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<table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" width="99%"><tr><td class="alt2" style="border:1px inset;">Abortion is not a right. It is a horribly violent act against women and children.... The public should be educated with the facts, how different forms of abortion are performed, their effects on the human body including post abortion depression</td>
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contrary to what you may want to believe, abortion *is* a woman's right, and i for one am willing to fight to keep it that way.<br><br>
it is *not* a "horribly violent act against women and children" ~ if it were, there would be laws against it, and the millions of women who have had abortions would also be fighting to make it illegal... they're not, for a good reason.<br><br>
i agree that the public needs to be educated with the <i>facts</i> ~ and not just on this but on all aspects of contraception. but the way you present it makes it seem like if people knew "the facts" they'd never choose abortion. that's not the case. many women know exactly how abortion is performed, and still choose to have one and still work to keep them safe and legal.<br><br>
post abortion depression is *usually* related to the drop in hormones immediately following an abortion; i personally think full counseling should be readily available to women who have abortions and need to deal with the emotional after effects. but it is wrong to assume that the majority of women having abortions are going to suffer immeasurably as a result of the abortion; most women who have them actually feel a tremendous amount of relief and a renewed confidence in themselves. the minority of women who feel depressed or regretful afterward are just that -- the minority -- and most of them feel that way because they didn't think through all of their options, and/or they felt pressured to have the abortion. the pro-life community refusing to acknowledge this won't make it any less true.<br><br>
some interesting points are being raised in this thread ~ <i>Irresponsible sex is OK as long as you're willing to give your baby away?</i> that's a good question. i don't think anyone is saying irresponsible sex is ok (i wouldn't advocate irresponsible sex at all ~ personally i see HIV being a much greater motivator to protect oneself than pregnancy, but hey, maybe that's just me...)<br><br>
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<table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" width="99%"><tr><td class="alt2" style="border:1px inset;">If the USA educated everyone properly about pregancy, there would be no need for abortion</td>
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to which i must disagree wholeheartedly. there will always be instances of rape, molestation, and other sexual abuse which lead women to choose not to continue on with a pregnancy. even fully educated women still find themselves in situations where either they have no control, or they make a poor choice. there will always be date rape. there will always be times when things get a little too hot and people's willpower goes out. there will always be pressure from husbands within a marriage ~ a great majority of the abortions which were performed during the 1940's and 50's were on married women who simply did not have the resources to deal with another child, yet still submit to their husbands. this still happens today: women within a relationship (especially within a marriage, where intercourse is "customary") are pressured to have sex, even when they don't want children. and as has already been brought up in the thread -- contraception fails. also, statistically, women are less likely to report sexual abuse if it happens within a marriage. even barring the issue of rape or being pressured, it's naive to think that women who don't want children will always be able to successfully say "no" when they're aroused and ready to go. i do think everyone needs to take responsibility for their actions, and for some women, this does mean having an abortion, rather than trying to place a child in an adoptive home or attempting to care for a child they never wanted and never planned for.<br><br>
no woman should have to follow through with a pregnancy and bear a child that is completely unwanted. just being pregnant marks a woman's body forever, and birth can scar a woman for life. if a woman chooses not to go down that road, that should be her choice. and there are already enough homeless children in the world today (and i don't mean children living on the streets, i also mean the children in foster care who just get moved around their whole lives because nobody adopts them). even if children are placed with adoptive parents, there's no guarantee they'll be well cared for.<br><br>
and, one final point, is that some women who do want their children and love them still opt for abortion when they see that something is seriously wrong with the developing child. no amount of education will ever change the fact that some babies have severe enough birth defects to warrant this.