Re: Too bad the author's mother didn't have the same views
by
calico_jack
08/13/2008, 11:20 AM
Noone's forcing anyone to procreate, that's a gross oversimplification and a strawman. Government men in black don't go around looking for fertile young people and force them to procreate at gunpoint. Birth control is readily available in most places, if you find a place it isn't then let's go open up a birthcontrol store there and make money because I guarantee there's a demand. Yes it fails sometimes but when you guys get into abortion defense mode you act like it fails every time. In the macro it drastically reduces birth rates.
The point is we have laws in this country to prevent people from doing violence to one another's bodies or property. If it were only the woman's body at stake there would be no problem. The problem is more convoluted than that though. A good solution to the abortion argument is going to be more nuanced than you or any other person on an extreme (either extreme) has to offer. Any solution giving the decision entirely to the mother ignores that the fetus may be a person and has no choice for itself. Any solution completely making abortion illegal will create a public health nightmare among other things.
There is a way out of the moral dillemma; prevention of unwanted pregnancies to begin with. Birth control and sex education. Sex education with the blend format is excellent. Education that encourages abstinence until the students are ready (emphasis on phrases like 'later' and 'when you feel ready') but doesn't fudge on the facts; giving factual and thorough explanations about pregnancy and STDs as well as preventitive measures. Young people don't have the facts and they deserve them. They're also smart enough to process all of that.
I'm prepared for the next round of childish name-calling and shrill extremism now.