From: gordons@coopsol.com (Gordon Storga)
Newsgroups: alt.abortion.inequity,talk.abortion
Subject: Abortion - natural consequence of sex (was Re: Moral Absolutes
Date: 8 Apr 92 22:20:50 GMT
Organization: Stay Awake Software

<1992Mar31.232448.28843@spool.cs.wisc.edu> rawdon@cabrales.cs.wisc.edu said:
>In <71922@netnews.upenn.edu> kwelch@eniac.seas.upenn.edu (Kevin) writes:
>>Gee, I don't know.  Who here is saying that women can't have sex?  I
>>sure am not.  Hell, if you want to have sex, do it all you want.  Be
>>careful about it and accept the consequnces of having sex if and when
>>they come about.
>
>Abortion IS a way of accepting the consequences of sex.

Many pro-life arguments focus on what is accepted by our society today -
i.e. we no longer tolerate slavery, infanticide, genocide, etcetera,
therefore we should no longer tolerate abortion.  This argument focuses 
on humankinds continued development and marching forward from the dark 
ages of morality - we are more civilized now than back when abortion 
was "common".

Another pro-life argument focuses on expectations of events - i.e. you had 
sex, you better expect pregnancy.  This argument is meant to infer
responsibility toward the result of your actions - nurturing a possible
developing offspring.  However, if a series of events happen in the same 
order frequently we tend to think of these events as being possible results 
of the initial actions.  If they happen frequently enough we begin to 
"expect" them as a probably outcome.  This is why, in our present society,
pregnancy is only a *possible* outcome of sex, not a *probable* outcome -
it no longer happens frequently enough following sex.  In other words,
pregnancy doesn't happen one-for-one with the act of sex, mostly due to
birth control methods.

Another argument is the "naturalness" of pregnancy and the "unnaturalness"
of abortion.  Heck, if that argument has any weight we should all start
walking to work - a car is not the most natural of transportation.  And
none of us should ever have any kind of corrective surgery - that just
wouldn't be natural.  No more beer, frozen dinners, fast food, tv, or
clothes since none of these things occur in nature.  Obviously this
argument flies in the face of the first argument which deals with our
progress as a race and society.  I discount this argument as being
*completely* irrational - since we _are_ already using an "unnatural" form
of communication anyone using this argument on this net is a hypocrite.

Combining these arguments we get the evolution of societal "norms", it 
becomes obvious that abortion should now be considered a normal 
consequence of sex.  Therefore, since it is a societal "norm" 
(1.5 million women a year get abortions) it is a valid and expected 
consequence of having sex.  Less common than pregnancy, but common enough 
to just be accepted as normal.

Therefore, by the first argument, abortion should remain legal since we as
a society have seen an increase in abortions over the last 200 years (a
minor drop off in the last few years).  Obviously society has evolved the
need for this procedure.  Abortion should also remain legal by the second
argument since it happens so frequently now as to be an expectation (how
many people have asked a single woman who is pregnant if she is going to
*keep it*?)

Can we move onto more intelligent "arguments" now?  These no longer
qualify.


Gordon
Pro-abortion, Pro-person, Pro-women's-rights and ex-boyfriend of Susan,
Muriel, Cathi, and Nora, and married to the sweetest woman in the world,
and darn proud of it.
-- 

The opinions expressed are my own, and not the beliefs or opinions
of whatever company you think I work for.  So there, thhhbbbt!
Message to Kodak:  Freedom for Dan Bredy.