I am pro-choice. I
am also pro-abortion. I will go as far as saying that abortion is moral. In the majority of cases, the procedures done are
chemical abortions in early stages of pregnancy. There is very little risk to the women and the fetus does not feel anything. Also, I do not believe in
considering the fetus as an individual until way late in the pregnancy.
Abortion is not the killing of humans but simply ending the potential of one.
Speaking of
potential, a lot of behavior, both good and bad, can be traced to conditions and events from childhood. That is a major reason why I am pro-abortion. I
personally have known people whose childhood environment and experiences
negatively impacted their adult lives. In some cases, bad childhoods have a
direct thread to harm which these people had done to others. The quality of adult life is increased when children are exposed to positive conditions and
experiences. Birth control is best for controlling when and where children are born, which in turn often supplies more positive experiences for the children. But abortion is a reasonable option. This is especially the case with the morning after pill. In fact, I believe it's time to make all contraceptives, including the morning after pill universally free. That would have a positive affect on the quality of life, including the victims of people who were raised in ways which affected their negative behaviors toward others. Although indecisive about whether abortions should be free, I do believe that abortion options should be universally available.
I do not believe in a soul so there's no need to consider when that nonexistent thing becomes part of a fetus. Contrary to propaganda to the contrary, science shows that fetuses up to 6 months do not feel pain. Through experience and education, I know how much childhood affects adulthood. This is a primary reason why I believe in free contraceptives and am leaning toward free abortions. I certainly believe that contraceptives and abortion options should be highly promoted. Couples or people around them need to be cognizant of how much the timing of a birth is critically important for the child and future adult. I had a pretty wild period when a girlfriend got pregnant. Neither of us were in adequate financial and psychological states to become parents. We knew the risks were high that we would make critical mistakes which would have long term consequences. We considered the idea that maybe having the child would motivate us to do better. But that seemed selfish to us. We chose abortion. I paid for it completely since I had a better income that she did.
I knew a crazy couple who had a child who was ultimately taken away from them. I knew the man more than the woman. He was basically a stoner who hung around some groups which I was sometimes in. The woman was disliked by a lot of people because she tended to pick fights. She often talked shit about everyone. The 2 people were very different. Probably a common factor was a lack of sex, not that they never had sex but neither of their current mental states supported it. So that may have been a factor. Also, they both were on SSI. After they got together, the guy was bragging about getting the woman pregnant. After the birth, they managed to get an apartment where they immediately began to have parties. I briefly went to one but refused to hangout or go to others because I thought that the level of pot and cigarette smoke with the presence of the child amounted to child abuse. Plus the woman still tended to yell at people. Within a few months, the child was taken away but was returned with the couple's promise to get help. The child was taken again when he was around a year old. I heard that protective services saw enough problems that the couple may not have gotten the child back if it weren't for a "liberal" lawyer who took the case. It took several months but they regained custody. But they lost custody again by the time that the child was 3. At that point, the couple separated. I don't know what ultimately became of the person born into such a crazy environment. But the child and whatever kind of adult it became deserved a better start than it was given.
A factor relating to the importance of contraception and abortion is that a lot more people with a wide range of mental states have the ability to have kids. Some of these folks have inadequate capabilities to be parents. Too many of these people are having kids. Think Forrest Gump. That movie painted a rosy picture of the situation. But I know from personal experience of being raised by a mentally handicapped mother and with a mentally handicapped brother that things can be hazardous for the child of parents who are not ready or even capable of parenting. There are limits to what can be done in the worst cases but people smart enough to decide that they aren't ready should definitely have all opportunities to avoid bringing children into bad or hazardous environments. Those opportunities should include abortion.
In closing, I want to note the slippery slope which we are on with the current state of anti-abortion politics and governance. Although I have discussed abortion and contraceptives side by side, they really are different. But there are some religionist folks who lump both abortion and contraception together as immoral acts. As laws get enacted which force abortion services and even discussion of abortion by some doctors to end, the financial resources are getting diverted to groups which are not only against abortion but are against contraception. This is a regressive direction which will have dire consequences. Where does it stop?
In the US, most republicans are anti-abortion. Yet 2 groups of progressives are culpable in allowing these social conservative republicans in office. One group are the flip-flop voters. These are the generally progressive people who vote for candidates based on "need for change" or some other feelings which conflict with the voter's socially progressive ideals. It's time for all social progressives to become a solid block against social regressive politics. This segways to the other group who unintentionally let social conservatives gain control. These are the people who either don't vote or vote only during presidential election years. I'm not saying that everyone should necessarily vote. I have a relative in his 80's who feels that his mental state is not adequate anymore. I respect his decision to not vote. But such a small percentage of the capable population do vote. Yet social conservatives have some extra resources to drive their people to vote. There are also other factors not relevant to this article which create a substantial number of people who consistently vote and do so based on regressive ideas. This is a factor why some of the most regressive laws go on the ballot during the years when there tends to be lower voter turnout.
I, for one, vote every year because I see the dangers which are developing due to low voter turnout.
