Posted by caraher on November 15, 2008, at 14:35:26
In reply to Re: Priest says no to communion for Obama voters, posted by rayww on November 15, 2008, at 13:32:43
> Gee...Maybe the choice should have been made sometime sooner? Let's see, whenever I've been pregnant it was a whole body experience. Beginning with my whole body feeling exhausted, and then gut wrenching illness. Why would anyone choose to put themselves through that just to get an abortion?
I'm sorry, I feel tremendously offended by this... "the choice should have been made sometime sooner?"
Please try to cultivate some sensitivity to the tremendous variety of circumstances under which women find themselves in a difficult pregnancy. Of course no woman would "choose to put themselves through that just to get an abortion - that's exactly Sigismund's point about choosing a lesser evil.
No woman chooses abortion lightly.
While I agree that unwise decisions often precede problem pregnancies, it will always be so. The abortion question starts with the existence of difficult pregnancies, and as long as women bear children these will happen. The only question worth asking is what we do for women who find themselves in that circumstance. Self-righteous scolding about past mistakes does nothing to help a pregnant woman or her unborn child.
And it's worth remembering that difficult pregnancies happen even in circumstances where even you would (I hope) consider the woman blameless for her predicament (start with rape and incest, as politicians are wont to do). Would you then no longer consider abortion killing when the woman is somehow less "blameworthy" for being pregnant? Suppose the baby would be born with some horrific illness? Should the future mother have "made the choice earlier" - and how?
poster:caraher
thread:862990
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/poli/20081115/msgs/863229.html