"As long as you are at my door you do what I tell you!" my mother used to tell me often when I lived "at her door". How I hated this statement! But I could not argue: her house, her rules. If you are capable to be independent, then you do what you want. No matter how terrible I felt about it I always found it fair. This was only making me want to get sooner on my feet. It helped me a great deal that way.

Now is my body really my body...? If I am young or old, my body belongs to me only as much as I can control it. You own a car but you cannot drive it the way you want, wherever you want, whichever way you want. You have to respect certain laws. If you make a mistake you may have to pay a fine or even be prevented from driving. Un unwantet pregnancy is a lot like a fine, to say the least. If you don't want a baby avoid making it.

And here comes the big question, when can you say that you made a baby? After the two parts became one? Or after a week? Or after three months? When it has a heart? When it is getting a brain? When comes out of the womb? Define it as you whish but there is no way to be sure that you are right. So if you cannot define life what criteria do you have to judge if abortion is a crime or not?

My answer is this: it all depends if you believe that there is a Creator of this life or that life is simply an accident, a result of a blind probabilistic rule. And this makes ME personaly to be a pro-choice person. Not because I don't believe in a Creator. But because this Creator gives me the choice of wether to believe He exists or not. If He would oblige me to know He is there, then I am accountable to Him regarding all He gave me. Including life, mine and the others that depend on me. But for those that don't believe in Him, the situation is different. For them is only about the matter: money, right time, health, demografics and all sort of other factors... So when God Himself (if He exists) is pro-choice, I could not be otherwise. For me, since I believe in Him, if I was to be pregnanat I would carry to term. For me an abortion is a crime. I would do my best to find a solution for a mother of an unwanted baby to give birth without having to suffer terrible consequences of any kind. But if she decides othewise it isn't my responsibility. I can't condamn her. I have no right to oblige her to keep the baby. I can only pray for her...

Excellent post, especially the third paragraph. You touch on many sides of this story, although I'm still wondering why the media is making this out to be relevant to the election.

I like how you address "pro-choice." In that sense, I think we are all "pro-choice." The PC crowd has made "pro-choice" the euphemism for "pro-abortion." Let's call a spade a spade. You are exactly right in that we can make all kinds of choices, including whether or not to make a baby, without even talking about abortion. We can choose what car to drive, which religious beliefs we will adhere to, or even what color our hair should be for the week. You can even have unprotected sex, get pregnant and not kill the kid and still have a choice (read: adoption).

Abortion has been a cop-out for responsibility far too often, and it is a traumatic experience for the women that do it. Yet for some reason, the left clings to abortion for dear life. Seriously, what rights of theirs would be infringed if a teenage kid actually had to notify their parents of a pregnancy and get consent for an abortion? The truth is that an abortion is a big deal, even though some of these people talk about abortion like the woman is getting her tonsils out, a "you didn't need those anyway" approach.

Anyway, keep speaking the truth. It's good to hear once in a while.

I'm one of those "leftists," and I would never, ever say that abortion is not a big deal. It's a huge deal, just as huge a deal as the decision to bring another life into the world. The thing is, I also believe that it's the most responsible decision a person can make, not a way to avoid responsibility. I don't advocate for abortion. I pray for a time that abortion is no longer necessary, because advances in birth control and responsible sex education mean that every child conceived is a planned and wanted child. Until that time, I believe that it is a woman's responsibility and right (those are two different things) to choose what is right. Not just right for her, but right by whatever type of morality she believes in (there is more than one, and it's callous and wrong to assume you hold the moral ideal for every other person on the planet).

If you look closely, FordTruck5Speed, the author of the post above you says the same thing: "if she decides othewise it isn't my responsibility. I can't condamn her. I have no right to oblige her to keep the baby. I can only pray for her..." That's all we're asking for, really, those of us on the pro-choice side. We're asking for the freedom to let women make up their own minds. It's relevant in this election, as in every election, because there is a party that runs on the promise to take away that choice. Those on the right have co-opted language, too. To be pro-life, in their parlance, is to be anti-choice. Ultimately, it comes down to a kind of arrogance--believing that you can determine what is right for all people.

Thank you for this well articulated post. Although I don't believe in a creator, per se, I definitely agree with everything you've said. I can't imagine why anyone would think abortion is a casual thing. I can't imagine anyone having an abortion without much soul-searching beforehand. I'm pretty sure that I would *never* have an abortion myself, although who knows what one will do until actually confronted with a situation. But, I believe women should have the right / option to choose for themselves.

When I was at that age and I dared to experiment, or should I say I did not dare to refuse experimenting, without planing it ahead, and afterwords I had to think over at what the consequences may be, I remember very clearely that I decided that if the acetic acid will not do the job...:) and if I will actualy have a baby with that man at that moment, then I will also dare to go all the way...

I knew what the risks were, I knew my parents will be very dissapointed, I knew they will eventualy ecourage me to abort and continue my studies... I knew that the possible father would not be a suitable husband and partner in rising that eventual child... I knew all this and I was affraid. But I decided that I will go for it. I will interrupt my studies, I will work harder and I would be have been motivated to succeed because I would have done what I believed it was right.

Because for me life is not about its size, but about its energy... about its potential in transformation... At first there is nothing but a little fecundated egg, but as soon as the two little cells meet and decide to become one, they multiply like creasy... What is the force behind this fantastic growth...?! As soon as I learned about these things in my Biology class I was fascinated. Because it is not a chaotic thing... It is not like a cancer... It is so well defined, and it knows preciselly when to organize a heart, when to concentrate on the brain... That little "thing" travels all the way from the ancient times, at one point it looks a bit like a frog, then climbes rapidly the entire evolution scale up to me... It is a miracle, wether I can find my word to describe it or not... I think that it is a miracle that deserves a bit of a sacrifice if it comes to it... Not that I did not all what I could to correct the situation, to prevent the magic encounter that was not under a good zodiac sign... But if it would have happened anyway, I thought, I will take the risc...

Look at Barak Obama... His mother had to interrupt her studies to have him... Maybe he will make a difference in this world if he will be chosen in November... What if his mother would have thought first about her career and then about this boy...?! Who would have been filling his place? Who would have had encouraged us today that indeed, "we can" change this world for the better...?! And boy, oh boy, how much we need this encuragement...! So she said when she had him, "Yes I can". And she did it! With a bit of help from here and a bit of help from there, it ends up working if only we want... But we have to believe in this, to be positive about it, or else it will turn into a big failure... This is why I said for a believer it is all different... But you may believe in God or you may believe just in the beauty of life... If you don't then you may end up hating yourself and everybody and this is not going to help at all...

Having an abortion is clearly the responsable choice for those without the financial resources to raise a child.

The last thing I want is increased taxes to pay to support the children of people that should of had an abortion.

If the parents have the final say than they should also take over ALL financial responsablity for their grandchild until that kid is 18 years old.

In other words the parents should NOT be able to force a financial burden on their child. Whoever gets to decide the outcome gets the financial burden.

If you were NOT in a financial position to be able to support a child AND the guy that got you pregrant wasn't either, would you still not have an abortion?

If YES (you would still NOT have an abortion) then do you believe it is the duty of the state to provide you funds to support that child? Why would it be the duty of society to support YOUR choice?

Note I'm 100% pro-choice but to me it is clear that the responsible choice is to have an abortion if one isn't financially able to support bringing a child into the world.

For those that would NEVER have an aboriton they should NEVER have sex unless they are sterile or have financial means.

Oh, dear! The duty of the state?! I never counted on it... I always counted on myself, my two hands, my two feet and God...

Eventualy I would have tried to work for a dayare and have my child enrolled in there as well... Or I could have worked as a governor of Alaska...:)

I never thought that the government should pay for me to stay home and rise my child... Not that I would not like it... But depending on the actual situation I would do everything in my power to survive without killing that little thing... I think there used to be a big number of women that had to rise children on their own in all the times in the history... And it worked... maybe they did not all had all the time the whitest bread on their table... But hey, in fact the whole wheat bread has proven to be much better... A wise woman could make the ends meet despite the odds of life... They always did...

Are you saying that no women in the USA is on welfare or getting state assistance????? Come on, get a clue.

It is child abuse to bring a child into the world when one doesn't have the necessary means to provide the child food, and shelter. Better to have an abortion.

OK, maybe YOU would never take state aid, but many people have and may continue to have kids and expect even more state aid.

But I'm glad to see you agree that all state assistance should be stopped since people can take care of themselves.

No, wait... When I was at that age and I dealt with this issue I did not live in USA nor did I ever thought I may ever... That was MY OPTION back then.

Also the governement help HERE in USA right now is just a little bit better then nothing from what I am told. I did not have to use it and I don't think about it as a viable option. Except you can also work on the black market or something that kind of money can only help a droug adict that live on the street to buy his thing so he gets quiet enough not to steal or to kill arround... One can hardely live on that help by himself, the extra that a child would bring in a household is smaller then the cost of the monthly dipers I believe. The milk would be exta...

So, really, if a woman rely on the government help as it is now to rise a child she would be silly...

On the other hand, yes, if you oblige her to have her baby as a government then you should help her a great deal, it would only be normal...

As for social welfare in general, I REALY BELIEVE THAT you must be very selfish not to consider that some people sometime may benefit from such help especially in the today society where the surplus is big enough... The food is so cheap today and the houseing prices are highely inflated. We spend money on all sort or stupid things but we don't want to feed an empty stomach that belongs to a less fortunate brain...?! Back in the age of the industrial revolution the capitalists were promising the workers new jobs in new fields that would replace the ones lost becasue of the more productive fabrication technologies... This is how they calmed down the revolutionary movments and by showing the bad guys from the communist regims, how bad they are doing... But I think that a more equilibrated share of the blessings the earth and the advancement in the human knowledge would be beneficial for the society in its entirety... Let's not look narrow. Let's complain about the money that are stolen or used for stupid wars, and not about the piece of bread and the milk for an unfortunate that was not taught properly how to protect herself... Or against a little wee that can leave on the equivalent of a piece of bread a day...

And if you are unwilling to help, don't worry, there are kind hearts out there. Like I have said, if only a woman with a brain in her head realizes that she made a mistake, is willing not to repeat it but is ready to deal with the situation not by getting rid of the problem but by actualy fight harder with life, she will be helped by a good neighbourgh, by a good church or by our good God to succeed and exemples are plenty. However if that woman is stupid of course she can only act stupid and irresponsible and out of all options such a woman can have for the sosiety the easiest is to grab that little miracle and send it right back where it is comming from... not bothering to spend anything on it and then having to send him/her later in Iraq anyway...

:)

I am sick of people who think that people who don't want their hard earned money to go to the worthless, lazy a** people who sit back and do nothing are selfish. The people who will not take responsibility for their actions expecting the government to bail them out. These are not the people who go out and get a job and just can't make it for whatever reason, or the person who has lost their job and just hasn't been able to find another one, or the person who got sick and can't pay their medical bills. These are the people that won't even make the effort to find a job and support themselves.

It is not selfish to expect a person to try to make their own way. People don't mind helping unfortunate people when they are down on their luck.

Yeah, our government does spend money on a lot of things that most of us don't agree with. Spending on a war, foreign aid especially to countries where the money doesn't even go to what it is intended for but lines the leaders pockets, stupid research studies, etc. It still does not make it right that a person's hard earned money is going to a person who wouldn't get off their a** and get a job if their life depended on it because some people might think that they are unfortunate. The unfortunate person is the person who is willing to try and just happens to fall short.

Sweetie, the only problem with your argument is you don't go far enough. Your religious views that life should begin to be valued at birth are just that - your private religious views. Personally, I believe that life begins for women when they are willing to give me head, and for men when they give me their money.

Who are you to tell me I am wrong?

Isn't it a blessing that teenagers are so ignorant??!?? It's Gods gift to parents to let them know they are still unable to control the world or even the actions of their own children. If Sarah Palin loads the vote so her opinions are made into law, this is the same thing that happens in dictatorships everywhere. it needs to be thought about

This law of forcing teenagers to have children and parents having the right to veto abortion is something that kids have to come to terms with. Tough luck if you've become pregnant just as this law comes into action. The fact Mrs Palin has no idea how to tell her unmarried daughter about the consequences of sex should not detract from her fitness for the second highest office in the U.S.A. It's up to the people to decide if parents forcing every teenage child to continue with any pregnancy is rational policy.

Teenagers are sure to make mistakes no matter what laws are passed .

This is a very important issue. It needs to be discussed in all families everywhere, especially including families without daughters.