Down here deep in the heart of Texas, no issue seems to push more buttons than abortion. Should it be legal? Should we lift the restrictions? Make them harsher? Ban it altogether? What are the moral implications? Over the past year, bills have been proposed (remember the infamous sonogram requirements that were brought up), groups have prayed for 40 days in front of clinics, and employees have quit after claiming they were disgusted as they saw an abortion take place on a sonogram screen. And, like many times before this, we are letting those very few individuals represent such an important issue. To make matters worse, many who are against abortion fail to realize that those who have abortions are human beings, who could one day very well take their seat in the Texas senate.
These women are not murderers. A lot of them are not irresponsible either. Yet, over and over again, politicians (convservative ones anyway) try to paint the typical abortion getter in this negative light. Way to win votes there. All kinds of women choose to get an abortion. Lawyers, students, even those with kids already. Some women are coerced or forced into aborting, and don't even want to do it in the first place. And this is where the problem arises; through all this hullabaloo and fighting amongst politicians, the women who have experienced it firsthand are either villainized or completely forgotten.
Do you really know what it's like to grieve and regret a decision so emotional? To have a medical complication arise during the procedure? To worry if some religious wingnut will find out and try to crucify you? No? Then get this issue out of the Capitol and let the public have more of a say BEFORE a vote is required.
14 years ago
When it comes to abortion it will always be an emotionally charged issue. To try to protect life should not be seen as anti –women. It should not be a political issue at all. It becomes one because of the question of funding. This is what makes it a political hot button. It is used by both sides to garner votes. This is wrong in my opinion. What kind of society makes a women feel like a pregnancy is such a tragedy in the first place? There isn’t a face of abortion you are right about that. It hurts all races, socioeconomic backgrounds, and education levels. Men are scarred from it as well. My wife counsels women who suffer from the hidden scars of abortion. We definitely can’t be judgmental, but time and time again the decision to abort was based on fear. Does any of this sound political? It’s not. But when I hear that my sister in law who is a doctor, may have been forced to perform abortions, I think that is ridiculous. Any rational American would agree that forcing a doctor to do a procedure that was elective and not medically necessary is wrong. Children come from all kinds of situations and can turn into extraordinary individuals. My wife always says, “If you are going to be Pro-Life you need to be willing to carry that burden with those women.” It is a huge responsibility as a society we haven’t been willing to do, so abortion prevails.. So my response is somewhat the flip side. If you are going to be pro abortion, you need to be ready to carry that burden as well. If during an abortion a baby is born alive what is considered? Why is it not murder? Read this article. What do you think? http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23393315-one-baby-in-30-left-alive-after-medical-termination.do
ReplyDeleteWhat about the fact that Americas government has this peculiar history of finding segments of the population (blacks, when they were slave) and claiming politically and legally that “They are Not People” they are property, in the case of slaves. I read so many horrible accounts of how black people were treated with such cruelty because they were believed to be the same as animals. The Nazis felt this way about the Jews. Termination of the population of Jews was widely participated in, you would have thought there would have been some rational people to say “this is not right!” over 6 million Jews dead. Now America has a holocaust of unborn babies murdered brutally every year, and women walking around trying to hide and justify their choice. It’s just really sad to me. In my mind all babies even handicapped ones deserve a chance to be born. But we will never get to know those 30 million people that are now gone.
Abortion is an emotional subject, but should be a political subject as well. Although I agree with Randy that politicians making laws about abortion may never have experienced the heartbreaking decisions that women who choose abortion must face, it is still important for them to be involved and at the very least regulate abortion. There are so many laws passed by politicians that they have no personal experience with. They can't possibly have experienced all of the things they are voting on. I feel that the government should be very involved in the issue. Consider Dr. Boyd in Dallas, Texas. He does late term abortions on women who are up to 6 months pregnant! He admits that he is murdering. This is horrendous considering that a baby has a good chance of surviving should it be born at this time. We cannot expect the government to stand by and allow abortions to go on, and not even try to to regulate them. In fact, if this happened, I would be very afraid of what would come next, and what else would be allowed to happen to humans in this state. Protecting life is the governments' job and should be a political issue.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, whenever politicians talk about abortion and make such a big deal out of it in order to win a vote, it ridicules me in many ways. Because for one main reason, as Randy mentioned, "...the women who have experienced it firsthand are either villain-ized or completely forgotten."
ReplyDeleteThis one time at UT campus, there was gigantic poster in front of Gregory Gym. They were aborted baby pictures. The babies after abortion procedures. It was mind boggling, disgusting, and horrible that I still cannot erase that memory from my brain. So from that point on, I wasn't big fan of this whole thing about abortion. I didn't want to bring that up to anybody since it's like talking about religion and it's very subjective and personal issues. Then, after reading Randy's, it occured to me that truly, the politicians are forgetting about women's and their point of view.
Isn't it, after all, women's decision to do so and isn't it women's right to do so or not? Also Randy pointed out, women who went through abortion always worry about physical and mental issues. I understand that it's partially relate to politic just because of the funding issue. Also, sometimes, I do think that the politicians need to come up with some kind of plan in order to resolve this funding issue for abortion. But at the same time, I think we should consider the women's situation and hear what THEY have to say about it.
To me, Randy's point totally gave me different point of view on abortion, not just morality, religion, and/or political issues, but to think about ourselves and our opinions.
Abortion is a strong subject to talk about; however, it is one that needs to be talked about. Should abortion be in politics?
ReplyDeleteI think abortions should stay in politics because it needs some kind of containment. Abortion is like drugs if we do not have laws against them then they would take over the world. Think of all those children that are killed without a chance to become someone in the world. Even if politicians have never experienced this type of decision, they understand the importance of containment for this issue. If it was up to me I would ban abortion all together but over the years I understand there are some circumstances in which we could consider abortion being allowed. That is where the politics come by making the laws for when it is okay to have an abortion and only in those excruciating circumstances. The government could provide more money to adoption agencies, so that this could be another option for abortion, and so many people pay thousands of dollars for surrogate mothers when there are babies dying every day, why not have those couples pay for these babies not to die instead.
Abortion is always such a touchy subject. I personally do not believe in abortion but I would not go as far as saying that the women who do it are murderers. I actually know a few women who have had abortions, some still have trouble coping with it after years, and others just think it's just a way to solve a "problem". There are some circumstances that are truly understandable, like for example, getting raped and as a result ending up pregnant, and many others, but who are we to say if a person is right or wrong for doing this? Abortion should not be a politcal deciding factor, that should be besides the point. No one knows why that person did it, it's their life and if they chose to do that so be it, I think it is enough suffering for a person to have to live with that for the rest of their life anyway.
ReplyDeleteI understand what your saying but everything in life we all as human beings disagree on something. I think the people that do disagree on abortion maybe just have not experienced it or have not been in the position where they might consider it, which is why they are against it. Point is I agree with you on how we the public should have more of a say as to what we women do or don't want to do with our bodies.
ReplyDeleteAs I was reading Is abortion justifiable in cases of rape or incest? I believe it should be an option women have if they do want to have in abortion in cases like these. I'm not knowledgeable in rape cases but I do know for a fact that it is something that people hate and suppress in their lifetime, so why have a remembrance of it?
We as citizens should have a voice in what we want to do with our body!
I agree for the most part, it is our body, but children should have a voice as well. As I fairly recently experienced a close friend having to make a choice whether to continue to grow closer to her baby or to terminate the life growing in her. A decision not easily made to say the least. She and her husband were told their baby had a life ending illness, with 6 fingers and toes on each limb, his kidneys, were in very poor condition, his back exposed his organs, and at birth he would possibly live a short time and it would be the most painful life and death you can imagine. Anyone with a heart and to know his condition as it was; it would be selfish to allow such a sweet little one to have such an experience in his life and death. The love of a mother and father chose to let him rest peacefully in God's hands and he does. Abortion should not be used as a birth control, but before running and chaining ourselves to buildings and judging people, What is their story? Educate not only the woman making the decision, but the people that are hating other people over this matter. God is our judge, and we only have to answer to him. If in our heart we know we made the best decision, then that is all that matters.
ReplyDeleteAll very strong view points. I think the post here probaly accurately reflect a sampling of how Texans feels as a whole about this subject. I have my own strong viewpoints but I will leave them out to focus on another aspect of this discussion. When I think about politicians making decisions I am with Wiesenhiemer and feel that it's all about money in the end. Abortion is an Industry. Think about that for a minute. Lifestyle and sexual promiscurity have lead this industy to grow exponentially. While we are looking at the real issues( The women, and children involved) I can assure you Texas Politicians are looking at some monetary bottom line of some sort. If you are not following me think about this. Republicans may campaign as Pro -life only because their constituients want them to and they are scared of losing campaign dollars, vice versa for Dems. Both sides may look at the impacts of population control(that's what abortion truly is when it's in the tune of millions killed every year) and the effects on the economy. I strongly doubt that a women's right to chose or a child's right to be born are front and center in any of these debates. It's just a shame in my personal opinon. No one should have to endure abortion.
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