Khalid, you are certainly stirring the pot this morning!

This thought occurred to me this morning: The currently debated bill in Missouri to make coercion of abortions illegal seems to be standing this whole thing on it’s head. By making coercion illegal, then a parent cannot be involved in a minor’s decision to abort, except to encourage her to NOT abort.

The pro-lifers are so fond of slippery slope arguments. Aren’t they creating one here by legally defining any pregnant female as an adult capable of making decisions on her own?

Re: “why do those who so vehemently oppose abortions also consistently vote to deny all our children decent education and decent health care?”

First off, the right to life is more fundamental than these rights.

Secondly, these legislative arguments are over specific proposals that provide only one means to education and health care. I can be pro-life and oppose, for example, a bill that would provide more funding to local public schools because I fear the money will be wasted to a certain degree and because I know that there is no connection between education funding and education quality. I would need to see the specific legislative examples you are thinking of.

And you are wrong about the war. Many pro-lifers oppose war for the reasons you cite. Problem is, one can support a particular war overall (Allies in WWII for example) while regretting some of the individual actions that took place (Hiroshima, for example).

What about people who are pro-life and yet support the Death Penalty?

Khalid,

Interesting in your attempt to turn the pro-life/pro-abortion argument upside down, but your logic limps, tremendously.

As you have superficially generalized (and incorrectly, I must add) the views and expressions of pro-life Americans, you failed to express the views of pro-abortion (or pro-choice) Americans by simply concluding with a blanket statement that they are more “pro-life”.

Your lack of actual thinking, appearing somewhat sophomoric at best, is awkward and I am embarrassed for you. I realize this is an attempt to anger many in order to create large numbers of responses on this website and thus, appear successful in encouraging others to “think”. You’ve simply made me roll my eyes at your immature attempt to misrepresent a group of Americans.

Maybe try do a little more reading on social justice (the overall concept that umbrellas abortion, war, poverty, violence, etc.) to determine the depth of the pro-life/pro-choice argument and then actually research what prominent pro-life and pro-choice leaders are promulgating before letting loose on the keyboard? At least you’ll sound as though you understand the topic at hand and not appear so trite and unoriginal in your thinking.

I think you can be Anti-Abortion and Pro Choice. I am. I would be devistated if my child became pregnant early on it’s on accord. Then if she wanted to abort I would definitely try and talk her out of it. However, I truly feel it’s a womans right to choose what she does with her own body, and ultimately it would be my daughters choice. I personally feel if you take the responsibility to have sex you accept all consequences of those actions. I just feel the government or ANYBODY does not have the right to judge or tell anyone else how to live.

Thank you for writing this. I’ve been saying the same for years. I’ll listen to “pro-life” rhetoric when “life” isn’t exclusively limited to the unborn or conveniently vegetative.

I want to start by saying I am a Pro-Choice woman. But I have to say that I am offput by your arguments here. You are making some incredibly broad generalizations about people who vote Pro-Life. Just because a Pro-Life organization doesn’t stand up for education for children or children dying in war torn countries, doesn’t mean Pro-Life people don’t care about those issues. A Pro-Life organization’s goal is to lobby for one thing–making abortion illegal. Most organizations rally around one cause. You wouldn’t expect an educational lobby organization to come out in favor of Pro-Life or Pro-Choice?

I grew up in a Pro-Life household. My parents have always voted Pro-Life because of their religious beliefs. And although I don’t agree with them, I respect my parents choice to vote that way. Just imagine for a moment that for whatever reason, religious or otherwise, you believe that abortion is murder. You would see abortion as the legal killing of a completely innocent life. To people like my parents, this is a horrific injustice. It’s not that they don’t care about education and healthcare for children, they just believe legal abortion is the greater injustice.

This is America. People have the right to vote for the candidate that they believe stands for what is most important to them. However, it is important to remember that those people may not agree with everything else that candidate stands for.

Ken Stl,

If Anti Abortion people do not like the bills on health and education that is fine. Come up with your own bills. The point is, there is a real problem with disparity of child health care and education. If they were really Pro Life they would be concerned and would find their ways of tackling these issues. I do not see any such effort. I mean these issues are not new they have been around a long time.

Sarahmom,
If you have can contradict any specific points I have made, I would welcome that opportunity. Those politicians who are agressively supported by Anti Abortion groups do very little for child health care and education and in our state, where they hold a majority, the situation has become a disgrace. As a human being we should not accept this disparity within our great nation.

Part of the problem is that people always assume that anyone who is pro-choice is also pro-abortion. It is hard for many to realize that even though someone may want to be the one making decisions about our bodies, that we may NOT like all the options.

I come from a unique perspective in that I am very against abortion. I don’t like it, I don’t like what it does. But I also suffer from a condition that makes pregnancy extremely dangerous for me. I understand why some women with similiar conditions as mine cannot go through with a pregnancy at all. Its the choice between losing a child, losing one’s life, or fear.

No not all abortions are brought around by something like this. But I certainly don’t want someone who has NEVER had to face what I have sit there and tell me that I have NO CHOICE about what is going to happen until I reach the point that I am dying. It should be MY choice to risk death, not some politicians.

Excellent discussion starter. You must be a hit at parties:)

Seriously, you will likely get a TON of negative feedback from the comment section on this one. Reason is, no one likes to be called out for the inconsistencies of their views. The points you bring up is one of the problems I have with the Catholic Church (I would consider myself a recovering Catholic). The strident anti-choice position of the Church naturally leads itself to push it’s members toward voting Republican. However, most, if not all, of the positions of the Republican party are antithetical to the social justice teachings of the Church. I would respect the Church much more if bishops would tell the followers, “As a Catholic of good consceince, you can not vote for any candidate.” But, that wouldn’t be popular and wouldn’t keep the coffers filled.

I am in agreement with the anti-abortion but pro-choice crowd that has spoken up so far. I have made this point several times with your fellow poster, Ms. Tyree, that laws limiting access to abortion is not the best way to lower the number of abortions. Promoting access and education about contraception and universal health care is how you lower the number of abortions. The godless secular Western Europeans (tongue-in-cheek, don’t post a nasty note because of that characterization) have an abortion rate about half of the US rate, for the very reasons I just mentioned.

Thank you, again, for the excellent post.