Abortion

[Ambulance Y]

Now this is a tricky question. I think that the choice should remain. I can see why one would value not only life but potential life as well,  but I can also see when a young woman would need an abortion at an inconvenient time in her life, like high school. It just bothers me when the hard-headed pro-life population views someone who aborts their baby as heartless and sadistic. I've even heard words like "immature" being thrown at those that are pro-choice. You would have to be very emotionally mature to abort your own child. The fact is nobody wants to abort, it just seems necessary sometimes. Anyway, I'd say I'm pro-choice, but I can sympathize with at least the intelligent ones for pro-life. Alas, there are buffoons on both sides, but that's true for any argument.

What do you guys think?

[missingno]

Pro-Choice.

[Kojinka]

Normally, I'm Pro-Choice, but for abortion, only for rare circumstances, like if the woman got raped, or if complications arise in which either mom, the child, or both would die.

[The Chef]

I have to say I'm pro-choice, but I'd also like to point out the repercussions that the creation of this topic is going to result in.

[BP]

I might have a better opinion if I were... you know, a woman. I'm mostly pro-choice but it really isn't something I can say for sure. There's always the orphanage if it was a mistake, but the poor kid will probably never know its real parents... Rrrrrr...

This is all morally speaking, though. As with the gay marriage issue, on which my views are "unchristian," I think the government should keep its all-sniffing nose out. Combining church and state... it's like this country is a huge, primitive native tribe that does everything on the whim of a deity! I'm Christian, yes, but... an open one...

I don't have to worry about abortion on a personal level, though. Lucky me.

[Luigison]

As a happily married man with a beautiful and healthy 22-month old daughter it's easy for me to say that I am pro-life, but if I were a woman who had been raped and found out I was going to have a mentally retarded physically deformed baby I would probably feel otherwise.  Therefor I don't believes should be forced on others.  Scientifically speaking I know that life begins at conception, but that a mass of a few cells is not sentient.  So, I won't pass judgment on abortions at this stage, but it's a shame to me that so many people are using abortion as birth control.  It'd be much better if people put some planning into there sexual activity instead of waiting until afterward to make a decision to take birth control, the morning after pill, get an abortion, or children.  It is their right though.  On the hand, I am very much against partial birth late term abortions. 

[Luigison]

This is all morally speaking, though. As with the gay marriage issue, on which my views are "unchristian," I think the government should keep its all-sniffing nose out. Combining church and state... it's like this country is a huge, primitive native tribe that does everything on the whim of a deity! I'm Christian, yes, but... an open one...

This is out of the context of the OPs question, but since you brought it up...  My feelings on gay marriage are very similar to yours.  Gay marriage does not threaten my marriage.  I too think the states should stay out of it.  I don't think the State should even issue any marriage certificates, straight or otherwise.  Let churches or other institutions perform marriages.  Civil unions should be allowed by the State for gays and straights while allowing each state to determine the age of civil union consent.  Your post also made me think of Gandi's quote, "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."  I think it's very Christlike to support gay rights, and wish that modern Christians would quite picking and choosing which old testament rules to follow. 

[SolidShroom]

This is such a murky issue. It's actually more complicated than killing actual, born babies. To me, carelessness on the parents' part shouldn't call for an abortion, since there's adoption and all, as well as the possibility of living with it and raising the child. That's the mature thing to do. As for aborting due to rape or if the child's birth will kill the mother, I can support abortion. But really, I don't know what it's like, so I don't really want to pass judgment.

[Turtlekid1]

Wow, this poll is just... sad.  When something is wrong (abortion, for instance), it's wrong.  There are orphanages, people, if you're going to shirk responsibility, at least preserve life.  And if it's a result of rape, yes, I think the decision was forced on the woman, but a human life is still a human life.  And gay marriage being off-topic here is a great excuse not to get me started on it.

[Ambulance Y]

When something is wrong (abortion, for instance), it's wrong.

That's a blazing generalization. The point of this thread is to actually think about the idea of abortion. Let's take this aside from any morality for just a second; regardless of whether abortion is legal or not, people are going to do it on their own. Therefore, it's great that it's legal so people can have safe abortions.

[nensondubois]

How morbid it is. Wow to think people have respect for life not just kill of conscious beings at will.

[Koopaslaya]

Therefor I don't believes should be forced on others.

Therefore, you don't think that we should make murder illegal, or robbery illegal, or grand theft auto illegal, or treason illegal, or any other number of things. "If I believe that murder is okay, or robbery is okay, or any other number of morally unacceptable issues are okay... then they're okay" This is the kind of though that will bring this world to an end. Shame on you and your relativist thought.

I will have more to say on this issue when I can sit down and write a bit.

I am, indeed, pro-life. What we do to our own children is more disturbing than the Armenian genocide, and even worse than what the Nazis did to the Jews / the Japanese did to the Americans in World War II.

[Luigison]

I meant that as a man I shouldn't force a woman into doing or not doing something with her body.  I think a lot of people misunderstand the pro-choice platform.  Being pro-choice is not the same as being pro-abortion.  I'm not pro-choice, and if I had to choose one or the other position it would be pro-life, but it's more complicated than that.  I see myself as more of a pro-active person.  I think that if people are educated to better plan their sexual relationship(s) abortion wouldn't be such a big issue.  It amazes me at how little most teenagers know about sex, STDs, pregnancy, abortion, etc.  I believe that this education should start at home, but many parents are not equipped to have such discussions with their children or are apathetic because they thing the X will never happen to their child so X shouldn't be taught to them.  I therefor believe that sex education in public schools is very important. 

[dc804]

Pro-choice. The government shouldn't be telling you that you have to have a child. Sometimes a women could get raped. Other times it was a 15 year old girl who got pregnant with a mistake, then she drops out to take care of the mistake, she never goes to college, and works at mcdonalds forever.

[Glorb]

I'm pro-choice, under specific circumstances. There's the rape issue, but also consider if the choice was made on the spur of the moment, or while under the influence, or if the woman was coerced or intimidated into doing so (either getting pregnant or getting the abortion, or both), or didn't understand what she was doing. Furthermore, if the child is going to die early after birth due to complications, or be horribly deformed/mentally handicapped (or both), the parent(s) should spare the child the suffering and have an abortion.