Why pro-choice?

[R.Quinn]

Hello, folks. I am looking to learn more about the pro-choice position. I know this is a hot-button topic and I am trying to understand it from all viewpoints. Would some of you DU-ers mind elaborating on why you are pro-choice?

Thanks,

-R.Quinn

[leftofcool]

1. Okay, i'll bite, here is mine

I am long past the age where I need to worry about pregnancy but my 13 year old grand daughter is not. I am hoping that she will always make responsible choices as a teenager but I am betting she won't. If she gets pregnant at the age of 16, I want her to be able to have a safe, legal abortion if that is what she wants. I want that for all all of her life, not just as a teen but on into womanhood. I don't want any man (not even her dad) to make choices for her that have to do with her body. Hope this helps.

[JayhawkSD]

2. It's the "laws should do no harm" principle

It's not about whether abortion is right or wrong. That is a decision made by the individual in consultion with one's spiritual advisor, and the state has no business participating in that decision. It's about what laws are supposed to do. Laws are for the purpose of maintianing an orderly society.

Laws should not restrict freedom except when it is necessary to permit others to live their lives without that ability being infringed upon by those around them. What a woman does with her body does not affect the ability of others in society to go about their business in the certainty that they will not be infringed upon by their neighbors.

If the law allows abortion, then people are free. If you oppose abortion you are free not to have one. If you don't oppose abortion you are free to choose to have one.

If, one the other hand, abortion is illegal, then people are not free. If you are opposed to abortion you are free to act as you choose, but if you do not oppose abortion you are not free to act as you choose.

I choose the least restrictive law which is consistent with maintaining an orderly social structure.

[Novara]

3. Even if you're opposed to abortion, it doesn't mean it doesn't happen

Women will always want to control their own bodies and their own lives and there is absolutely no reason why they shouldn't. It's a matter of respecting people enough to allow them to make their own decisions. It's autonomy. It's privacy. Making abortion illegal doesn't stop it - it only makes it unsafe. The reasons for limiting it are always bogus. Since Roe v Wade made abortion legal in 1973, abortion became a safe medical procedure and it has allowed women to safely choose when or if to have children in a manner that's best for them and their families.

Women have always chosen abortions throughout history - the question is whether they are safe.

I don't have a problem with any woman who says she would never choose an abortion for herself. However, she has no right to tell me I can't choose to have one.

For me, it's a matter of autonomy, my own privacy, being able to control my life, and being able to make decisions for me and for my family. No one else has the right to prevent me from my own self-determination. No one has the right to force me to have a child I cannot afford financially or emotionally.

[AuntPatsy]

4. It's my Choice!

[niyad]

5. it boils down to this: MY BODY, MY CHOICE.

EVERY anti-choice argument has, at its heart, a profound hatred for women. because EVERY anti-choice argument says that some THING or some ONE, be it the zef, the sperm depositor, the state, the church, is more important than the woman.

[R.Quinn]

7. I think that's a bit of a stretch.

How can you prove or possibly know whether someone who is not pro-choice has "a profound hatred for women" in their hearts?

What would you say to women who are pro-life? Are they self-loathing?

[niyad]

8. "because some ONE or some THING is MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE WOMAN" isn't clear enough

for you?


and yes, having worked and fought in this area for DECADES, I do know whereof I speak.

[Thinkingabout]

6. If a woman is old enough to make her decision then she can choose whatever she wants. It should

Not be made by someone else putting pressure on the woman. I would want a very young to seek counsel from a professional pro-choice person. In the case of rape and incest involving a young girl I don't think punishing the young lady by forcing her to have the baby, her body is probably not mature enough to go through a pregnancy.

As for myself I had made the decision if I got pregnant I would have an abortion.