From: eyc@acpub.duke.edu (EMIL CHUCK)
Newsgroups: talk.abortion
Subject: Re: Another good reason not to vote for Bush
Date: 31 Aug 92 20:44:33 GMT
Organization: Duke University; Durham, N.C.

cj@sgi.com (C J Silverio) writes:
%[followups to talk.abortion, where this topic belongs]
%
%eyc@acpub.duke.edu (EMIL CHUCK) writes:
%|But before Martin goes, can you [not Martin] tell me how 
%|abortion is "responsible"?
%
%I can give you some examples of situations where obtaining
%an abortion is probably the most responsible response to 
%unwanted pregnancy.  Put yourself in these shoes:
%
%1. A teenager (say, a 14-year-old) finds out she's pregnant.
%   Should she abort, stay in school, and go on to college?
%   Or should she drop out?

Of course, we can also ask, should her parents know?

%2. A married couple has two children already.  He's just been
%   laid off.  She discovers that she's pregnant, even though
%   they've been using birth control.  They depend on her
%   paycheck, and are barely getting by now.

Then why are they still having sex if there are things in their lives
that obviously have a higher priority?

%3. A couple are delighted by the prospect of a child, until
%   their doctor tells them that the pregnancy is ectopic.
%   Unless the woman gets an abortion, she will die.
%
%I'll stop with three.

No debate needed for this one.

%Abortion is a responsible choice in all of the scenarios I
%describe above.  I'd say it's probably the *only* responsible
%choice in the third.  There are other possibilities in the
%first two.  I leave the choice to the woman involved, though--
%she's the only person able to assess her circumstances and
%decide what's best for her.

I also leave the choice to the woman and her partner. However, she can't
just assess her situation once she finds out she's pregnant. If the
bright young 14-year-old in scenario 1 is looking really really forward
to attending college and starting a wonderful career, I would think that
this girl should consider what she must do to fulfill her dreams. If
having a baby while she's a teenager is not part of those dreams, she
should make sure that that does not happen. (It's possible that she
could have the baby, have her family and her boyfriend's family help in
taking care of him/her as she goes to college, too; but I'll admit that
is another option that she can decide.) 

A classmate of mine recently had a baby (I assume unplanned) and she is
still taking some of the most difficult classes here. She is still among
the top 5 people in my major in my graduating class. She admits it's not
easy, but she and her husband (pregnancy came before marriage) are
prioritizing their lives.

%I prefer to keep government OUT of private lives.
What we all want is government to respect our right to privacy, but with
rights -- to say it again -- come responsibilities. Granting the "right
to choose (to have or not an abortion)" must mean there are
responsibilities associated. What responsibilities are accorded to this
"right to choose," as we have legal abortions now for the past 20 years?
[Again, I'm looking for discussion on this question.]

-- 
Emil Thomas Chuck (Duke BME '93)		eyc@acpub.duke.edu
I'm too busy for my class, too busy for my clubs, too busy for my work.
I'm too busy for my mail, too busy for my news, too busy for my life.
I'm too busy for this .sig. 
Newsgroups: talk.abortion