...I think you are the only pro-choice person I have ever agreed with. Ever.
Although at the end of the day, I am staunchly pro-life in 100% of circumstances. I see your argument, completely agree with it, and come down on the side of the child, who did not choose his or her own creation.
Those that are pro-choice place more value on the happiness and earning potential of the mother than we place on the life of the baby.
Those that are anti-abortion place more value on the life of the child than the happiness or earning potential of the mother.
Hmmm.....happiness and income vs being alive. That's kind of a cold blooded rationale, isn't it?
Agreed 100%.
And because it came up in Niki's previous post (I quit replying to comments because I wanted to lobotomize myself about halfway through - abortion is the #1 topic that "gets" me because of my personal experience) - women who miscarry aren't murderers. I have a terminally ill grandmother. If she dies of natural causes, and I'm with her - I'm not a murderer. However, if I smother her with a pillow, I am absolutely a murderer. It's all about intent. With a natural miscarriage, there is no intent to kill, or at least no intentional action to that effect - it just happens. Procuring an abortion is an intentional act meant to end a life. While the end result is the death of a living human (leaving the "personhood" bit aside for a moment), to compare miscarriage and abortion is like comparing natural death to intentional homicide, or Murder in the First Degree.
Interestingly enough, I have to write a paper for my legal ethics class on abortion this week... so this discussion is helping me steel myself for the last bits of research I'll have to do.
snowcalla, you might be interested in reading the majority opinion of Planned Parenthood v. Casey (I believe authored by O'Connor) and contrasting that with the dissents by Scalia in both Planned Parenthood v. Casey as well as Lawrence v. Texas. As a student of law, I, for one, found them very... interesting, especially with regard to your argument above.
no subject
Although at the end of the day, I am staunchly pro-life in 100% of circumstances. I see your argument, completely agree with it, and come down on the side of the child, who did not choose his or her own creation.
Those that are pro-choice place more value on the happiness and earning potential of the mother than we place on the life of the baby.
Those that are anti-abortion place more value on the life of the child than the happiness or earning potential of the mother.
Hmmm.....happiness and income vs being alive. That's kind of a cold blooded rationale, isn't it?
Agreed 100%.
And because it came up in Niki's previous post (I quit replying to comments because I wanted to lobotomize myself about halfway through - abortion is the #1 topic that "gets" me because of my personal experience) - women who miscarry aren't murderers. I have a terminally ill grandmother. If she dies of natural causes, and I'm with her - I'm not a murderer. However, if I smother her with a pillow, I am absolutely a murderer. It's all about intent. With a natural miscarriage, there is no intent to kill, or at least no intentional action to that effect - it just happens. Procuring an abortion is an intentional act meant to end a life. While the end result is the death of a living human (leaving the "personhood" bit aside for a moment), to compare miscarriage and abortion is like comparing natural death to intentional homicide, or Murder in the First Degree.
Interestingly enough, I have to write a paper for my legal ethics class on abortion this week... so this discussion is helping me steel myself for the last bits of research I'll have to do.