Catbird wrote: ↑Tue Oct 06, 2020 3:49 pm
You really took that and ran a marathon with it.
cradle gets pretty wrought on this topic and I think he's honest about it bothering him deeply. Some of the other folks on here I take less seriously.
No cradle, like you, I don't like ANY abortions to happen, I just don't see this as my call nor the government's call. I do think we can and should come to some sort of accommodation between a woman's right...and responsibility...to make these hard choices and the morality of a loss of a life that could thrive outside the womb if allowed to do so.
It's a brutally difficult problem, and I do err to the side of there being at least some limitation on when an abortion can be performed, despite the principle that it should be the woman's decision. Balancing these two issues ain't easy, at least not when you get government involved as the decision maker against the woman.
On an individual level, this is far easier and I have no issue with someone taking the position that they'd never have an abortion, only in extreme circumstances have an abortion, not in the third trimester, whatever feels right for them personally morally. I also don't have an issue with someone considering their view to be morally superior to someone else's. I just don't want them involving governmental criminalization as their cudgel in such a case.
On cradle's argument about a man having a 'say' if he's going to be held responsible for the baby if born, I used to think that way 40 plus years ago...but I've been around enough women who have patiently (and some less patiently) explained to me that the man need only keep it in his pants if he doesn't want the responsibility, or to use protection if he wants to reduce risk, whereas in many, many situations the woman has not had that option. Nor does the man typically bear the full weight of the responsibility, just a financial one, for the care of the baby, both for the nine months of stress on her body and her potential loss of employment, and thereafter.
There's no analogue for a man. Which is what RBG's argument was on this topic, rather than reliance on 'privacy'. Equal protection.
Bottomline, if we want to see less abortions, support fewer unwanted pregnancies, support contraception and education. Support adoption. Support women who are pregnant, support single mothers, support parental leave. Put abusive men in jail.
Make it easier and more affordable to bring a baby to term and to not have it damage the mothers' life prospects.
But hey, that's not what most "Life" advocates are willing to sign up for, though they may adopt a kid or two themselves, certainly a positive step. But not contraception and education.
