I got annoyed because I discussed my stance about abortion tonight and felt the need to expound upon it.
I used to be strongly pro-life. Without any research I felt that a baby was a life at the moment of conception. Without any research I felt that there was no valid reason for an abortion. Without any research I felt that my religion didn’t allow any valid reason for that life to be lost.
My fellow believers had similar thoughts.
But they also tended to be pro war, pro death penalty, pro things that seemed to be in direct conflict with this need to save an innocent life.
Add to that the desire to vote for a pro life stance candidate, which includes McCain/Palin. Palin who would have it be illegal to get an abortion if you’re raped. Really? Who feels that it’s just fine to
shoot game from a helicopter. Apparently one type of cruelty is okay and a little less cruel than another.
I also find it interesting that most pro life people say that pro choice people are pro abortion. When in fact pro choice people may be just as against abortion as pro lifers. But even so, they aren’t for legislating morals, or telling a private individual what they can or cannot do with their body.
As a gay man, and having heard and experienced in recent years the impact of old laws. “Moral” laws which dictate what you are and aren’t allowed to do in your personal/sexual life. Such as laws that until recently didn’t allow certain sexual activities to go on, behind closed doors,
between consenting indivduals. “Moral” laws based on one set of morals that typically are based in one religion. So, if we legislated based on religious “morals”, how are we practicing freedom of religion? You tell me “I can’t do something because your religion says I can’t” is, or should be, an invalid stance in a country where freedom of religion is written into the constitution.
I find that in the end I believe that people should be able to do what they want with their bodies, as long as they aren’t hurting themselves or anyone else. That’s where the conflict arises, at what point life begins. I believe the current 2nd trimester is fair, since I don’t think anyone would expect a fetus 6 months developed to survive outside of the womb on it’s own for any amount of time. I dunno, and I don’t know what the reasons might be behind the need for an abortion, but who am I to say. And I think that’s the point, who should have that authority? The government? Where do we end up with that line of reasoning?
Paul Cox