A Middle Road on Abortion?

[alex]

Tom Suozzi

I read this op-ed piece in the Washington Post (but posted another site since you do not have to register to read it) and throughly agree with Mr. Suozzi. I especially like this statement...

As he put it in his speech, "Anyone who really wishes to reduce the number of abortions has an obligation to help those women who choose not to have an abortion yet find themselves alone."

 

[Tinkerbell]

I applaud this man. I hear people constantly state they are against legal abortion - but don't actually help the women in the situations find any alternatives. They are left all on their own and I agree with his statement that many times abortion is done out of desperation. He is actually actively trying to do something to help women know all their options so that maybe they won't get to that last point of desperation.

I, myself, abhore abortion. It's against everything I believe in. But I can understand how a woman, all alone, no support, would feel so afraid and desperate that think that this is her only option. We need to help these women know their options and give them the support they need.

 

[Larry Gude]

Abortion...

...Mario says we should pay for a woman going to term just like we pay for abortion under medicaire.

This is what makes the abortion debate so difficult. One side is firmly entrenched that A. it's nobodys business but your own and B. society should pay for abortions and, now, pay for having the child because society is gonna have to pay the price either way. None of your business, take care of my problem.

The other sides position is that A. We're killing unborn children, inncocent, helpless unborn babies and that is horrific. B. = A.

The second level of thinking that makes abortion so difficult is the view that says 'Abortion should be safe, rare and legal.'

Substitute the word abortion with 'slavery' or 'child poverty' or 'AID's' or 'SUV's' and duck because all of a sudden you're gonna be violently told how those things are different and are far more important than whether or not we're a society that kills our unborn if we feel like it.

You're gonna be told how an adult's will is supreme, how the adults passions or wants take precedent and how a childs life is...an option.

I've just never understood how all those other things matter, at all, if our very existence is a choice, a matter of how one single individual thinks and feel at one moment.

 

[Lenny]

But Larry, you miss the point. It's all about 'choice'

I've just never understood how all those other things matter, at all, if our very existence is a choice, a matter of how one single individual thinks and feel at one moment.

You see.

She has a choice to go with the slob or not.
She has a choice to have sex with the slob or not.
She has a choice to have unprotected sex with the slob or not.
She has a choice to keep the baby to term or not.
She should have the choice to ignore all those previous poor choices and kill the innocent child made through the wrong choices leading up to it. Why cannot society understand, she has made four wrong choices up this point. How can we be expected to sanction the fifth wrong choice too?

 

[alex]

I guess I should have posted the link to the original piece Courage to Change.
I was applauding Mr. Suozzi's speech and think that Mr. Cuomo is wrong.

I was especially taken on his point about how women are damned if they do and damned if they don't. In a PERFECT world we would all make the right choice, we would all be married before having kids, women would never get pregnant as a result of rape or incest, I could go on. However, no one is perfect and unfortunately we do not live in a Walgreen's commercial.

Yet, society is not willing to accept or help these people so that they can get past their mistakes. I think Mr. Suozzi wants to try to do that. To both help women make the right choices and help them get past mistakes without being labeled by society. All in an effort to reduce, if not elminate, the need for abortions. Because outlawing them is not going to stop them from happening. It is a supply and demand thing. If there is no demand then the supply dwindles.

 

[ylexot]

I guess I should have posted the link to the original piece Courage to Change.
I was applauding Mr. Suozzi's speech and think that Mr. Cuomo is wrong.

I was especially taken on his point about how women are damned if they do and damned if they don't. In a PERFECT world we would all make the right choice, we would all be married before having kids, women would never get pregnant as a result of rape or incest, I could go on. However, no one is perfect and unfortunately we do not live in a Walgreen's commercial.

Yet, society is not willing to accept or help these people so that they can get past their mistakes. I think Mr. Suozzi wants to try to do that. To both help women make the right choices and help them get past mistakes without being labeled by society. All in an effort to reduce, if not elminate, the need for abortions. Because outlawing them is not going to stop them from happening. It is a supply and demand thing. If there is no demand then the supply dwindles.

I think society would be more accepting of mistakes if people actually made an effort to not make mistakes.

 

[ceo_pte]

Isn't it funny that everyone that is for abortion, IS LIVING!

One idea! Let everyone that is for abortion try it out on themselves.. Just another view on it!

 

[FromTexas]

The second level of thinking that makes abortion so difficult is the view that says 'Abortion should be safe, rare and legal.'

Substitute the word abortion with 'slavery' or 'child poverty' or 'AID's' or 'SUV's' and duck because all of a sudden you're gonna be violently told how those things are different and are far more important than whether or not we're a society that kills our unborn if we feel like it.

Larry, notice something... I will help you.

'Abortion should be safe, rare and legal.'
'Slavery should be safe, rare and legal.'
'Child poverty should be safe, rare and legal.'
'AIDs should be safe, rare and legal.'
'SUVs should be safe, rare and legal.'

It does provide some humor. Don't get me wrong, I see what you are saying and agree with your statement, but I couldn't help but notice the result of that portion of your statement.

Speaking of SUVs...

 

[Larry Gude]

There is another viewpoint...

I guess I should have posted the link to the original piece Courage to Change.
about how women are damned if they do and damned if they don't. In a PERFECT world we would all make the right choice, we would all be married before having kids, women would never get pregnant as a result of rape or incest, I could go on. However, no one is perfect and unfortunately we do not live in a Walgreen's commercial.

Yet, society is not willing to accept or help these people so that they can get past their mistakes. I think Mr. Suozzi wants to try to do that. To both help women make the right choices and help them get past mistakes without being labeled by society. All in an effort to reduce, if not elminate, the need for abortions. Because outlawing them is not going to stop them from happening. It is a supply and demand thing. If there is no demand then the supply dwindles.

HAVE THE BABY. BE HAPPY. IT IS THE MOST PRECIOUS THING ON THE PLANET. IT IS THE SINGLE GREATEST THING A HUMAN BEING, especially a woman, can do!

That statement is anethema to MANY: "single greatest thing a woman can do". Sniff. Snort. Roll eyes.

Run a business? Fine. Cure a disease? Yippie. Fly to the moon? Yahoo.

Bear a child? Holy ####! 1/2 the people on the planet can NOT do that, no matter what. Raise the child well? Even less people can do that!

We are WAY ####ed up by even thinking having a child is some damnable offense. Yeah, it would be nice to wait until you can afford it, maybe even have a decent father, the childs father, around to help raise it. Yeah it's tough to do it under less than ideal circumstances. Guess what? It's tough to do under ideal circumstances.

But you don't have to have a degree or a ton of money or some badge in order to do the most human thing there is; care for and raise a child.

 

[pineapple]

You see.

She has a choice to go with the slob or not.
She has a choice to have sex with the slob or not.
She has a choice to have unprotected sex with the slob or not.
She has a choice to keep the baby to term or not.
She should have the choice to ignore all those previous poor choices and kill the innocent child made through the wrong choices leading up to it. Why cannot society understand, she has made four wrong choices up this point. How can we be expected to sanction the fifth wrong choice too?

Well said.

 

[Bustem' Down]

Isn't it funny that everyone that is for abortion, IS LIVING!

One idea! Let everyone that is for abortion try it out on themselves.. Just another view on it!

I can't I'm a guy.

I say it's thier choice. If you don't like it don't do it.

 

[vraiblonde]

None of your business, take care of my problem.

And that's the key. If I have to take care of your problem, sister, you better believe I'm going to stick my nose in your business.

A very small percentage of abortions are the result of rape or incest, so let's quit talking about that - it's too miniscule to even figure into the equation. Also, very few women get pregnant while using birth control - what is it, about 1 or 2%? So let's dispense with that silliness. A good 95% of abortions are because the woman either wasn't using any birth control OR she wasn't using it properly. And there's nothing you can do about that.

The problem is the glamorization of sex in our pop culture. We market it to our kids and they dutifully want it, just like they want the toys they see advertised on Nickelodeon. Yes, we parents are supposed to be monitoring their exposure but that's impossible unless you keep them locked in the house 24/7 with no TV or radio.

So there you go. If you don't want teens and young people having sex before they're ready, which results in unwanted pregnancy, stop encouraging them to do it. :shrug:

 

[Bustem' Down]

Yeah, I don't think the govt should pay for it. You want to do it, you pony up the dough. If you have no insurance or whatever, then looks like your having a kid. Treat it like cosmetic surgery. Doesn't have to be done, but if you want it, you pay for it.

 

[vraiblonde]

If you have no insurance or whatever, then looks like your having a kid.

Boy, when you put it like that, I'd almost go ahead and pay for the abortion. "Here's a few bucks - PLEASE don't have children!!!"

 

[Bustem' Down]

Boy, when you put it like that, I'd almost go ahead and pay for the abortion. "Here's a few bucks - PLEASE don't have children!!!"

While I don't think it should be illegal, I don't have any sympathy for them. Just like if someone got drunk and wrecked their car, I wouldn't feel any sympathy for them lying broken in a hospital.

 

[vraiblonde]

Just like if someone got drunk and wrecked their car, I wouldn't feel any sympathy for them lying broken in a hospital.

Yeah, but a wrecked car is a lot different than a wrecked child.

And that's the problem. You hear these stories about kids who are abused or murdered by their parents, I think it's better that they never lived. Or they grow up on the streets, get into drugs and crime, make other people's lives miserable. We've long ago decided we won't hold parents responsible for that stuff. So the only thing left is for Mom to execute them before the state has to.

That sounds harsh but...well...:shrug:

 

[Bustem' Down]

Yeah, but a wrecked car is a lot different than a wrecked child.

And that's the problem. You hear these stories about kids who are abused or murdered by their parents, I think it's better that they never lived. Or they grow up on the streets, get into drugs and crime, make other people's lives miserable. We've long ago decided we won't hold parents responsible for that stuff. So the only thing left is for Mom to execute them before the state has to.

That sounds harsh but...well...:shrug:

I don't see it as an execution. I see it as elective surgery.

 

[Bruzilla]

So this idiot's solution for the problem is to tell women they can have a new house if they get pregnant? In addition to all the state and federal goodies they get? I'll bet that he thinks he can keep ants away from his picnics by spreading piles of sugar around the blanket.

I have zero sympathy for these women. It takes two to tango, and they're every bit as guilty of abuse as the guy. I think that the big reason they're being so wreckless is that it's easy to be wreckless when you have a safety net beneath you. I think that if there were no benefits for having kids you would see mroe women thinking twice before sleeping around.

 

[ylexot]

So this idiot's solution for the problem is to tell women they can have a new house if they get pregnant? In addition to all the state and federal goodies they get? I'll bet that he thinks he can keep ants away from his picnics by spreading piles of sugar around the blanket.

I have zero sympathy for these women. It takes two to tango, and they're every bit as guilty of abuse as the guy. I think that the big reason they're being so wreckless is that it's easy to be wreckless when you have a safety net beneath you. I think that if there were no benefits for having kids you would see mroe women thinking twice before sleeping around.

[sarcasm]You mean there should be consequences for your actions? Barbarian![/sarcasm]