The first thing I would like to throw light on is the difference between a baby and a fetus. I will use the correct terms here, so let there be no bickering about semantics and loaded words. When you talk about killing a baby, that's loaded rhetoric. When you look at a volcano, you have hot magma coming up from below the crust and erupting as lava. When you have a mommy, she carries a fetus and then gives birth to an infant. Ok? Ok.
Now, we can come back to actual views on abortion later, but first i want to draw another line in the sand. There is a very big difference between being pro choice, and pro abortion. In case there's any confusion, a person who is pro choice believes that it is up the the individual (or their god) to decide wether to abort or not. People who call themselves pro life are advocating government restriction (or banning if you're Sarah Palin) of abortions.
It is entirely possible to be pro choice and anti abortion, or pro choice and pro early abortion, or pro choice and anti late-term abortion. The beauty of democracy is it gives us the opportunities to decide what is right and wrong for ourselves, so long as we bear the consequences.
How does this fit politically? Well lets start first with the republican ticket. John McCain proposed a ban on abortion except in cases of rape, incest, or cases jeopardizing the health of the mother. Sarah Palin supports a ban on abortion. Period. Obama is pro choice.
How does it fit personally? I am a pro choice individual, i believe in a woman's right to choose. I believe its an awful choice to have to make, and i support (as does Obama) education about options that individuals face. As to the actual abortion, upon the 9th week, the fetus begins to show spontaneous movement, and most importantly neurological activity. It is at this part that i believe a person is formed. As it is our ability to think and reason (use of Aristotle's third soul) that makes us human.
I don't know when a person starts to think and feel and have feeling, but i believe that at this point we can. I feel that an abortion after this point is immoral, but i also believe that as humans we must be given the liberty to do the right or wrong thing, otherwise we cannot take responsibility for our successes and failures. If we have no will to choose the things that matter most to what is a person, than i believe that we cease to be people.
So can we make correct, informed choices about abortion that coincide with religious beliefs and still respect the rights and opinions and choices of all people? Yes we can.
Sources include:
CNN - candidate's stances
Marieb's Human Anatomy and Physiology (7th edition)
Posts
1 comment:
Exactly.
I am so sick of this basically being the deciding factor for many people. I understand and respect people who are pro life, but I don't see how they can't respect people who are pro choice. We're not saying we love abortions and people getting them, we're not "pro abortion" like many people say and I'm pretty positive there are not too many people who actually enjoy and love abortion. I think this being such a giant issue is silly because abortions are not going to stop or go down if they're illegal, turning the other cheek doesn't do a damn thing. We need a plan to start at the beginning, Obama has that plan. McCain does not. Therefore, in my mind, Obama is more pro life than McCain.
- Stacy
Post a Comment