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Originally Posted by Zeke
IJD, I think you said "pro-choice" when you meant "pro-life" a couple of times there. Could be wrong, but it seems to make more sense that way.
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You're right. I've edited to fix my mistake (which is the result of posting at 5:30 in the morning).
Perhaps we're right in thinking that abortion is an inherently emotional subject. I'd say, this is probably one of the biggest reasons society needs to focus on the bigger picture. People get pretty worked up about abortion, whatever side of the issue they're on. It's hard to have a rational, reasoned argument this way. Hopefully in this thread we can try to overcome that.
You say unless it's proven that more people will die if abortion were outlawed right now, then you still think that's the best option. Well I never made any mention of more people dying (though some will). Simply, outlawing abortion outright would have consequences which I for one am not willing to face. Here's a few off the top of my head.
1) Abortion is made illegal, and pregnant teenagers will now have to carry their child to term. What we'd have on our hands is a swell in the teenage birthrate. Pro-lifers I've talked with in the past have mentioned (though it hasn't been brought up here as far as I've seen) that the lack of availability of abortions would act as a deterrent toward teenage sex, and over time cause a decline in the teenage birth rate. Well first, I'm not entirely comfortable with this conclusion. I think teenagers are going to have sex no matter what our legislative process allows. Look how well our war on drugs is going, as an example of this. But even if this conclusion were true, is this terribly desirable? Sacrificing thousands and thousands of teenaged girls who will no longer be able to follow their educational goals and perhaps career desires simply because they're mothers now? Even if they give their children up for adoption, that's a choice that they'll probably ruminate over for the remainder of their lives. Are we going to cause these children we've failed through our enormous stigma on contraception even more drama and perhaps suffering just so we can teach the future generations of teenagers a lesson? This is simply unacceptable if you ask me. I picture people saying "Heheh, that'll learn 'em", and I wonder how such people can buy into this
and the whole sanctity of life argument. This isn't an accusation toward anyone in particular here, but I have encountered people like this.
2) Outlawing abortion at present would create a swell in the newfound practice of "black market abortions". Here's where your deaths will come from (unless of course outlawing abortions means outlawing
all abortions, even when the life of the mother and/or child is at risk, killing mothers and children all over the place -- since more or less everyone here is against that, I won't discuss it at present). If you outlaw abortions, that will effectively eliminate some -- perhaps most. But what about those mothers who simply won't accept no for an answer? Outlawing legal abortions effectively creates a new market for
illegal ones. While some of these practices may be just as safe as the ones at present, I very much doubt that most will conform to the rigorous level of control without any regulations in place. How many mothers will be killed as a result of these people doing a shoddy job? How many will be permenantly damaged? How many mothers won't even bother to find someone else to do it, and will do what many mothers in 3rd world nations are forced to do -- bend a clotheshanger and sit in the bathtub. This is
infinitely more horrible than anything that actually goes on in our abortion clinics at present. By eliminating the regulated, you open a pandora's box I doubt you'd like very much.
It's interesting you say that my argument would be valid for smokers, but not for mothers wanting abortions. Especially with our present discussion of Euthanasia. Is not smoking a more gradual form of Euthanasia?
Something to think about, anyway.