First of all, no one should impose their beliefs on someone's else.
Secondly, everyone makes choices based on their beliefs.
Therefore, whenever there is a debate that is so intergral to everyone's core belief, it could be endless and still going nowhere.
that's why I normally don't "debate" these subjects. However, when I see someone says something based on his/her own belief that is totally contradict to what I believe.. some times I feel compelled to share my own belief on the subject, just so everyone will see that there are two sides to every problems/issues.
On this forum, haven't we already exhausted the pro-life/pro-choice issue? Many threads have been dedicated to this subject, and we all know about how everyone feels about it - yet it's a subject that is so sensitive and close to everyone's heart, it's something very personal. Our own belief and experience in life makes some of us more passionate about this subject than others.. so, I don't think you can't expect any less when abortion is being debated!
That is my concern. I don't expect anyone here to share my beliefs, and, on many issues, I'm not entirely sure what I believe. But I do believe that my beliefs should not be forced on others. That is part of the point I was trying to make. What you would do, or hope you would do, when faced with a very difficult personal choice, should not be required of others simply because you think its the right thing to do. Especially when its a very controversial issue.
Moreover, beliefs are often based on inadaquate information, which makes forcing them on others even more dangerous. That's why I brought up these "extreme" situations . . . because many people don't know they exist, or don't think about them, or dismiss them as "rare" and then don't think about the consequences of passing a law that doesn't take them into account.
I don't object to the pro-life stance, and in some ways, depending on how you define it, I agree with it. I do object to two things, however. One, the attempts to reduce the situation to black and white through provocative propoganda, and two, the belief that everyone should be required by law to do what some people view as the most noble choice. I'll give an example that doesn't have to do with health exceptions.
I knew, through a friend, a 13 year old girl who was raped by her uncle. She had an abortion, with the support of her parents. I didn't know this girl well, so I have no idea what conversations were had, or what happened afterwards. I hope that it was her choice and not forced upon her by her parents. But I'm using her as a hypothetical anyway, so it doesn't matter.
I feel, honestly, that the right thing, the noble thing, the BEST thing for her to do would have been to have that baby and give it up. Really. That would be the truely GOOD thing to do. But had I been in a position to counsel her, I might well not have suggested it, depending on her mental state. If she were MY child, even, I might not, if she were clearly traumatized. More importantly, I am horrified at the thought that the law, the government, and not her or her parents, might make that decision for her.
Why? Not because I don't think having the baby is the right thing to do. I do, actually. But because we can not ask of people always to do the most right thing, especially in light of their circumstances and their pain. I can not tell a fightened child, who has been violated in the most personal manner, whose trust has been betrayed by someone who had a sacred duty to preserve it, that she must carry her rapist's baby for most of a year, that she must remember every time she touches her belly that it is HIS baby inside her, that she must risk her health (she was only 13) to carry this child, that she must bear the shame and humiliation of the eyes on the street, who, not knowing what happened, think "little slut."
My feeling is, that to a large extent, in a case like this, I don't have the right to judge. Of if I judge, I do not have the right to force my judgement on her.You may believe differently that I do. You may think she should abort the baby, for the sake of her future, or you may feel the law should force her to. I don't know.
My object to many on the pro-life side is that they will advocate for this, or that, for no health exception, or no rape exception, and yet I wonder if they would look this child in the eye, or my fiance's mother in the eye, or a frightened young woman who has been told that this child will be severely deformed and it will be her last if she goes through with the pregancy, that they could look these people in the eye, and say "My beliefs say you have to have that baby, and I will make you have it." I think many of them never thought of it deeply, or think of it as pro-choice propoganda. Many of them may think that its the "right thing" and so what people should do. That's their right to think that. But sometimes I wonder if they should have to look these women in the eye and say that.
Edit: And as for the "two-year old" and "infanticide" examples, you are proving my point. Those are reprihensible, and would be aborting a baby late term because you have decided you don't want it. But that's not what we are discussing, is it? That's falilng back on the easy answer, the situation where it is easy to condemn, and most people, including those who consider themselves pro-choice, would join you in condeming. But life isn't made up exclusively of easy choices. AND late-term abortions, in most states, are illegal except for life or health of the mother, and many of those states have laws like those Illinois . . . requiring late-term abortions be more of early deliveries. So not only is it an easy case, in many cases, it already illegal.
