It's not our place, not our say.
Tyaeda
Published
04/11/2012
I'm pro-choice. That does not make me pro-whore who-uses-abortions-as-effective-birth-control.
Fortunately I've never had to make that choice, so I am also unbiased on the subject. As I should be. I believe that if every situation were the same, this wouldn't be such a controversial subject.
Thing is, when people hear the word "choice" they think of options. Which would make abortion an option a women chooses over another option. So, it makes it easy for someone to say things like "why didn't she use birth control?" "why doesn't she just put the kid up for adoption?". In some cases, those questions are relevant, but not all cases.
No women should HAVE to be pregnant. I have many reasons to support that, and they have nothing to do with a women's choice to have sex and be responsible for that choice. Pregnancy can be life threatening to both the mother and unborn child. A pro-life organization (www.abortionno.org) estimates that nearly 7000 abortions are carried out each day, for that reason alone. That same organization estimates that 1150 abortions a day are obtained by women who's pregnancy resulted from rape or incest. (Since this website's sources links to a website that no longer exists, and based on their obvious pro-life bias, it's possible that those statistics can be higher than stated.)
Anyone who does their homework will know that there are many more abortions being carried out than the 8150 I just mentioned. Yes, many women do terminate unplanned pregnancies. But you would have to be pretty stupid to assume that each and every one of them was too lazy to take birth control. In fact, half of unplanned pregnancies occur when women are using birth control. Also, taking birth control while pregnant can cause birth defects in babies. As we learned in Sex Ed, the only 100 percent effective form of birth control is abstinence. No guys, that's not a new brand of pills. It means no sex at all. Now, I don't have proper statistics but I can guess that most pro-life believers would be hypocritical to say that people should only have sex to make babies.
Ok so I looked up some more statistics, to find out who's having the most abortions.
In the US, 52 percent of abortions are obtained by women 24 years or younger. 19 percent of those are teenagers. Some of the top reasons why women have abortions are;
"Didn't want to be a single mother", "Couldn't afford a(nother) child", "Pregnancy/Motherhood would interfere with school, work, or the ability to care for other children"
Would you really want to force a pregnancy on a young women, who takes birth control, is in school, and can't afford to take care of a child? In the US, where 1.2 million abortions are performed each year, and 21 percent of women who have them because they could not afford a child; that's 252,000 children that didn't have to grow up on welfare, or in foster care. To provide the bare necessities for a child from birth to the age of 18, in Canada, it costs on average 180,000, to 300,000, per child. If you take the child out of the equation, that's the equivalent of being fined over a quarter of a million dollars, and serving an 18- 21 year sentence for having sex.
I know what abortion is. I do think it's sad to know that innocent babies are having their lives taken away, before they even started. But making abortion illegal is not the answer. We need to focus more on preventing these pregnancies in the first place. Or better yet, we need to change society so women do not have to make that choice. Where they can keep the pro-life people happy, while obtaining an education, and adequate employment.
On that note, pro-life people need to butt out. It's not your say. No matter what a women chooses, you are not the one who has to live with consequences. Watching your whole collection of abortion videos is not going to make me want to tell someone I don't know, what they can and cannot do with their uterus.
Fortunately I've never had to make that choice, so I am also unbiased on the subject. As I should be. I believe that if every situation were the same, this wouldn't be such a controversial subject.
Thing is, when people hear the word "choice" they think of options. Which would make abortion an option a women chooses over another option. So, it makes it easy for someone to say things like "why didn't she use birth control?" "why doesn't she just put the kid up for adoption?". In some cases, those questions are relevant, but not all cases.
No women should HAVE to be pregnant. I have many reasons to support that, and they have nothing to do with a women's choice to have sex and be responsible for that choice. Pregnancy can be life threatening to both the mother and unborn child. A pro-life organization (www.abortionno.org) estimates that nearly 7000 abortions are carried out each day, for that reason alone. That same organization estimates that 1150 abortions a day are obtained by women who's pregnancy resulted from rape or incest. (Since this website's sources links to a website that no longer exists, and based on their obvious pro-life bias, it's possible that those statistics can be higher than stated.)
Anyone who does their homework will know that there are many more abortions being carried out than the 8150 I just mentioned. Yes, many women do terminate unplanned pregnancies. But you would have to be pretty stupid to assume that each and every one of them was too lazy to take birth control. In fact, half of unplanned pregnancies occur when women are using birth control. Also, taking birth control while pregnant can cause birth defects in babies. As we learned in Sex Ed, the only 100 percent effective form of birth control is abstinence. No guys, that's not a new brand of pills. It means no sex at all. Now, I don't have proper statistics but I can guess that most pro-life believers would be hypocritical to say that people should only have sex to make babies.
Ok so I looked up some more statistics, to find out who's having the most abortions.
In the US, 52 percent of abortions are obtained by women 24 years or younger. 19 percent of those are teenagers. Some of the top reasons why women have abortions are;
"Didn't want to be a single mother", "Couldn't afford a(nother) child", "Pregnancy/Motherhood would interfere with school, work, or the ability to care for other children"
Would you really want to force a pregnancy on a young women, who takes birth control, is in school, and can't afford to take care of a child? In the US, where 1.2 million abortions are performed each year, and 21 percent of women who have them because they could not afford a child; that's 252,000 children that didn't have to grow up on welfare, or in foster care. To provide the bare necessities for a child from birth to the age of 18, in Canada, it costs on average 180,000, to 300,000, per child. If you take the child out of the equation, that's the equivalent of being fined over a quarter of a million dollars, and serving an 18- 21 year sentence for having sex.
I know what abortion is. I do think it's sad to know that innocent babies are having their lives taken away, before they even started. But making abortion illegal is not the answer. We need to focus more on preventing these pregnancies in the first place. Or better yet, we need to change society so women do not have to make that choice. Where they can keep the pro-life people happy, while obtaining an education, and adequate employment.
On that note, pro-life people need to butt out. It's not your say. No matter what a women chooses, you are not the one who has to live with consequences. Watching your whole collection of abortion videos is not going to make me want to tell someone I don't know, what they can and cannot do with their uterus.
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