The abortion issue

[jgh7]

This is my first time adding a poll, so hopefully it works

I notice that the issue of gay marriage is a hot topic on these forums, but people tend to skirt around abortion... Gee, I wonder why? Here's a poll, please choose one of the options even if you feel that you're "special" to the point of where none of these options describes you. Please keep in mind, This has to do only with pregnancies that are not the result of rape, are not a danger to the mother's life, and with fetuses that will not have grossly severe deformities or disabilities. I have opinions about each of these special circumstances, but I would like this topic to be about the overwhelming majority of pregnancies which don't have these problems.

Obviously you can voice your stance as well, and feel free to talk about your opinions of how religion relates to all of this... or how it shouldn't. Here's mine:

For me, my strong views about abortion coincide highly with my religious views, but I developed them before I became religious. I view life as sacred from the moment of conception. I don't care if the zef (zygote/embryo/fetus) can think, I don't care how he looks, I don't care if the mother-to-be is a teenager or not, and I don't care about the impact on society. All I care about is the zef's life, and how I define life is not based off of cognitive abilities, development of vital organs, or ability to survive outside the womb. Life is about having a future on this earth. Many people say it's no big deal because there are so many early miscarriages that we don't even realize happen, but that is an awful reason to justify the purposeful destruction of life.

The main pro-choice argument is that the mother has a right to choose since it's her body. I strongly disagree. In the cases of voluntary sex, people know the risks; even when they use protection they know there's still a risk. Even if they don't know the risks, that still does not justify killing the zef because of their ignorance. Even in the worst case scenario, where the mother is a teenager and dirt poor, I strongly believe that abortion is wrong. Life is sacred to the point of where both parents ought to be willing to sacrifice their monetary well-being as well as their personal lives/time/aspirations for the sake of letting their child live.

My faith strengthens my stance, and I'm not ashamed to admit that the only way I could feel so strongly is through my faith. After all, with a non-theistic view it's pretty easy to view life as insignificant if it's a tiny spec that doesn't think and doesn't look anything like a baby. I understand many will be offended by this, but I've seen that this is the case for many non-theists.

The final argument that usually arises is: "Isn't using protection the same as abortion, since you're preventing sperm from entering the egg?" I believe we have the right to choose when we want to create life, but we don't have the right to choose to destroy that life once it has been created. I may not know the precise time down to the second, but somewhere during the moment of conception, life is created. A sperm will not grow into a baby, and neither will an egg; only a fertilized egg. All that is left after conception is less than a year of growing until the life is born. Using protection is no more abortion than is choosing not to have sex for a certain night. Both cases mean that sperm that could have fertilized an egg was prevented from doing so. But destroying a fertilized egg is abortion, because it is killing off a human life that is growing.

These are my views. I know there are many points where people can disagree, but abortion is one thing where I have a very strong stance on, since I believe it is killing. When people are lax on their stances and say things like, "It's only for mothers to decide," it usually means that they don't view the zef as a life.

[Scotracer]

At the same time, if a girl gets the proper support in the face of this crisis, it does not have to be a life-crippling decision. I just think we need to be more realistic about what is actually being "lost" in a first-trimester abortion. It is not a baby. It is not a person. That has been prevented.

(Bold Added for Emphasis)

How do you determine this? Have you just decided that this is the case or is there a reason you are saying this? Babies have heartbeats in the first trimester. Also it can be determined what sex the baby is around week 12. The baby develops its bones arms and legs during this time as well. I think you need to rethink your argument as it seems to be completely unfounded.

So...do you think it's wrong to kill anything that has a heartbeat, is sexually dimorphous and has bones?

My opinion on the abortion issue:

There is no single way to look at it and have an over-arching definition and outlook as it will always be tragically short.

If we look at this objectively it must be noted that even refraining from sex for 1 second of one day stops some child from ever existing. Life isn't fair. You can't allow everyone to live as evolution given us the "fight the odds" style of reproduction. Every time you suppress the urge to have sex, or every time a man has a nocturnal emission they kill the opportunity for someone to exist. There's very little we can do about that.

As such, the argument of it stopping someone from living seems tragically quaint.

However that doesn't mean I will be shouting "abortions for all" from the rooftops as it is quite reprehensible for someone to have an abortion simply because the child would be a inconvenience. I do agree that abortions should be given out, without recourse, if the mother is in mortal danger due to complications.

The simple facts of the matter is that our reproductive system is not fair, it's not that elegant and as a result children will and do die before they ever get a chance to live...but that doesn't stop us from assuring the survival of some of them.