If you oppose abortion, does only the objective, factual knowledge of biological human development from zygote to adult matter? Or do you think women need to be controlled by men and are too stupid to deserve bodily autonomy rights?
How smart are you about gynecology and obstetrics? Do you fully understand how women feel when they are pregnant with potential offspring that have only a 1/3 chance of being born?
Let me preface my response with a declaration of my positions. First that I am Pro-Choice as shown by my record in this Forum. Second that I am also well-aware of the biological process which informs my opinions on which phases of said process allow for such a choice, and which should not.
I am also on record as to my opinion about arguing one's feelings, as opposed to rational thought.
So I am not going to argue either emotion or religion. I do argue for both individual responsibility and also individual rights.
As to individual responsibility? Individuals are responsible for their actions. The should take measures so that they do not find themselves is such situation, but if they do they must be responsible for making the right choice.
There is a Caveat: Individual Rights. Such rights can be limited by society under the rule of law to protect the lives and property of others.
Thus as to rights? It is my opinion that a woman has absolute rights to control over their own bodies, as do men. But they also have to recognize the rights of others, and in our society one of those is the right to life.
Therefore, I hold that it should be the woman's choice to abort at any time prior to the point where the developing fetus can be legally determined a "person" (human being). But at the point in it's development it is determined to be a "person," he/she should be accorded the same rights and protections as any other individual
absent risk to the life of the mother.
Now an argument can be made regarding "at what point this shift occurs," and that is a different segment of the discussion. But that is not about whether a woman has a right to abort or not, as I say she does. No, it is when this choice has become one between removing an "unwanted growth," and the "killing of an unwanted child."
To point out the extreme; One could argue that since the "growth" took place inside a woman, why would a choice to "abort it" end just because it is born? After all, it remains a "burden" to the woman thereafter unless she can find some other way to get rid of it.
We know this is not a valid way of viewing the situation, as even the most extreme view allows for the declaration of "humanity" when the child is born. How then must we assume that right up UNTIL it is actually born, it remains disposable?
So while I argue a woman has the right to choose, it has a "time limit" before it cedes to the right of the unborn "child" to life.
