Abortion Debate Forum - Prochoice Views

Warning.. This is long.. I just wanted to post this so you could really understand the prochoice views and I would like your response to it so I can answer any questions you may have..

You may have seen them before, picketing outside planned parenthood and harassing women who walk in the clinic, holding signs of what they claim to be aborted fetus's and calling the woman "murderers, baby killers, and whores. They are the pro-life community and they are out to take away woman's reproductive rights because of their morality. They believe that abortion is homicide and it should be restricted. This essay will try to explain to the pro-life why abortion is necessary in today's society by countering several pro-life arguments and clearing up common misconceptions. This essay will cover the beginning of life and fetal development, dangers of abortion compared to dangers of pregnancy as well as the conditions pregnant woman suffer, abortion and the bible, and abortion compared to animal cruelty.

One of the beliefs of the pro-life community is that abortion is homicide because it "kills a baby". That is not true because the zygote/embryo/fetus is not a "baby" until birth but the correct term is neonate/infant baby is a term of endearment and it can be used at anytime but when they say "baby" they are thinking about the infant child. There is no infant until birth because infancy is a developmental stage as well as childhood. Infancy is marked as the time from birth until the boy/girl is at least 1 years old. There is no such thing as an unborn baby or child because to say the z/e/f is an unborn child would be saying anyone who is alive is a predead corpse because they will be a corpse, they are just not dead yet. To call someone a "predead corpse" doesn't make any sense so why should "unborn child" make any sense? The pro-life community thinks that pro-choice are attempting to dehumanize the "child" by referring to it only as a zygote, embryo, or fetus but those are accurate medical terms, more accurate than what the pro-life community uses, so what's wrong with using them? If someone was able to look at a zygote and then look at an infant, they couldn't honestly say that they were the same thing. Also, even if it is the same entity from conception to birth, it isn't even aware of it's surroundings and even if it is around the time elective abortions are legal, no one who is alive today can sit there and recall everything that went on while they were in the womb. Even a the z/e/f was a child or a person, it still would not have any rights over the woman because not even a born person has a ride to feed off someone else's bodily resources. If you run over somebody and they will bleed to death if you don't give them your blood, you can still say no. You may be required to help that person get to the hospital but you do not have to donate anything to them. Why should a z/e/f have this right? Because anyone can donate an organ and only the one carrying the z/e/f can support it? Even if you and someone else were the only people to have a certain blood type and that other person need your blood, you still would not have to give it to them.

Another argument pro-life people use is "what if your mother aborted you, you wouldn't be here" if anyone who is alive today was aborted, they would've never known it and you can't miss what you never experienced. Think about how it was before you met your spouse or your best friend. Before you met that person, you would probably pass them by a few times, not even giving them a second thought and you wouldn't miss them when they left and you never cried because they weren't there, but after you met that person and got close to them, you probably couldn't think of life without them and you think "what if I never met this person? That would be horrible." if you had never met that person, you wouldn't have known to mind because you already lived life without that person and didn't mind because you didn't know what life was like with that person at the time. People who think it would have been awful if they were aborted are mistaken, because they have been non existent before and never knew any better than so why should they if they were aborted?

One of the most common misconceptions that the pro-life community have about pregnancy is that pregnancy is nothing but an inconvenience for 9 months and it's no big deal to be supporting 2 in one body but that assumption is incorrect. Pregnancy is a dangerous condition, just because a woman has a uterus, doesn't mean she is fit for pregnancy. Not saying all pregnancies are dangerous but pregnancy itself does carry a certain risk and no one should be forced to do something that may potentially harm them. In the constitution it states that no law shall be made or enforced that may cause harm to one's person so to force someone to remain pregnant against their will would be unconstitutional. There are a few disorders that only pregnant woman get and one of them is called preeclampsia. "preeclampsia is a disorder that occurs only during pregnancy and the postpartum period and affects both the mother and the unborn baby. Affecting at least 5-8% of all pregnancies, it is a rapidly progressive condition characterized by high blood pressure and the presence of protein in the urine. Swelling, sudden weight gain, headaches and changes in vision are important symptoms; however, some women with rapidly advancing disease report few symptoms." (http://www.Preeclampsia.Org/about.Asp) this disorder usually occurs after 20 weeks gestation however it can occur earlier. Related conditions to this disorder are induced hypertension and toxemia. Some manifestations of the same syndrome are hellp syndrome and eclampsia. More woman die from preeclampsia than eclampsia although both are equally serious conditions. These disorders are the leading cause of maternal and infant illness and death worldwide and are responsible for 76,000 deaths each year. Another disorder is called post partum depression and it occurs after the delivery of the baby. There are 3 types of ppd and they are as follows:

baby blues: the baby blues happen in many woman following the delivery of the child. The mother can have sudden mood swings, she may cry for no apparent reason, and feel impatient, restless, irritable, anxious, sad and lonely. The baby blues may last a few hours or up to 1 to 2 weeks after delivery. The baby blues do not always need treatment from a healthcare provider. Often times joining a support group of new moms and talking with other moms helps.

Postpartum depression(ppd): ppd can occur a few days or even months after childbirth. Ppd can happen after the birth of any child, not necessarily the first. The symptoms of ppd are similar to that of the baby blues but the woman feels them with more intensity. Ppd often interferes with a woman's daily life and when a woman%uFFFDs ability to function is affected, this is a sign that she must see her healthcare provider immediately. If ppd goes untreated, symptoms may worsen and last as long as a year. Though ppd is a serious condition, it can often be treated with medication and counseling.

Postpartum psychosis: a very serious mental illness that often affects new mothers. This illness can happen quickly, usually within the first 3 months following childbirth. Women suffering from this illness can lose touch with reality, often having auditory hallucinations, and delusions. Woman often have insomnia, agitation, feeling angry, and having strange feelings and behaviors. Woman who suffer from postpartum psychosis need treatment immediately and most often need medication. Sometimes woman are hospitalized because they have a risk for hurting themselves or others.

Any woman regardless of age, economic status and racial/ethnic background can be affected by ppd. Any woman who is pregnant, had a baby within the past few months, miscarried or recently stopped breastfeeding is at risk for ppd. The number of children a woman has does not affect her chances of getting ppd. Woman with a history of depression are more at risk for ppd than woman without a history of depression.
Even if you do manage to escape these disorders, you are still not fully back to normal after a pregnancy. Pregnancy does drastic changes to a woman%uFFFDs body. Many woman have a hard time losing the weight they acquired during pregnancy because of the extra fat cells and once those fat cells develop, they don't go away and are always ready to store more fat and this is why it's so hard for some woman to lose all the weight they gained even if they didn't have trouble controlling their weight before pregnancy. After childbirth, a woman's breast milk begins to come in and she often experiences pain because she is not accustomed to this new change and her nipples aren%uFFFDt' used to hungry newborns and are often tender and then of course, they begin to sag. Many woman experience a lot of hair loss during and after pregnancy. These are just a few of the changes that pregnancy does to your body. This is proof that pregnancy is not always a bed of roses and although some woman will gladly go through the disorders mentioned above and the changes to their body, it's nothing someone should be forced to do against their will. The government is supposed to protect born people, not put them in harms way for someone who isn't even born yet. You may be thinking "what about the people who regret abortions?" this is what the pro-choice movement is talking about, if anyone regrets abortion, they might have been co-erced or didn't understand all their options and may have been hiding the pregnancy. Pro-choice people don't want anyone to have an abortion if it is not for them, they want whatever the woman feels is best for her whether that be adoption, abortion, or to raise the child. Many people who are pro-life think it would be awful to force a woman to have an abortion because of the trauma that person would go through if abortion is not for them. Isn't that a little hypocritical though? If you don't think women should be forced to have an abortion, than why should she be forced to remain pregnant? Also, would the pro-life think it would be ok to force a woman to breastfeed against her will? It is what is best for the baby isn't it? If they are not for forcing the woman to breastfeed than would it be because it is uncomfortable for some woman and if that is the reason that isn't pregnancy uncomfortable as well? The baby won't die if she doesn't breastfeed but the woman won't die if she does breastfeed so why would they not be for forced breastfeeding but for forced pregnancy when breastfeeding is less demanding on the woman than pregnancy?

The religious pro-life community want the pro-choice to believe that god is against abortion and you will go to hell if you have an abortion. Now what if you're not religious and someone said that abortion is a sin against god? Would you care? Probably not because if you're not religious than why would you consult religious doctrine before you make certain decisions? If your christian than you won't consult buddhist doctrine about how to go about your life. Also, if you read the bible front to back, nowhere does it straight out say that abortion is wrong nor imply. Abortion has been around a long time, as long as woman have not wanted to be pregnant. If god hated abortion so much, than he would've probably said something about it. Though the bible doesn't say abortion is wrong, there a few places where god speaks of committing abortion himself and slaughtering children. Here are a few scriptures..

.Hosea 9:11-16
"the glory of israel will fly away like a bird, for your children will die at birth or perish in the womb or never even be conceived. Even if your children do survive to grow up, I will take them from you. It will be a terrible day when I turn and leave you alone. I have watched israel become as beautiful as tyre. But now israel will bring out her children to be slaughtered. O lord what should I request for your people? I will ask for wombs that don't give birth and breasts that give no milk. The lord says "all their wickedness began at gilgal; there I began to hate them. I will drive them from my land because of their evil actions. I will love them no more because all their leaders are rebels. The people of israel are stricken. Their roots are dried up; they will bear no fruit. And if they give birth, I will slaughter their beloved children."
numbers 31:17-19
" now kill all the boys and all the woman who have slept with a man. Only the young girls who are virgins may live; you may keep them for yourselves"
hosea 13:16-
"the people of samaria must bear the consequences of their guilt because they rebelled against their god. They will be killed by an invading army, their little one's dashed to death against the ground, their pregnant woman ripped open by swords"
2 kings 13:16
"at that time menahem destroyed the town of tappuah and all the surrounding countryside as far as tirzah, because it's citizens refused to surrender the town. He killed the entire population and ripped open the pregnant woman."
psalm 136:10
"give thanks to him who killed the firstborn of egypt"
psalm 137:9
"happy is the one who takes your babies and smashes them against the rocks!"

those are just a few of the scriptures from this "pro-life" god. Some pro-life people may think the killing of the children and z/e/f is justified because the people whose children were killed have sinned against god but why punish the children? Isn%uFFFDt one of the reasons some pro-life people say abortion is still wrong in the case of rape is because it's not the "child%uFFFDs" fault that it was conceived that way and it shouldn't be punished for the sin's of his father? If children are so innocent than why does god kill them in such a way? Are they now going to just resort to saying "do as he says, not as he does."? Even if they do, this still proves that god has no special place in his heart for children.

Pro-lifers often try to compare abortion to animal cruelty and genocide in an attempt to prove that prochoice are inconsistent and that prochoice people just don't like the "unborn". Abortion is not comparable to any kind of homicide because homicide is the killing of born people and it is illegal because it takes away a person's constitutional right to life. As far as laws that are based on morals.. Stealing is illegal because it take's away a person's right to their property. For the people who are on life support and in coma's, it is illegal to take them off without consent of the person via a living will, or if the family consents. Abortion being illegal is not soley based upon the fact that the z/e/f feeds off of the pregnant woman's resources, but because pregnancy has a risk of being dangerous and causing disorders that were mentioned above and once they occur, it's not like abortion is a cureall for it.