Some thoughts on the abortion debate
Aug. 3rd, 2004 04:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gemfyreSomeone on ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
abortiondebate asked a question to the effect of what was the difference between abortion and infanticide.
My reply was that I really didn't see much of a fundamental difference. It was just a better option to get it done as early as possible and because it was not socially acceptable to kill a born child (heck, people still do it anyway).
I've been thinking further on the subject since and came up with a few things.
Most abortions are carried out because the mother cannot properly raise the child/does not want the child (therefore cannot properly raise it, it's kinda hard to be loving to something you never wanted)/cannot go through pregnancy (for whatever reason).
The world does not need more unwanted children. Yes, there are SOOO MANY childless couples out there why on earth are you aborting??!!!1one The truth? There are also thousands of children out there waiting to be adopted. Maybe we should take care of them first before we insist on people who don't want to be pregnant on having a child and giving it up.
Anyways, that isn't my point. Why is abortion more okay than infanticide? My thoughts.
When a born person is killed, it affects everyone around them. Friends, accquaintances, loved ones. They all feel the loss. This person had a life, knowledge, memories that have been snuffed out.
When an embryo or foetus is aborted, only the mother and maybe the father feel the loss (and possibly other family members, but if a child is going to be aborted, the mother generally doesn't go telling everyone she's pregnant). The unborn didn't possess any knowledge to divulge, didn't have deeds to finish, it was just a blank slate.
So that's it. It's preferable to terminate the life before while it's still a blank. And pregnancy is one of the things many women who abort want to avoid.
abortiondebate asked a question to the effect of what was the difference between abortion and infanticide.My reply was that I really didn't see much of a fundamental difference. It was just a better option to get it done as early as possible and because it was not socially acceptable to kill a born child (heck, people still do it anyway).
I've been thinking further on the subject since and came up with a few things.
Most abortions are carried out because the mother cannot properly raise the child/does not want the child (therefore cannot properly raise it, it's kinda hard to be loving to something you never wanted)/cannot go through pregnancy (for whatever reason).
The world does not need more unwanted children. Yes, there are SOOO MANY childless couples out there why on earth are you aborting??!!!1one The truth? There are also thousands of children out there waiting to be adopted. Maybe we should take care of them first before we insist on people who don't want to be pregnant on having a child and giving it up.
Anyways, that isn't my point. Why is abortion more okay than infanticide? My thoughts.
When a born person is killed, it affects everyone around them. Friends, accquaintances, loved ones. They all feel the loss. This person had a life, knowledge, memories that have been snuffed out.
When an embryo or foetus is aborted, only the mother and maybe the father feel the loss (and possibly other family members, but if a child is going to be aborted, the mother generally doesn't go telling everyone she's pregnant). The unborn didn't possess any knowledge to divulge, didn't have deeds to finish, it was just a blank slate.
So that's it. It's preferable to terminate the life before while it's still a blank. And pregnancy is one of the things many women who abort want to avoid.
