I have read through all the different posts, and thought about it a great deal. I hesitated quite a bit over responding, because generally the forum seems to be split into two groups pro and against. When ever someone has brought up the abortion debate, responses generally get heated.
I have always been personally against abortion, but supported it in case of rape, or women’s well being, or if the baby/foetus was disabled (I don’t agree with resuscitation if the child is brain damaged, etc etc. my niece is severely brain damaged due to resuscitation after child birth complications) so if a child has obvious difficulties with life, I don’t agree with forcing the mother to go on with the pregnancy.
I didn’t agree with women having abortions, just because they where an “accident” because why didn’t they take better care not to have accidents.
I did believe in a woman’s right to choose though, each person has a right to make a choice, if they where willing to give up their bodies to grow this new life, be sick for months on end, and may lose their jobs, partners. Life isn’t as easy as a broad general statement; it is easy to decide for other people, harder to live with the decision you make.
Also the women who face honour killings, and its not as rare as you think, the destructive disaster of a surprise pregnancy is not as simple as saying this is a contract and you are killing a baby. A woman who fall pregnant by accident and faces death, now tell me, should she have the baby then to face definite death, or be murdered before she has the baby. So then you have the loss of both.
I must say anyone who wants to abort at 7.5 months is stupid, and should not be allowed, because that baby will survive on its own, the baby should be delivered and given up to adoption.
In Australia, abortions up to 16 weeks is allowed, up to 12 weeks you have a normal on the spot termination, while 13-16 weeks they give tablets and do stuff then you have to come back the next day and they complete the abortion. We don’t have a cooling off period, you can call and book in and do it then and there.
I was faced with this decision; I will not say what I decided. But until you have to face this decision, you wouldn’t believe how hard it is, you can imagine it, but it is nothing like the actually thing. It was the hardest thing I had to decide in my life, ever!!! My divorce which was happening at the time was a walk in the park compared to the abortion decision, and my divorce was a nasty destructive one...
Illegal abortion is a leading cause of death among women of reproductive age in developing countries, killing around 100,000 women a year. While in the comfort of USA legal abortions have been ranked as 11 times safer than child birth, yes child birth is still quite dangerous to a woman’s health, and by choosing to have the baby she risks her own well being. Maternal mortality has dropped by 40% since 1970’s when abortions became legal. This points out that if abortions are legal or illegal, women will still decide for themselves. Educate them, supply them with easy to access protection, and then provide a safe healthy environment for them to decide and choose what they want to do…
That is my personal point of view, hence I used lots of I think… thank you for reading.