From: andy@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Andrew Hackard)
Newsgroups: talk.abortion
Subject: Re: TOO YOUNG TO CHOOSE
Date: 6 Nov 92 03:21:11 GMT
     <1992Nov2.203619.22635@netcom.com> <1992Nov3.210902.3556@ncsu.edu>
Organization: The University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX

jjprice@eos.ncsu.edu (JEFFREY JAMES PRICE) writes:
>bskendig@netcom.com (Brian Kendig) writes:

>|>Jeff, before I go any further -- thanks for keeping this discussion
>|>civil so far.  You're bringing up some interesting points.

>I try. Please remind me when I get off the beaten path

I don't think that'll be too hard to remember, especially for THIS
newsgroup.  ;-)

>True. Education is a primary step to solving the problem because most
>abortions are performed because they are unwanted pregnancies.If we
>educate people on where babies come from we could cut down on the number 
>hopefully

Here we are 100% agreed.

>Concerning the rest of your question about an wanted pregnancy becoming
>unwanted I would absolutely keep this woman from having an abortion unless
>it threatened her life. When she intentinally got pregnant she did it
>for the sole purpose of bringing life into this world and now that she is
>carring and nurturing that life inside her womb she wants to kill it and
>snuff out its life because she's having second thoughts. How  cruel
>can you get?

Pretty damn cruel, if the occasion warrants.  But that's neither here nor
there; we're talking about a woman aborting a fetus.

Jeff, I've discussed this with my mother (who's had a tubal ligation, so
this was an academic discussion).  She pointed out that there are certain
genetic defects which do not show up until later in a pregnancy and which
are universally life-threatening.  An example is Tay-Sachs Syndrome.  The
child is born, lives his brief life in excruciating pain, requires a
great deal of medical attention, and dies very young.

There is not one recorded case of a Tay-Sachs child living past the age
of five. (If this has changed, please let me know; Mom and I were talking
about this a while ago.)

Jeff, by blocking this abortion, you are condemning a child to a short,
pain-ridden life, and you are forcing his parents to support him and his 
medical bills and watch their young boy (*) suffer and die, far too soon.
If the parents can't afford to care for their son for up to five years,
including vastly expensive hospital stays, they may well go into a very
deep debt.  There's also the strain on the family to consider.  Are you
willing to say that this woman cannot spare her family all that anguish?

If so, then you've proven just how cruel *you* can be.

(*) Unless I'm grossly misremembering, Tay-Sachs affects almost exclusively
boys, hence the non-PC language.

>|>That term sounds like just a contrived way to make a fetus sound more
>|>significant.  Have you ever heard of a child being called a
>|>"pre-mature adult"?

>Actualy I have! :)

"Well, they're PRE-women." :-)

>|>Again, you're using the future tense: "will develop."  Do you deserve
>|>Secret Service protection today just because you have the potential to
>|>someday be President of the United States?

>No I don't think I should have secret Service agents although I would
>feel safer walkiong around campus if I did.

Considering where you attend, I don't blame you.

--
--Andrew Hackard                                 If I spoke for UT, this post
  andy@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu                        would make even less sense.
Newsgroups: talk.abortion