Koyaanisqatsi

Let us instead suppose, and let us instead assume (for the sake of my question) that an unborn fetus is nothing more than a parasitic mutation of chicken cells that, when birthed will become your dinner.

Oh but it can't be. For it is of homo sapiens born and therefore to be righteously defended for it is god as are we all say say we all in this book that we wrote and at meetings we all have to constantly affirm we're not all pig-assed ignorant morons, but self-appointed judge, jury and executioners of Jesus' divine desires!

For was it not He who said, "If you hate not your mother and your father and your brother and your sister and your own life also you cannot be my disciple?"

For God soooooo loved his only son, that he killed him. And that's what all of these lovely women are doing; they are willingly sacrificing their own sons just like God did for the good of mankind! Praise Jeezus!

Can I get an amen?

Look, you want to be "pro-life"? Then you should never masturbate. After all, every time you do, you're killing hundreds of billions of potential babies every time.

And women should never have periods. One can go by, but after that? Every single time there must be a baby! For the waste of potential life is unnacceptable.

And a miscarriage? God's cruel abortion? Never should it be tolerated, even if from God! Bomb God for the millions of abortive miscarriages! The sanctity of life is paramount! Armed guards must be put around all pregnant women. NO! Not just all pregnant women, but anyone even thinking of masturbating or having a period without first procreating!

For that is the sanctity of life!

fast

I believe you have misinterpreted the spirit in which my post was written.

I would have thought that the last two sentences in my previous post would have been exceptionally revealing as to my stance.

Your insightful post (number 28) played a major role in the formulation of my response to Jolly Penguin.

Xoxarle

Our survival as a species, on a planet where the natural resources essential for life are being fast depleted, may depend on us reducing the birthrate (and adapting our lifestyle) to something sustainable.

Outlawing abortion, as I see it, would push us closer to the abyss. I cannot enagage with this fundamentalist fantasy of striving to see the millions of unwanted foetuses transformed into newborn babies, born to unwilling mothers. It would be catastrophic.

The USA is the largest absolute consumer of resources of any nation on Earth. As countries like India and China move closer to our consumption model, the crisis is becoming more acute. I shudder to think what the impact of an additional 40 million citizens would have been, over the last decade or so, let alone the effects of that multiplied in other developed nations where abortion has been legal.

Koyaanisqatsi

No, just having some fun (but it wasn't meant at your expense).

fast

If abortion was outlawed, then that would be yet an additional infringement upon us, and I wouldn’t like that too much.

For those who may not understand my position, let me restate it.

I believe abortion is wrong, and I am pro-choice.

fast

I am pro-fun!

Koyaanisqatsi

Don't let the christians hear you say that! They'll want a Federal law prohibiting you from being that.

Karalora

In principle, you are of course right. In practice, however, the very same people who campaign the most fiercely against abortion rights also oppose contraception, welfare, et al.

Jolly_Penguin

Yes that is the next logical question. If we've established that the action is homocide, is there an excuse for it? One person IS a parasite of another person and so we have to weigh the one person's life against the other person's right to independence I suppose.

We do require people to feed and clothe and house their children. So there is some basis on which to say the mother must participate and be subjected to the parasitic activity.

Its also fair to say that if the mother does nothing the baby will be born. She has to actually kill it in this case instead of just let it die as in the case of the born children.

Its good to see people actually willing to discuss this issue rather than what I see 99% of the time, people dogmatically adhering themselves to one "side" or the other.

Jolly_Penguin

This is a good argument if the being in the womb is just a mass of cells, not our equal and not entitled to our compassion.

This is a more controversial argument if the being in the womb is indeed our equal. We could apply this same argument to the born and have mandatory death for all people unable to work and contribute to society, mandatory death age for everyone, lotteries to pick a set amount of people each year who must die so the rest of us can live without over-rationing supplies. In this case perhaps the better option is rendering women infertile as part of the in hospital care for delivering a baby - so each woman can only have one.