From: kevin@rotag.mi.org (Kevin Darcy)
Subject: Re: Labels (was Proposed definitions for FAQ )
Organization: Who, me???
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 1992 03:54:42 GMT

In article <1992Dec28.160904.19902@wetware.com> diana@wetware.com (CatWoman ) writes:
>Interesting - I didn't see the original article of
>Proposed Definitions; I came up with this the other
>day while reading another "pro-choice" vs "pro-abortion"
>labelling thread.  Try this on for size.  
>
>
>Time after time the issue of what to call a 
>protagonist from whatever side of the abortion
>debate becomes a focal point of a thread.  What
>follows is a vague attempt at an FAQ on the
>positions...
>
>First off, the basic scale does not really have
>"pro-choice" at one end and "pro-life" at the other.
>
>It more falls out like this:
>
>|------------------------------------------------|
>^Choice                                     Force^
>
>First - the Force end can actually be split into
>two - with Choice between them.  This is an example
>of the old idea that politics are more circular
>than linear - if you follow an idea far enough, you
>wind up back to the other side.  So, we have:
>
>|--------------------------|---------------------------|
>^                          ^                           ^
>Forced Birth             Choice                Forced Abortion
>
>
>The "center" position is occupied by those who believe
>that whether or not to have an abortion is none of their
>business unless it is for THEM.  They won't necessarily
>even tell someone what they personally would do - they just
>want to be sure that the woman in question has all possible
>options available.
>
>On the left (by my scale above), are those who personally
>prefer to have the fetus carried to term; who will try
>to convince the woman to carry to term; who believe that
>past a certain point abortions should be restricted; and
>so on down to the point where you get those who want to
>make all abortions illegal.
>
>On the right are those who personally would have an
>abortion; who will try to convince the woman to have an
>abortion; and so on down to people who think that all
>BIRTHS should be illegal.  (I'll admit that there are
>days when I've read of how humans treat the rest of the
>world, including other humans, that I lean towards that
>end of the scale...)  

Why express things in circles, when one can more elegantly and simply
just use a second dimension:

                                CHOICE
                                  ^
                                  |
                                  |
             choose abortion      |     choose birth
                                  |
                                  |
                                  |
ABORTION <------------------------+------------------------> BIRTH
                                  |   x
                                  |
                                  |
             mandate abortion     |     mandate birth
                                  |
                                  |
                                  |
                                  V
                                FORCE

(Note that the chart applies exclusively to UNPLANNED pregnancies. It wouldn't 
be very useful to chart the birth-orientation of a PLANNED pregnancy...)

In this scheme, the "middle of the roads", i.e. where the axes meet, is a 
moderate and equal number of abortion mandates and restrictions. I've marked
what I feel is the current legal/political climate on the abortion issue with
an "x". Here is my reasoning for the placement:

	i)  When given absolute choice, most women will probably choose to
	    carry the child to term. Therefore, it is necessary to mark a
	    clear preference for birth, for a given level of forcedness.

	ii) There are slightly more birth mandates aka abortion restrictions
	    than what I would consider "moderate" -- blanket third trimester
	    restrictions, etc. Therefore, I mark the "x" slightly on the side
	    of "force".

Other comments and suggestions?

								- Kevin
Newsgroups: talk.abortion