Re: pro-life
I am so pro-choice that I could probably be considered pro-abortion as I believe the world would be a better place with more abortions. But the whole “if you don’t like abortion then don’t have one” argument is a bad one. To a pro-lifer that is like saying “if you think murder is wrong then don’t murder people but don’t tell me I can’t murder people.”
Seriously?
Any pro-life advocate who is making the assumption that an act of murder is engaged in based on the beliefs of individuals - rather than individuals recognizing and complying with laws in order to avoid the consequences of a given law - has serious intellectual problems.
The majority of people who believe abortion is murder is derived from religious dogma. They are "taught" to believe that killing any stage of human life prior to birth is against God's will or that a conception is a divine act. But strangely many pro-life make exceptions for government sanctioned murders during the act of wars, law enforcement agencies, and executions imposed by our judicial system.
In other words, Pro-life advocates who believe that abortion is murder "is purely ideological" and not congruent with the laws of the land. They are completely aware of this fact, and despite the facts, many pro-life had rather have the right forcefully impose their religious dogma on everyone else. This type of thinking works great in Theocracies, which subscribes to primarily one religion. But we are a nation ruled by law.
Murder is clearly defined in every state in the nation. The vast majority of abortions performed are done so within the confines of law. Under most circumstances, abortions are NOT murder committed by the women who undergo such a procedure - nor the medical providers who perform them.
All individuals can choose to abide by the law or not, but laws define consequences for engaging in specific behaviors.
So I don't really care if pro-life chooses to ignore lawful rights because of their fundamental religious beliefs.
If a woman is morally opposed to abortion - then don't have one based on her moral stance. If her moral stance conflicts with the laws of the land then she has the right to voice her opinions as to why she's opposed, or she get involved in a movement to change the law.
People should be a living example of their faith or religious beliefs as long as their beliefs don't infringe on the rights of others to do the same.
But let's hope like hell that any woman opposed to abortion and believes it is murder - who is told by someone not to have and abortion because she ideologically believes that it's murder - also believes that the conveyor of that piece of advice - is simultaneously saying that he or she has the right to commit murder (as defined by law) at will, because of his or her ideological beliefs.
