Question:
Pro-choice vs pro-life, I want to see the best arguments in favor of each standpoint?
LumiereLady
2007-01-22 17:47:20 UTC
I want to read serious answers. I don't want fanatics saying stuff like women who abort will go to hell. Please, keep it logical. In my case, I am pro women's freedom over their bodies and lives. Basically hundreds of women are forced to either have or abort the baby, sometimes women kill themselves trying to commit homemade abortions. Many women die this way. I believe women should be safe about their sexuality and take all necesary precautions to prevent diseases and pregnancy. There is much more to this topic, but for now I would like to read what you have to say. Again, serious answers. Thanks
22 answers:
xenomorph_girl
2007-01-23 09:06:30 UTC
This issue is so complicated on so many levels. I'm pro-choice. First of all, I don't believe life starts at conception, and since no one has been able to prove it does, why should anyone force their opinion on me that it does? A pro-life person might argue that since it IS so uncertain we should "err on the side of life," but if that were the case, than even more unwanted babies would be born- many might never even be adopted. Plus, what about the hell a woman's body is put through- all for the sense of "erring on the side of life." That's an awful lot of work and sacrifice for a woman just in case it MIGHT be a life at conception.



Further, I don't think some people fully understand what it is like for a woman... Yes, it would be nice if all women decided to go through a pregnancy instead of having an abortion, but do people realize how tough that is? Vomiting, pain, swelling, mood swings, extra weight- and that's not even labor! Women sometimes tear in labor- TEAR! Men (not all men, of course, many are very supportive of a woman's right to chooose)... how would you like to have the tip of your ***** or your "exit" hole stretched until it rips? Are you really willing to go through that just to make sure you bring a baby to full term when you might have prevented the ordeal early on (if you are subscribing to the belief that it isn't a life at conception).



The whole point I guess I'm getting to is that so much can't be proven about the whole thing, so how is it fair to force one person's belief on another? Some pro-life people feel abortion "is forced on them" but that's not true. I don't see anyone dragging pro-life people into clinics and making them abort. If a person disagrees with abortion, than they shouldn't have one, and they should let people who choose to have an abortion live in peace. Maybe one day, if it's ever proven without a doubt where life begins, all of these matters will be better cleared up... but until then, our resources would be better used to educate the young about safe sex, instead of deluding them that absitence devoid of sexual safety information is the best route. Instead of being so concerned about abortions, maybe we should be more concerned about preventing unwanted pregnancies in the first place.



Oh, and I couldn't help but add: Ruserious> It became obvious after visiting that site you listed that it's a biased source. How can you trust any of the information or statistics they put on there? People should refer to unbiased sources that don't slant to pro life or pro choice.
ergo sum
2007-01-23 03:39:00 UTC
Bravo to you for taking a serious look into what is still the hottest debate today. There are no easy answers to this question because so much is tied up in the issue, and due to this many don't like to hear answers that can prick the conscience. In reality, the epicenter of the debate has nothing to do with who can or can not choose, it has to do with when something is alive or not. The strongest argument pro-choice supporters aim to use centers around the term 'fetus'. Scientifically termed, the fetus is not considered 'human' since it does not portray the qualities understood to be a human baby. However, scientists have been too heavily relied upon to determine things outside their scope of expertise. If you are pregnant, any doctor you go to will never tell you that you are carrying a fetus within you, or use some other form of lingo to explain conception. A doctor will always tell you that you are pregnant, meaning that an egg has been fertilized by sperm and that a new developing being is beginning.



How do you define what is or is not human? Even if something is called a fetus, is it not still a stage in the development of human life? Let's say someone healthy is involved in an accident and ends up in a coma. That person no longer apparently functions as a person and medical officials often called it a 'vegetative state'. So is that person no longer human? What happens then when they come out of the coma and resume their life? Were they human, than not human, than human again? I know I am speaking in pure 'what if' categories and please forgive the argument, we are constrained by time and space. It is not possible for something to 'become' something out of the blue. If a human is not human at conception, then from where does it suddenly gain its humanity? The human species does not morf like a butterfly from a caterpillar. Our species is constant in its development.



It hard to argue against victims who become pregnant of rape because of the physical, emotional, and psychological trauma involved. Indeed, to say it is wrong under this circumstance makes one out to seem uncaring and inhumane. I wish no individual to suffer such an unfortunate and heinous crime! Nonetheless, is it argument enough to justify abortion? Unfortunately not. Once another person's life comes into play that choice cannot be anyone, the child has already its inherent right to live.The same goes with the 'back-alley butcher' argument. Legalizing abortion has not stopped deaths or future complications by abortion. De-legalizing abortion also does not necessarily mean 'back-alley butchers' will be rampant. It is a mere supposition that women will seek such services, which I think is a serious injustice to women's intelligence.



Being safe about your sexuality means being smart about your sexuality. We cannot fool ourselves, sexual intercourse between man and woman always carries the likelihood of conception, and that means baby creating. New evidence is arising of the harm done to the woman when she aborts, and most of this is due to failing to understand sufficiently how the woman's body works. I am sorry I can not recall now my source. Basically, it is noted that although the 'fetus' is removed from the womb, the body still continues to produce the hormones and such common during pregnancy, meaning that the body cannot shut itself off with the mere removal of a fetus. Since the biological elements being produced are meant for the fetus, which is no longer there, the woman unwittingly poisons herself. Hence this is where complications arise later with fertility problems, cancers, etc. Any doctor a woman will see in the future about fertility problems, cancers, etc, will be asked if they had an abortion. The medical community would not ask it if there did not exist a connection.



Again, as time and constraints limit the discussion I will leave it here although I hope I have added a serious answer to your compelling question. Bravo again for your interest!
trinigal33167
2007-01-23 05:19:32 UTC
I wasn't going to answer because I have already posted in this subject. However, one poster said that the woman should give the baby up for adoption because their are pleanty of willing parents. Sure their are plenty of willing parents however while there might be hundreds of people wanting to adopt there are hundreds of thousands of children begging to be adopted and never will be and go from foster home to foster home. Let's face it the majority of people would rather have a biological child then adopt. This is why I am all for abortion I would rather have a child not be born than have a child living knowing they were unwanted or have no real family.



I have also heard people say that it is murder. Well I think people choose who they would rather see die. Most people have no problem killing animals every single day and them eating them, but that is only because they feel superior to animals. Some people don't have much of a problem seeing thousands of troops die who have families and people who love them and want them to come home, but have a serious with a nameless, faceless fetus not getting the chance to be born. These are usually the people who are in favor of the death penalty. So I say to them stop choosing what you consider murder and really be pro-life meaning all life.
Conrad
2007-01-23 02:02:56 UTC
Since your question is more of a request than a query, may I suggest checking out this article on the Wikipedia, written by proponents of each viewpoint:



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_debate#Modern_arguments





Edit: candy makes a good point. I think the person ought to talk about it with their partner. A lot of people would say, "the partner has nothing to do with it," but it's really that kind of attitude that makes guys a bunch of lazy deadbeats in the first place.



Guys SHOULD feel responsible for their actions. And if women let their partners know that they respect their opinions on the pregnancy (even if they don't agree with them) then men will feel more responsible for the consequences of their actions.





Spock: I'm trying to understand why you would say that pro-lifers express no concern for innocent children dying from US bombings in foreign lands. Perhaps it is because you see the world in terms of black and white and believe that everyone in favor of abortion must be against U.S. military operations and vice versa.



However, even if this "logical" black and white world were to exist, pro-lifers would probably claim that there was some greater purpose in the bombing (i.e., Iraqi freedom is more important than saving the lives of children who would have died under Saddam's rule anyway). For abortion, they may claim that saving the lives of unborn children is more important than allowing someone who chose to have sex also choose to kill their child (please remember that nearly all "pro-lifers" make an exception in the case of rape).



As for evolutionary biology and irrationality, your argument seems to work far better for the pro-life camp than for the pro-choice one. Evolutionary biology would seem to suggest that since men are pre-programmed to protect the tribe and women are pre-programmed to care for the children, it seems far more likely that these primitive minds would irrationally attack those who slay the unborn babies of the tribe than those who oppress women in some complicated, abstract, legalistic fashion that a primitive collective could not possibly understand.
animespaz
2007-01-23 06:22:25 UTC
I think that a woman should have a choice, but I don't agree with it in all siuations. There are cases where women get sick from a prgnancy or raped. I can understand if they want an abortion. But some people get rediculous, they abort because they were irresponsiable, or because they wanted a diffrent gender baby. Most women live in regret and wonder about thaeir baby; but imagine the raped woman who stares in the face of her rapist daily. The child will also resemble the mother, but she may feel depressed or have other anxities. I'm sure that most children of rape victims have wonderful relations with their mother, but sometimes the woman can have unsure emotions.
smially
2007-01-23 04:55:19 UTC
Abortion is the Number One cause of death today.



Abortion is used for and nothing but, plane ole Birth Control.

It is the last resort where no Birth Control was being used or the Birth Control being used failed.



How many married couples go and have an abortion?



The abortion rate for medical reasons is right at 5% or lower.



The child in the womb is a God given life. It is not the mothers choice, to decide weather it lives or dies.



It has it's own beating heart as all living humans do.



No women has the right to take the perfectly beating heart and God given life in her womb and let it be destroyed. Makes no difference how your shoes fit.



If someone were to shoot her with a gun in her womb and kill the life in there. That someone would be arrested and do time.



But yet a doctor is basically doing the same, but instead, he stabs the little infant in the back of their little head causing them to wiggle in pain while sucking out their brains.



I cannot, for the life of me, see how the pro-lifers think and feel that, that is just perfectly O.K. That's about as barbaric as it comes.



Something is just very, very, wrong with that picture.
2007-01-23 01:57:50 UTC
pro choice. Why should anyone be required to give birth to a child they do not want nor would care for like a planned child? If you do not have clinics that can provide proper care and treatment for a medical procedure like an abortion then women will seek out the procedure in less safe and sanitary places. The reason it was legalized in the first place was that many women in the US were being mutilated and killed by back alley butchers conducting the abortions with out proper medical training, sterile instruments, and medications to prevent post operative infection. outlawing abortions will only result in women being forced to undergo this again. It will turn a woman who was rapped and does not want to give birth to the rapists child into a criminal, it'll force a mother who is overwhelmed with her other children to suffer. It will produce a child and have it raised either in a non loving environment or cause the child to be put up for adoption, or to become a ward of the state. Either way every one looses.
2007-01-23 01:56:20 UTC
All I can say is my girlfriend got an abortion 5 years ago I told her to keep it and I would help her raise the child. She wanted an abortion and I feel guilty I did not try hard enough to stop her. I now have a lovely young daughter and I keep wondering what that unborn child of mine would have been like. I feel terrible about it every time I think about it . Before you get an abortion please consider giving the child a chance to live . If you can`t afford it consider giving the child up for adoption , there are lots of good parents waiting.
ruserious?
2007-01-23 02:15:48 UTC
I am pro life because I believe that it is a child at the time of conception and that all life should be respected. People would be enraged if a young child was murdered. Why is this any different with a developing child in the womb? I dont see abortion as anything short of murder. Its just that this murder was somehow legalized.



Secondly, abortion not only kills a defenseless child but is also dangerous for the mother. She can experience bladder and bowel injuries and complications and has a higher chance of contracting breast cancer. If the woman becomes pregnant again they are up to 20 times more likely to have an ectopic pregnancy which can actually kill you.



and if you have an abortion:



(1) You will be more likely to bleed in the first three months of future pregnancies.



(2) You will be less likely to have a normal delivery in future pregnancies.



(3) You will need more manual removal of placenta more often and there will be more complications with expelling the baby and its placenta.



(4) Your next baby will be twice as likely to die in the first few months of life.



(5) Your next baby will be three to four times as likely to die in the last months of his first year of life.



(6) Your next baby may have a low birth weight.



(7) Your next baby is more likely to be born prematurely with all the dangerous and costly problems that entails.





Women also tend to suffer emotionally after an abortion.
Baby J
2007-01-23 01:51:59 UTC
pro choice: I don't think that congress which is mostly male should decide what women have to endure. They have no idea what the experience is like. Abortion is something that is an individual decision. Stem cells can help with medical research as well. Keeping a baby when not wanted can hurt it emotionally. Even when a baby is put up for adoption it will have an "empty space" because it was neglected by it's mother. I am for abortions
socal pal
2007-01-23 04:15:33 UTC
Not going to argue pro or con, just the simple scientific facts and you can decide:

Since 'Roe' , American's have aborted roughly 1,000,000 babies per year for the last 30 or so years. That's 30,000,000 Americans that should have been here but are not.

Because of 'Population Mechanics' , America has created an artificial vacuum in her Population base.

That artificial vacuum is now being filled by illegal aliens which currently number 28,000,000 in the United States.



Whether you are pro abortion or not, the truth of its impact on the United States is going to be profound as you can see from the above.



Now what 'ya think?
MJK
2007-01-23 02:07:28 UTC
The honest truth is that each life is a gift from our creator. No matter what we believe.



"The word of the LORD came to me, saying, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart;"



If a woman chooses to have an abortion, she may or may not go to hell. The abortion is not what will send her there. The child that is aborted, will go to heaven. It is a difficult subject, because, it seems that if we abort a child, we guarantee a place for her/him in heaven and if we choose life for this child, perhaps we are choosing death.



It is a very complex question. I am thankful that I will never have to make the choice of abortion. I do not judge those that have made that choice. I do know for a fact that those who have made that choice eventually and always regret it. Some even end their life because of it.



Wouldn't it be nice if we Eve had not eaten of the forbidden fruit?



Thanks for asking the question.
candy
2007-01-23 02:03:08 UTC
I am 50/50... I say that it is the womans decision in the end, but I think that it should be talked over with the other partner just to see where he stands.... I think that if the pregnacy isn't something that the woman can handle, then I don't see the problem (medically)... But if you are one of those that do it because you can then I think you should be drug out back and shot (seriously).... For example I have two friends 1 that can't get pregnat because she doesn't have a uterus (long story) and another that just aborts because she can..... So to be honest I am one who stands in the middle of the road... I am one that supports whatever decision... I don't have to live with the WHAT IF?
lb
2007-01-23 01:57:26 UTC
well, first of all, life is a continuum, so you cannot say that life begins at conception, because from a strictly biological perspective, both the sperm and the egg are already alive.



if a woman aborts her baby early, the baby doesn't even have a nervous system, so i couldn't call it cruelty. in my opinion, third trimester abortions are cruel to the baby, but they are no more cruel than killing an animal, which we do all the time for food.



ultimately, i'm pro-choice. i think that the world has a huge overpopulation of humans who are systematically destroying other species and their own chance for survival. so i think that the less humans there are, the better.
Amy L
2007-01-23 02:03:32 UTC
Pro-Life-

Women deffinetely have freedom over their own bodies. We, as women should take all of the precautions necessary, but most of the time, that means abstinence, which I think most women today are anti-abstinence. Who made us God? Rape and incest account for less than 2% of all abortions performed in America today, and that still victimizes the woman! A baby has a heartbeat at 4 weeks, and can also feel pain!
Babloo2003
2007-01-23 02:20:58 UTC
It is not a direct answer to your question, but if you can read the chapter on Faith in US Senator Barak Obama's Book "The Audacity of Hope" It offers some insightful comments whether or not you agree or disagree with his viewpoints.
Jessabeth
2007-01-23 02:20:29 UTC
Pro-Life

I can understand a woman's right to choose, and I'm all for it being a woman, BUT what about the unborn baby? That child has no say in whether he or she lives or dies. Abortion is basically murder that is sugar-coated. All life is precious, at least give the child up for adoption if you don't want to/can't take care of them. Its the least we could do as civilized human beings.
Spock
2007-01-23 02:43:47 UTC
Men are expected to fight to defend the tribe. Women are expected to care for the children who will then grow up to care for more children or to fight to defend the tribe. A woman who aborts is not doing her duty, just as a man who refuses to fight would not be doing his. This is what I view as the foundation for the hysterical attacks on pro choicers. It is all about expectations placed on men and women, not about some sort of compassion for the fetus (otherwise why would the pro lifers express no concern for the innocent children dying from US bombs in foreign lands?). I look for the underlying dynamics, perhaps from an evolutionary psychology perspective.
2007-01-23 02:24:33 UTC
I'm pro-life. I basically see it as a question of whether or not you are commiting murder. Imagine any given case when it would be clear that a person is alive. What if someone would have to go through a childbirthlike process in order to keep that person alive? no doubt they'd go through with it (especially if it were a friend or a loved one, not to mention one's own child). So since we aren't sure exactly when someone is definitely considered alive, we should play it safe and have the baby rather than take the chance of commiting murder. Even if the gov't wouldn't consider it murder there is still the chance that we may be immorally commiting murder.
furienna
2007-01-23 02:23:36 UTC
I'm pro-life. It's not that I'm "against women". I'm a young woman myself. But we women also need to take the responsibilty of pregnancy. To me, any phoetus, yes, even an embryo is not a part of its mother's body, but a person in its own right, and it should be treated as such.
jenah_leigh
2007-01-23 01:54:48 UTC
Its the individual's choice, for the pursuit for happines. Even a zillion million people dont have the right to force a women to give birth to an unwanted child. Them days should have died with states being under church control. oh yeah....im a male... :}
KRIS
2007-01-23 02:17:48 UTC
i am pro choice.

it's no ones damn business what a woman does or does not do.,

it is not a decision that could ever be made lightly. it is a decision that will live with you always.

what i tell people is to walk in her shoes and see how they fit. until then mind your own business and not the business of others.

clean your own house before you condemn your neighbors.


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