Abortion

Sorry, it's 2AM here. I should have said that the debate is over what makes abortion a viable choice, different connotation than illegal vs legal. Statistics Everyone asks the question, why should we be ok with abortion? Why did you get an abortion? The answer is simple. While there are many reasons, the main one basically is not wanting a baby. Not being ready for a baby. Not feeling mature enough to have a baby. Basically, not wanting to take responsibility for making a baby. Now there are cases of rape and incest -which is among the biggest reason Pro Choice proponents use to support the woman's right to choose-, where the woman did not choose to have sex, those instances are few and far between. A poll done in 1987 questioning women on why they got an abortion, 3/4 stated that having a baby would interfere with work, school or other responsibilities, 2/3 said that they could not afford to have a child and half said they did not want to be a single parent or had relationship problems, A multivariate analysis showed young teenagers to be 32 percent more likely than women 18 or over to say they were not mature enough to raise a child. Only 19% said their parents wanted them to have the abortion. Not a single participant mentioned anything about being raped or participating, either willingly or non willingly, in incest. [1] Overwhelmingly, the reason essentially was not wanting to take responsibility Another study done nearly 20 years later has similar results. Researchers found 40% of these women mentioning something financial, 36% in some way discussing the bad "timing" of the pregnancy, 31% raising a partner issue, 29% speaking of "other children," 20% talking of the child somehow interfering with future opportunities. Financial, bad timing, other children, interfering with future opportunities.[2] With the exception of the 31% percent claiming the "raising a partner issue" (which I am not clear on what this means, though I have an idea), this boils down to not wanting to take responsibility. Let's look at the financial aspect for a second. Why not get a job? Yeah the economy sucks, but it's not impossible to get a job. Could it just be laziness? Or maybe they would rather spend that money on themselves and not have to "waste" money on a child. which would harken back to the 36% citing bad timing and the 20% who fear a baby would interfere with future opportunities. Finally to drive this statistical point home, another source cites that less than 1% of all abortions are due to rape and/or incest. 21% are due to financial reasons and another 21% due to (GASP!) not wanting responsibility.[3] combined that is 42% (combined, the majority polled) who do not want the responsibility, financial or otherwise, of taking care of a baby. Now I will touch on arguments that a Pro Choice proponent may bring up and debunk them 2. Polls I have cited are biased Or are they? I will readily admit that 2 of the 3 websites I cited in my previous argument are from Christian organizations. The first, is a government website. So on the surface it seems extremely biased. But is it really? It would seem that if the woman's right to choose was so important, that Pro Choice proponents would be chomping at the bit to show statistics disproving my theory that the vast majority of women who get abortions do not want the responsibility. But I have found none. "But it's her choice. She shouldn't have to answer to you or anyone else, you sexist, oppressive brute" Maybe, Maybe not. The point I am trying to make is, in order to make a well thought out decision about having an abortion, you ought to be able to defend your actions. And saying that you just are not ready for a baby is frankly, a cop out. How many feminists would be up in arms about a man trying to skip out on child support payments because he claims he is "not ready"? 3. Rape Ah yes, the rape defense. Rape is a horrible thing, to be sure. I would wish rape on absolutely no one. Not even my most hated enemy. But to say that remaining pregnant and giving birth to a child out of rape is just to painful an ordeal to have to deal with every day for the rest of your life.... well you are forgetting a few things. First, someone making this claim does not realize that not giving birth to a baby conceived from a rape, does not change the fact they were raped. It does not completely heal the wound. And it never will. In using this side of the rape argument, I always ask "Is it the baby's fault?", "Does that give you any less capacity to love that baby?", and my favorite, "Does that make the baby any less deserving of love and the right to live?" I mean this is not a murderer we are talking about. It's a darn baby! The same would apply to the claim of not wanting to bring a disabled child into the world to live a difficult life. Does that too not make the baby any less deserving of love and the right to live? This is coming from someone who is disabled. Another thing that I do not think people consider is, while rape is a very psychologically damaging experience, abortion is too. Much in the same way that rape is. there are countless women who have experienced tremendous depression and pain and regret after having an abortion [4] [5] [6]. So which is the lesser of the two evils? Which would a woman who is considering an abortion after being raped rather live with, the painfully damaging experience of being raped or the painfully damaging experience of being raped AND having an abortion. In one case, you are dealing with only one damaging experience, In the other two. Let's think about this as well, rape aside, would you still want to deal with the painful experience of having abortion? Why? Forget for a moment about "It's my body, my choice", and answer why you would rather live with potential regret for the rest of your life over having an abortion, than carry the child? Most likely not having the responsibility of taking care of the baby, to which we would then have to revert back to point one and go through all other points in an endless cycle. And that is why Abortion is not a viable choice*. *considering that the mother and baby both would be perfectly healthy through the pregnancy and birth sources: 1. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov... 2. http://www.lifenews.com... 3. http://www.operationrescue.org... 4. http://www.experienceproject.com... 5. http://www.silentnomoreawareness.org... 6. http://www.lifenews.com...