The labels of “pro-choice” and “pro-life” have both come to represent legalizing and prohibiting abortion, respectively. This is inappropriate. The use of the words “choice” and “life” make it seem like this is all there is to the argument. The fact is both sides are wrong when they simplify this argument to either, “Do you hate a woman’s right to do what she wants to her own body?” or “Do you love killing babies?”
Since both sides have become hypercharged in a hypersensitive atmosphere, both sides fail to see the childishness of their own arguments.
Personally, I come down somewhat firmly on one side of this debate: the so-called “pro-choice” side; yet, perhaps counter-intuitively, I couldn’t care less about a woman’s right to choose what to do with her body. The fact is that the woman and her baby are not analogous to a woman and her arm. The baby is not simply a part of her body. She bears responsibility for the life inside of her, of course. This argument becomes stronger the further along in the pregnancy the woman is. It’s hard to see why once the woman emits the baby from her body, she cannot kill it, but if it is inside of her, and has the ability to live outside of her, she is free to kill it.
This would be the extreme, however. A third trimester abortion is something rarely performed unless the mother’s life is in danger anyway. However, this raises the question: where do we draw the line? I think almost everyone would agree that there is a point after which we cannot ethically terminate a baby (which is not a threat to the mother’s health), but it is much harder to say exactly when that point is. So, in all, given the choice between letting women do what they want to “their bodies” and allowing a life to be terminated, of course I will take away the woman’s right to do what she wants to her body.
Now, before I get to why I am actually on the side of the pro-choicers, let me breakdown why the “pro-life” term is also ridiculous. Think about that term. Pro-life. What stupidity. Who is not pro-life, in the greatest sense of the term, aside from psychopaths? This term is an ad hominem in itself. That’s a bad start. You’re labeling all people who disagree with you as psychopaths before the argument has begun. This is not an argument about who likes life and who likes death. This kind of thinking destroys any nuance that may be presented counter to abortion prohibition.
Now, as for me, I don’t believe that abortion should be legal, as I said, because I care about a woman’s choice to do what she will with her body. This doesn’t have a big enough impact on society, in my opinion — and I believe that it is the purpose of laws to make a society run as smoothly and humanely as possible. Well, if you’re a pro-lifer and you’re banging your desk and screaming right now, just calm down for a second. I have not just contradicted myself. I believe abortion should be legal because when we look at examples around the world where it is not legal, we have to consider what happens. Does abortion just stop? Wow, I wish I lived in that world! No. It does not stop. It goes underground. It still happens, and it happens by boyfriends kicking their girlfriends in the stomach until the fetus or the mother dies, it happens by single mothers using coat hangers to hopefully puncture the right organs (I will save you the details. I’ll assume you can guess what I’m saying), it happens through quack doctors, or people who are not doctors at all, try to make a quick buck off a helpless would-be mother. This is a totally inhumane society, and one I am not willing to live in. For this reason alone, I am for the legalization of abortion everywhere.
Abortion is an admittedly terrible procedure, but one which qualified doctors can perform with the lowest chances of error. This has nothing to do with being pro-choice or pro-life; it is simply the best solution to a hard problem.
thegreatantagonizer 
I agree with you. I differ in the nuances of the reasoning to some degree, but arrive at the same conclusion. On a planet that is quickly running out of room to support more people we will be forced to explore birth control and abortion as part of the population control programs. It is a problem that simply cannot be ignored for much longer. The stigma of abortion will fade in the objectionable light of watching people starve to death. For now we still have the luxury of arguing the ethics of the matter … for now.
Well, I’d say it’s less about space and more about our expectation to live with the luxuries we enjoy… World could easily handle a billion more Indians, but a billion more Americans… That’s a bit much to ask.
No matter where you stack the people, we’re running out of ways to feed them. Despite the apparent food supplies, a few more bad years with global warming and those supplies will not be what they seem today. Most of the world is about 6 meals away from chaos. Most of the world is about 15 meals away from starvation. (estimates are my own)
Well, I’m a little more optimistic about food supplies; however, I’m equally pessimistic about the ramifications of global warming. Food’s major problem is not actually production these days, it’s transportation. We make a LOT of food, much of which goes to waste. With more and more people accepting that so-called Franken Foods are not as serious as starving, food supplies in regions stricken by starvation will decline, in my opinion.
Now, does that mean we can use resources crazily? Of course not. Fertilizers and the energy required to sustain our current crop system cannot be used forever for numerous reasons, but hopefully we’ll move on to different methods by the time these methods become problematic…
I’m still somewhat reticent to opine on GMO food stuffs in general. The process of growing beef flesh or chicken flesh has interesting ‘Soilent Green’ aspects to it, but if they can grow it in a hamburger patty shape… derp!
What Monsanto has been doing scares the shit out of me and it should scare the shit out of everybody, including people that work there.
I think we’re at most 3 degrees of global temp from disaster. Most of the western world would come to a painful and decimating standstill if the temp shifts that much in a quick time. Too much of our food supply is in transit at any given time to go more than 2 weeks without resupplying it. The supply chain is the most vulnerable link in keeping us alive, at least in western countries. Those in low-tech low-mobility societies have a higher probability of survival if the temp gets out of control.
Peak oil is not our only problem no this space ship.
Hi,
Would you mind terribly giving me a name, any name, to call you by so I don’t feel like this is so impersonal? If you like it this way, could you please let me know anyway so I can put that you don’t want a name, on my list?
thanks
robin claire
I’d rather just go by TGA, thanks.
ok – that’s fine. TGA it is
I personally know two women who went through abortion. One is a college friend, the other a friend of my significant other. Overtime my opinion and understanding of abortion have changed.
Through experience, as an audience, I would advice against it. I have seen the evil of this process. Seeing an independent strong woman become so scared and guilty made me second guess my own strength.
I agree with you, both sides are shallows. But we use easy labels because most of use cannot empathize with other people. We don’t have time to understand everything. What with all the things happening around us so fast.
My stand is almost the same as yours, it’s very very personal. If a friend of mine who likes to get fucked by different dudes without protection and gets an abortion everytime, I myself will turn her in, for the safety of her and the society. However, the women I know who went through this are monogamous and unfortunately due to our laws and mindset of our men, had no access to contraceptives.
Hey imfuentbella,
I think it is our individual responsibility to understand all the things that happen around us, regardless of how fast. Further, it’s our responsibility to communicate what we have learned ourselves about the world around us. So, I can’t accept ignorance as an answer, unless you are desperately poor and have no time for any kind of learning whatsoever (it is for these people especially, that we should try to be up-to-date about as much as we can, so that perhaps one day we can live in a world where all people can have some leisure time).
In your last paragraph, that’s terrible to hear that your country outlaws contraceptives. You said you’re from the Philippines, right? I had no idea it was illegal there. I hope people are fighting vociferously for the right to access contraceptives there.
I agree that ignorance is never an excuse, unfortunately, we live in an ugly world were mediocre is normal. The food we eat, the music we listen to, the subjects in our conversations. Very few people like to talk intellectually and learn something. More often than not, people mistake you as arrogant or know-it-all if you open sensitive topics and keep it going.
It is not yet illegal, but it is sort of taboo which is weird because FHM and PLAYBOY are accepted as a society *shrugs* however since the reproductive health bill is being pushed, some stupid lawmakers are passing laws to ILLEGALIZE it.
Well, I don’t think that this is that ugly of a world. Consider both of our societies 100 or much worse, 200 years ago. Few people would have had enough education to even consider discussing intellectual problems. So, I think we’ve come a long way, and it’s our responsibility to encourage intellectual discussion. I’m not asserting that we insert deep discussion into everyday dialogue to the point where people become uncomfortable around us. It’s just that it should be our duty to make others want to have these kinds of discussions with us. 🙂
As for contraceptives being a taboo, well, unfortunately, that tends to be the case in many religious societies; however, I don’t think that it’s only religion that places a taboo on concepts related to sexuality. In the country I’m in now, South Korea, there is also a serious taboo on contraceptives, but I don’t think that it has anything to do with religion. While there are a lot of people who identify as Christian or Buddhist, most of them, in my experience, don’t take if very seriously. Further, I’ve yet to experience any political decision in this country that I can see as a religious decision. So, politics and religion tend to stay separate here. The reason that contraception is a taboo here is because SK is a very conservative country. Conservatives tend to not want to discuss anything related to sex, it seems. So the result is, condoms are accessible, but female contraception is frowned upon. I’ve never met a Korean woman who admitted to using or even knowing anyone who using the pill. So, this is a struggle that women need to be vocal on, even at the expense of so idiotic old men calling you perverts or sluts (as Rush Limbaugh did not too long ago). The alternative is witnessing some of your sisters bearing unwanted pregnancies and stifling their educational and vocational potential. 😦
Hi TGA
Robin Claire here. I wrote about an abortion in two different posts, if you’re interested in it from a personal perspective and a personal experience. If you search for “abortion” both posts will come up. You have to hit the ENTER key to do the search as the “SEARCH” button doesn’t work for some reason.
rc
Hey. SO finally i can call you something. TGA.
Good one above about the Indians. But seriously? You can Bear a Million more Indians? I dont think so. You see, the way i see it, according to our culture here, as others follow it, the very religious are the people who get laid only when they have kids. They are least bothered about Contraception, and also they are the people who have like 8 to 10 or even more children. Obviously when our own Gods and Myths tell us of people who had 101 Kids and things like that, people feel its normal. Thus we are soon to be World’s largest population.
But yes i do agree with your view of the decision of a woman to abort a child. We have not a lot of issues regarding that. When it comes to health, they do so here.
Hmmm… Maybe there was a misunderstanding. I meant that the average Indian consumes far less than the average American. So the stress on the world would be significantly less if there were 1,000,000 more Indians than 1,000,000 more Americans. If you did understand what I was saying, then I’ll have to admit, I didn’t really understand your counterpoint 🙂 could you restate it a little differently if this is the case?
Watch this page
“Pro-choice” is an extremely cynical euphemism used by promoters of abortion to describe their views, even when they insist on taxpayer funding for abortion and/or even when they oppose laws requiring full disclosure by abortion clinics to patients of harms caused by the procedure. Pro-abortion, anti-life or pro-death would be more accurate terms.
Some naively claim to be in support of a “right to choose” abortion while opposing forcing others to pay for it, which as a practical manner is simply impossible.