the child won't survive. Without the child, the mother is very likely to survive sometimes.

Answer 8

sorry for me it is all or nothing
either it remains legal to be used and abused or it becomes illegal and women die from back street abortions and more unwanted children die in trash cans
It is a matter of choice-if having an abortion is WRONG FOR YOU don't have one.
Abortion is not the only option for a woman with an unwanted pregnancy-but SOMETIMES it is the right option.

Answer 9

I think that they are equally important. I don't believe in abortion---it is murder. But if it were a life or death situation if the mother lived she could have the chance to have more children.

Answer 10

The mother is alive, has a soul, and can live independently.

The FETUS (NOT child) is not an independent entity. It is, for the most part, an internal organ. It can not survive on its own, has no self-awareness, and does not process conscious thoughts. While it is responsive to certain stimuli such as sound and vibrations, a dying animal is as well; it's natural neurological responses, not conscious movement.

That's my $0.02.