Selfish. Self-Centered. Self-Seeking. Period. No excuse. No exception. Life is life, whether it is valued or not.

"I don't want to ruin my figure"

"I don't want anyone to know"

"It was a mistake"

There are other options....adoption, birth control or how about mmmmm....keeping your damn legs closed!!!

That said, I know that there are horrendous circumstances in which an innocent might find herself pregnant. I am not talking about that, and even then there are options.

I was raped in college and an abortion was not an option for me. The hospital tried to give me a morning after pill to kill a human being, I told them what they could do with it.

That was over 22 years ago. I won't tell you what happened as I know already most won't agree with me. It doesn't matter. There is a God, and it is very clear where HE stands on it. If you don't believe in God, I guess it doesn't matter to you...all I do know is we'll find out someday what the right answer is as we'll all be accountable.

I am not God, however, and I can already hear the "thou shalt not Judge" crowd. I am not judging. It is legal right now, have at it.....Just remember there are alternatives, and much MUCH less selfish ways to live one's life.

Your statement "I am not judging.." is at 100% odds with "There is a God and itis very clear where HE stands..."

You are obviously speaking on behalf of God and declaring tothe rest of us where he stands on our beliefs.

Judgement is exactly what you are doing to us. But, like all Conservatives, you believe it is your God-given right to judge others. And you would, without hesitation, use the full power of the government to enforce those judgements on others, without hesitation.

It is, in my opinion, about time for the rest of us Americans to wake up to the true agenda of modern American Conservatives: to use the full coercive and punitative power of the government to impose your religious belief on everyone else in the United state: In all areas and on all things.

You're obviously not one of those religious fanatics who wants to deny women sex education and contraception. Please tell the others.

tothemoonalice:

That said, I know that there are horrendous circumstances in which an innocent might find herself pregnant. I am not talking about that, and even then there are options.

What do you mean by an "innocent"? And along those lines, what makes other women "guilty"?

And you know what? Sometimes, it's ok to be, as you wrote, selfish, self-centered, and self-seeking. Those words don't always have to connote negativity. So many people, especially women, put everyone else's needs before their own. What's wrong with putting one's needs first once in a while?

Also, I don't think it "clear where God stands" on this issue. If it was, then all Christians and Jews would agree on it. The Bible instructs, "Thou shalt not kill," but also tells us it's OK to slaughter animals and murder your enemies..and even your family, under certain circumstances.

P.S. You are too being judgmental :-p

Hey to Too BAD-

if i don't want to ruin my body, or if i don't want to WHATEVER...-- get this u freak...it is my body and YOU have no say.

and what a load of crap about the author's mother, YOU FREAK. I for one would NEVER force my mother into reproduction, and that YOU would is a testament to your horrid soul. FORCE BE GONE, you freak who wants to control what i do with MY BODY. Now go and get that mamma of urs knocked up so you can FORCE her to procreate. FREAKS should be called what they are --FREAKS who want to Force others.

joe reader:

...it is my body and YOU have no say.

The problem with that argument is that some believe, not necessarily without good reason, that abortion is making a decision that affects someone else's body as well.

OH Yes, the SOME Believe thing. EASY...don't have an abortion.

and guess what, even if i think someone is a FREAK and bent on controling women.... i promise!! I won't Force them to terminate! problem solved! END Of STORY. But remember, if they wan't to force me to procreate then i might just think it OK to Force them not to.....

we need to end this and stop trampling upon women, Forcing them to beg for control over thier OWN bodies.

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.

I'm pro-choice, but the "Don't like abortion? Don't have one!" argument is flawed. What if you told an animal-rights activist, "Don't like dogfighting? Then don't go to dog fights!" In both cases, people believe that the act is harmful to living creatures; that it affects more than just the person making the decision to do it.

Great post, calico_jack. I appreciate the evenhandedness. While I understand that this is an issue that can get good people at either end of the spectrum upset, it doesn't seem to me that there's a reasonable, political solution to be found at the extremes. Abortion should be legal (not quasi-legal, not legal for some and not for others, etc.), but there's got to be some recognition that while abortion may be a moral issue, it prompts a range of responses on moral grounds.

This leads me to my beef with the article: where I disagree with the author is that the politically appropriate way to defend abortion is as a moral issue. I don't mind legislation based on ethical concerns, but the determination of moral certitudes is best left to religious groups, not governments. To my mind, and I don't think this is splitting hairs, it would be better to frame abortion as an ethical issue. Partly, this is political expediency; I don't believe that the left can out-moralize the right on the question of abortion.

don't like dogfighting don't have one inside ur own body!

this issue is like NO other because it all takes place in the privacy zone of one's own body. so cut the silly comparitive crap. IN my body, my options. PERIOD. and what sad nonesense--use birth control or don't have sex... as if stuff doesn't happen. if one doesn't want to bear a child and other's FORCE them to that is Forced PROCREATION. you want Force, let make it GO TIME.. GET UR FREAKY Force hands off me you FORCE CREEPS.

FORCE FREAKS be GONE. morality of one's own body is sacred --HANDS OFF.

Joe Reader, you illustrate why abortion actually shouldn't be considered a moral issue: because it doesn't lead to political speech or action.

You should consider that we're discussing the role of abortion in the Democratic platform. So the context is political. Your own attitudes are politically absolutist to the extent that they recognize no role for debate.

Okay, after re-reading my original post, I came off like an ASS....but I am so sick of this liberal mentality and NO I am not a CONSERVATIVE WHITE MAN, I am an independent WOMAN. No one makes choices for me, but me. However, touting abortion as a frilly "oooops, my bad, I'll have it taken care of" kind of thing is unacceptable. I do not wish the author of the post harm, nor do I wish her mother would have aborted her...that was just cruel of me, and I am sorry. She seems to have been brainwashed as so many women are, that a baby is just a zygote, no soul, no purpose, no value. It is a shame, and it is so common to hold that belief.

Abortion will always be legal. Have no doubt about that. The question is, how to add some personal responsibility IN CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES (ie. as a form of birth control-habitual).

Who has a voice here? The unborn??? No. No one is sticking up for them. Have unprotected sex, risk getting pregnant, pretty simple. Of course there are other circumstances, I know, I was raped and it was the most horrible, demeaning things that could have ever happen to a woman.

However, you cannot argue with the fact that the ONLY reason that article was even able to be written was because the AUTHORS mother chose to have her. I am sure she is a wonderful person and everything, but she wouldn't be around if her mother chose abortion.

My point is there are options...adoption being one of them. I can already hear the "there are already too many kids waiting to be adopted, to many people in this world already bulls*it", so save it--Hilter wanted birth control and abortion to build a Supreme race, and used that as a propoganda tool

Yes. There are other reasons other than selfishness that a person would choose abortion---probably many other reasons, trauma, fear, etc. But my point with this article was it was so grossly in favor of "whatever, I just want to" it made me sick. How about being honest about options instead of having the sucking tube and sink waiting and ready at a time of such confusion and hurt?

FORCE FREAK?? Are you KIDDING me?!! How about having this liberal trash FORCED down my throat every time I turn on the tv, open a magazine or my internet homepage?

Okay, I was wrong for saying that God is very clear on where HE stands on this issue. I don't know, I am not God. Started getting on my high horse there, and I apologize.

However, there is something that has always gotten to me, how come if a woman is hurt/murdered and loses a child that she wanted as a result, it can be considered a murder of a child, and yet if she chooses to abort it is choice?? I don't get it.

I meant innocent, as in rape/incest victim.

MY BODY ME ME ME ME ME. Yep. That will get you really far in life--oh wait a minute...I guess by today's standards it really WILL get you very far in life.

I'm 42 years old when I found out I was pregnant with my third. I could have said "I want my life---to retire and take it easy when I'm older....or "It wouldn 't be fair to the child to have such and old mom" and both of those statements would be true. I chose not to "abort" for convenience sake--but to accept another life that I was blessed with. But then you are likely to be afraid of me raising another FREAK such as myself. Oh well.

If you don't believe there is a God, then you won't care about this part...I think God knows our circumstances, and I think He knows why we do the things we do. I also know He forgives, and having worked with women who have gone through abortions and still carry the pain, I feel I can speak out and tell about the other side....about the hurt and the guilt and the remorse. That's why this article is misleading and wrong!!!

Have you seen the tears of regret from a 29 year old who can't get over the fact that she aborted one child at 16 and NO ONE encouraged her to look at other options? Then she went on and kept another child when she was in better circumstances?!! I have. It's horrible. It's heal-able, but it's horrible.

The agenda to fool women into believing that abortion is the easiest option is a travesty.

If I am a FREAK, then so be it....I am alive to be one, and you are alive to call me one.