From: bskendig@netcom.com (Brian Kendig)
Newsgroups: talk.abortion
Subject: What are the pros and cons of abortion, *practically speaking*?
Date: 17 Aug 92 18:43:05 GMT
Organization: Starfleet Headquarters: San Francisco

It seems to me that this nation will never come together and agree on
a stance towards abortion, so I'm trying to work the debate out for
myself in practical terms -- that is, without attention to "religion"
or "moral values", both of which are subjective.  Which stance would
make the lesser impact on the smaller number of people?  Which stance
would affect people's lives the least?

And I can't get the answer to be anything but 'pro-choice'.  Here's why:

If a pregnant woman wants an abortion, and she's free to get one, then
a good many people could be offended at the shocking waste of human
life.  If she wants an abortion but she's forced to carry her child to
term, then she ends up with a baby to care for -- and this can't help
but impact her entire life, especially when she had a good reason for
not wanting the child in the first place.

So either we have a bunch of people angry, or we have a woman left
with a child that she just doesn't want.  Given the modern-day
proliferation of juvenile delinquents and cases of child abuse, the
choice seems clear to me.

Besides, we already have far too many people on this planet; why
should we encourage increasing the population even more?  The only
solutions are to stop people having sex as often, find some foolproof
way to avoid pregnancy, or allow abortions on demand.  I don't think
pregnant women who seek abortions wanted to get pregnant in the first
place, so I don't know how successful the first two solutions would be.

Also, making abortions illegal today might well have the same effect
as making liquor illegal in the 1920's: if abortion is outlawed, then
only outlaws will have abortions.  Women who are desperate enough (and
abortion is _not_ a choice that a woman makes lightly, I'd think)
would either find a doctor willing to perform the abortion illegally,
or else try to abort by themselves; neither situation can be very safe.

What's the pro-life side?  That taking the life of a fetus is *wrong*.
I believe that taking the life of a person is wrong, but I make the
distinction that a fetus isn't a person, just as an animal isn't a
person and a man who's been in a coma for three years has ceased to be
a person -- the concept of 'person', to me, implies the ability to
communicate, to have emotions, and to think intelligently (be
sentient).  This definition is still evolving in my mind because it's
so ambiguous, but I'm fairly certain in my belief that a fetus isn't a
person _yet_; thus I don't know that I subscribe to the belief that
taking the life of a fetus is wrong; thus the pro-life side appears to
be on somewhat shaky ground.

And if human life is so sacred that it must be sustained even when it
puts a great burden on other lives, then why do we execute criminals
instead of jailing them until they die?  Sure, keeping a criminal in
jail instead of killing him is a great waste of his life and a great
waste of our money, but then so isn't forcing a mother to raise her child?

The only good thing I hear the pro-lifers suggesting is putting
unwanted children up for adoption.  But this doesn't help a mother who
never wanted to suffer pregnancy and birth in the first place, nor
does it help when all the unwanted children fill adoption agencies and
grow up without ever having enjoyed the family life of which Bush and
Quayle speak so highly.

I apologize for rehashing old issues so much here, but I want to try
to figure out exactly what I believe, and I want to know where my
reasoning might be shaky.  I look forward to hearing pro-lifers and
pro-choicers respond to what I've written here; I want to know both
sides of the issue so I can make an intelligent choice on it and vote
accordingly.

     << Brian >>

-- 
_/_/_/       Brian Kendig  Macintosh Jedi           Live never to be ashamed
 _/_/   Starfleet Captain  Oracle Employee         if anything you do or say
  _/  Intrepid Adventurer  Saturn SL2 Owner    is published around the world
      bskendig@netcom.com  Twin Peaks Junkie    -- even if what is published
    Princeton '92! BSE/CS  Writer/Actor/Singer                   is not true.
Newsgroups: talk.abortion,talk.politics.misc