From: bd344@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Michael N Bastedo)
Subject: a New Poster, Really Dismayed
Reply-To: bd344@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Michael N Bastedo)
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Date: Wed, 8 Apr 92 22:55:58 GMT


(my name is linda, using my friend mike's account to read this group,
and i had to respond...please don't send mike mail.  if you want to write
me, i'm at internet slh3859@ocvaxa.cc.oberlin.edu or bitnet slh3859@oberlin)

i can't possibly say everything in one post, but i just have to say that i 
am really dismayed at some of the things going on on this board.  let me
say first that i am pro-choice, and was at the march on sunday.  it was
great.  it was very encouraging to me to see so many people standing up for
what they believe.  

however, i'm really troubled by the attitudes people are taking towards each
other here.  i don't think pro-life people are out to destroy women...at least
not on purpose...and i KNOW that the pro-choice movement is not made up of
people who relish the idea of killing babies in their free time.  i've come
to believe that abortion is a matter of balance.  some people believe,
earnestly and out of an honest effort to listen to their consciences, that
the interests of the fetus outweigh the interests of the mother.  some don't.
i just don't think it's necessary for people to attack each other (on either
side) in order to try to make a point.  this is a tremendously difficult
issue, adn it calls things into question that people take really seriously.
for some, it is religion, and for some, it is equality for women.  

thoughts on the issue itself:

1)  it isn't right to make a political argument and base it on a religious
    doctrine.  it just isn't right.  a person who believes that abortion is
    wrong because the bible says so does not have a strong position legally.
    you cannot force your religious opinions on other people, no matter how
    certain you are that you are right.  

2)  it's incredibly insulting to women to talk about them as if they go
    bouncing in to have abortions on the way to the beauty salon.  women think
    about these things.  they don't enjoy the experience, and they don't
    make the decision lightly.  (a generalizaation, i know, but i think it's
    OVERWHELMINGLY true.)  it is really dangerous to base political thought on 
    archaic views of women as flighty and stupid and needing to be cared for
    by men.

3)  i think abortion is really sad.  i think whenever an abortion takes place,
    it's really sad.  but suddenly saying you can't have one doesn't take care
    of the problem.  the problem is unplanned pregnancy.  you can cut off the
    option of a safe abortion, but you won't solve the real issue.  and
    despite the fact that i personally am not sure i could have an abortion,
    because it might feel wrong to me, i really don't think that has much
    to do with whether or not it should be legal.  it's my moral choice, 
    and it's got to be every individual woman's moral choice.  no one can
    come strolling into her life and tell her what she can do with her body.
    
4)  it's time for people on this board to stop claiming to have a monopoly
    on conscience or intelligent thought.  i know smart, sincere people on 
    both sides of this issue, and there's no way to defend a claim that if
    someone is pro-life they must be anti-woman, anti-freedom, anti-human,
    or that if someone is pro-choice they are a thoughtless, cruel, baby-killing
    monster.  i have a conscience, i can tell you right now, and my position
    on abortion is very much based on my consultations with it.  

i'm sorry this was long, and i suppose being moderate isn't going to make me
very popular, but i had to say something after the endlessly abusive stuff 
going on on this board.

                                                --linda
-- 
Michael N. Bastedo                       ! "If we do not succeed, we run the   
Internet: bd344@cleveland.freenet.edu    !  risk of failure"
          smb2866@ocvaxa.cc.oberlin.edu  !                   -Dan Quayle 
Bitnet:   smb2866@oberlin                !