Before negatively judging abortions , spend a minute or two considering those children who are born unwanted & unloved & who may then consequently suffer terribly because of their very existence.
Good Morning Sunday 23rd August 2926
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I am horrified by the new ruling that makes abortion illegal in the state of Alabama with not even exceptions for rape or incest victims .
The only exception is if the mothers life is endangered . Am I right in thinking this new law puts women back 100 years with no ability to make decisions about their own bodies ?
What are your thoughts ?
Before negatively judging abortions , spend a minute or two considering those children who are born unwanted & unloved & who may then consequently suffer terribly because of their very existence.
How about the males and females involved (who beget these unwanted unloved children) considering using contraception or abstaining from sex.
It is they (if anyone) who are at fault, not the population at large who are made to feel guilt...as evinced in some posts.
It's a difficult choice but I'd agree with termination if done really early and only in extreme cases, otherwise it could become the norm if a pregnancy interferes with a career or where the male encourages abortion under threats of leaving the relationship.
Casual sex is rife on first dates and/or very soon after a first meeting and, although it takes two, if the female sticks to her guns and says no, the male cannot (without it being an offence) go ahead.
Sex doesn't seem valued as part of a relationship nowadays...not much anyway.
The whole world is definitely becoming more authoritarian ... and then we have Gabriella. That halo must really hurt.
Morally, I do not agree with abortion. And the whole world of women can yell, "It's my body - I'll do what I want with it!"
No, actually, it's someone else's body. (And it's your fault that it's there! Ever heard of the birth-pill? Condoms? The 'Morning After' pill? Today, there's no excuse for an unwanted pregnancy!)
Of course there are valid reasons why abortions should be carried out - rape, incest, deformity, the mother's health, etc. But it should never just be convenience!
And our limit of 24 weeks is way too late! The foetus is a baby by then - which, if it were born prematurely, doctors would be fighting to save it's life. It doesn't make any sense!
Go to lynwaites.wix.com/writer-poet to read my blog on the subject. (Abortion - 50 Years on)
The fact that rape and incest are only a small percentage says to me that to exempt them should only mean granting a few exemptions, so that fact to me would be a reason in favour of those exemptions not against them.
I have mixed feeling about the rights of the woman versus the unborn child, but I am not at all happy that basically men get to decide on the 'use' of womens bodies. Nor do I think forcing anyone to have a child they really don't want is necesserily in the child's best interests, particularly if the abortion is very early and the 'child' is a few cells.
As for all the thoughts on contraception, they do fail, and they aren't really an option in rape cases. But yes, some people do view abortion as just another form of contraception and I find that very upsetting.
And of course we all know what desperate women do when there are no legal abortions.
In reference to atheists who oppose abortion:
""^By contrast, the religious “nones” – those who are religiously unaffiliated – overwhelmingly support legal abortion.^"" Roughly three-quarters (74%) say it should be legal in all or most cases, while just 21% say it should be illegal.
Source: Pew Research Center
Just putting this on here as an FYI.
Less than 30% of children in the U.S. foster system are available for adoption. Over 50% have a case goal of family reunification.
www.fosterclub.com/blog/statistics-and-research
25%
""^When a child is placed in foster care and his or her parent’s rights have been legally terminated, that child may be adopted. Not every child in foster care is legally adoptable. Many are waiting to be reunified with their parents, whose parental rights have not been terminated.
About 100,000 of the 400,000 children currently in the system are waiting to be adopted^"
americanadoptions.com
25% = 100,000 children awaiting adoption-
I dont really understand this "abortion as a form of contaception" thing.
Surely all abortions are a form of contraception, i.e. a way of not being pregnant!
Is is multiple abortions you all disagree with? It simply wouldnt work to have monthly abortions, the body doesnt work that way.
What is your cut off? 2? 4? 10? 44? A 45 year old who has had 3 abortions may have spread them out by decades!
I had that discussion with my son this evening- I don't view abortion as a form of contraception- Once pregnant, you're pregnant- Pregnancy is no longer preventable- You can only become not pregnant! Using contraception after the fact, well ... what good would that do!
Abortion on demand is the only sane sensible way for a civilised country to behave towards women.
Thankfully here in the UK we have this and we are a civilised country.
My heart goes out to the women of America. I hope they can overcome this vile mysogynistic evil that is invading their country.
If you think of it the intrauterine coil can be abortive because once the ovum is fertilised it is prevented from attaching to the uterus. That is the point of it, but it is a widely accepted method of contraception. Do anti abortionists also ban the use of the coil?
I think a lot of them would ban everything that have emancipated women since the pill.
How better to control women than remove her ability to control her fertility.
The RC church believes all artificial methods of contraception are intrinsically evil. In some countries this means the methods are banned because of the power of the church with the body politic.
I have been heartened by the overwhelming opposition on here to this draconian legislation, and just think it's so important to be alert to any move towards erosion of women's right to choose in (most of) the UK (I know NI women haven't the same rights sadly). I heard Jodi Picoult when she was over here on Woman's Hour, discussing her latest book, a novel set in a Family Planning Clinic. Very apposite, and worth a read if you like her, she knew this law was coming.
I agree Lazi I’ve found this thread very heartening and especially the awareness that this issue is actually nothing to do with abortion and everything to do with controlling women.
Agree totally we need to be very vigilant this evil mysogyny can’t take hold here.
I have no problem at all with anyone saying that abortion isn’t a choice they personally could make that’s totally fine.
What’s not fine is trying to stop other women making their own choices.
I see that the poster who has defended the new Alabama ruling has set up a thread complaining about people not sticking to GN rules on how to treat other posters.
I'd like to have seen GN post some support for women's right to choose.
And it’s nothing whatsoever to do with concern for the foetus it’s all about controlling women absolutely MaryEliza
Agree wholeheartedly.
It's been very reassuring to see so many women on here putting forward such reasoned, articulate and thoughtful posts in support of young girls and women being able to access safe abortion and to have full body autonomy. Watching what's happening in the USA at the moment is chilling.
like any other contraceptive coils fail sometimes .I know because mine did .Sadly although I would have carried on with the pregnancy it too failed at 10 weeks and the coil which had embedded in my womb had to be removed under general anaesthetic ..I'm afraid I have no sympathy for our friend from NI ,her views and the views of the DUP in the province are a total disgrace to humanity .So I certainly wouldn't apologise to her and she asks if we'd speak to real life friends in this way.Well I dont have real life friends with those views ...they would be long gone if they thought forcing people to carry a pregnancy against their will was right .
As it seems to be mainly men that have passed this legislature, I wonder if it would ever have been even thought of if men could become pregnant ?
Not only that, but would they also have had to deal with the censure and name calling etc on women that have an unwanted pregnancy whatever the circumstances ? Doubt it!
Seems reporting rape in Alabama would be a waste of time, because you can't have an abortion anyway. So they eventually catch the father, who has no money to pay? It's a draconian, ghastly law and I for one am bloody glad I don't live in America - especially the mad bible belt states
Absolutely PaddyAnn and 
I don’t speak to a colleague who questioned my decision to have a amniocentesis after worrying test results and my decision if needed to abort a very deformed foetus! and said ‘oh how can you do that how cruel it’s a baby’ 
Thankfully baby was fine. Our friendship was dead.
I can disagree politics and religion and stay friends but this topic really defines who you are as a humane person.
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