My dad read in the newspaper about some 15 year old girl who sought welfare for her pregnancy. In her state, sex among minors was illegal, so they threw her in jail. I have no idea for how long, but this is just a real waste of jail space and tax payer money. The same is true for women who want to take control of their own bodies. Too many unwanted, and abused children in the world; like we really need any more. The law should support lessening the population problem…overpopulation is killing far more than those unborn.

The article refers to how long a woman should spend in jail for having an abortion. The law already provides for this. The abortion took the live of another human person in a particular stage of its own development. This falls under one of many statutes already on every states law books, the taking of another human life has many possible legal classifications as the prosecuting attorney feels the situation and evidence provide for. Then at the choice of the prosecuted they can choose a trial by judge or jury of peers. Some feel they can debate when a life starts because it is dependent on the mother for the continuation of development. I would argue very few of us at any point in our lives prior to age 2 or 3 years would have been capable of surviving to adulthood without some degree of assistance. Many still spend several years after that becoming self sufficient enough to survive. It is arbitrary to pick some point with which we feel we can END a life because of dependency - a life is a life.

“They never connect the dots,”

That is exactly the problem. So many people so foolishly believe that making something illegal will make it go away. Just make abortion illegal and it will go away! Yeah, right. Just like making drunk driving illegal means no one drives drunk anymore!

People just get so caught up in their ideology and the dogma their leaders spew forth that they completely lose contact with this annoying thing called “reality.”

While I am inclined to agree that abortion is killing an unborn baby, I also have to accept reality. And reality is that women are still going to get pregnant when they don’t want to be pregnant and they are going to find ways to have abortions, whether it be “DIY” or perhaps our ever so helpful government will just create a new black market for illegal abortions so that people who ignore the law can make big money the way drug dealers, pimps and illegal gambling operations do.

Government solutions to personal problems simply don’t work. Making abortions illegal will just make abortion into a huge, costly disaster. If abortion really bothers you, make a personal stand and go out and offer to adopt some unwanted babies from women who are seeking abortions. Don’t expect the government to do the hard work for you, because it won’t happen.

Rick

The point is we stand as a nation to protect those who cannot protect themselves. That is what laws represent. When someone takes a personal action against another that inhibits the freedoms of that person the community is to step in and protect the person whose freedoms have been taken. In example: murder action of one person to take freedom (life) of another so the result is government (society) protects the person whose freedom is taken by restricting the freedoms of the one who takes others freedoms (jail, death, etc.). You are not connecting the dots if you think drunk driving is like abortion. Drunk driving MAY cause the lose of freedom (property, livelihood, life) of another however abortion DOES take the freedom of another person. To touch a sensitive subject without intention of offending because I certainly do NOT wish for this to happen but if it is just personal issues what if someone desires to keep slaves, should we allow it then because a black market will develop if we make laws to prevent it. If you believe slavery is gone in America then you need to hold your head up and look a little closer, it is there just not as obvious as earlier in our countries history.

“When someone takes a personal action against another that inhibits the freedoms of that person the community is to step in and protect the person whose freedoms have been taken.”

I totally agree with you on this point. However, here are the problems, as I see them:

1) At what point do “a bunch of cells” actually become a person? After all, no one sheds a tear over the billions of sperm cells and egg cells that basically go down the toilet on a regular basis. Is the mere joining of a sperm and egg cell enough to constitute a new person? If so, then do we start making the same heroic efforts to save every fertilized egg cell that we would make to save an “actual” person? Let’s face it: every day egg cells get fertilized and then they don’t properly attach to the uterus wall and end up dying. If these cells constitute actual people, then shouldn’t we, as a society, be bending over backwards to save them?

2) At what point to the rights of a bunch of cells override the rights of the woman whose body they reside within? If a woman’s health is at risk, do the supposed rights of the cells in uterus override her own rights? If a woman gets pregnant as a result of being raped, does she have no right to say she does not want the rapist’s baby inside her body?

3) What is the real benefit of bringing an unwanted child into the world? Is it really better to be an unwanted child, most likely being subjected to a life of abuse and mis-treatment than to be aborted?

4) Instead of outlawing abortion, wouldn’t it make more sense to try to reduce the demand for abortion, i.e. by teaching young people how to use contraceptives, etc.? And why is it that the same people who are most adamantly anti-abortion are also adamantly against teaching kids about sex and how to avoid getting pregnant?

5) Is it really better to have more unwanted babies ending up in garbage dumpsters and having more women harming themselves with DIY abortions than it is to just accept the fact that abortions are going to happen, until we do something to reduce the demand for abortion.

I don’t claim to know the answers to all of these questions, but these are the questions that need to be answered in order to make a fully justifiable decision on this matter.

Rick