[lbo-talk] ABORTION

John Thornton jthorn65 at sbcglobal.net
Mon Feb 4 15:56:08 PST 2008


Dennis Perrin wrote:
>> I changed the subject line thinking of a hypothetical reader -- some
>> 19-year old college student who finds herself pregnant and the victim of
>> too much balderdash about what a heavy decision abortion is. Maybe
>> googling Abortion will bring her to this post and someone telling her --
>> go it! You're fine. Get rid of it and lead your life.
>>
>> Carrol
>>
>
> Coming from someone who's had many abortions, and thus knows the score, this
> is sound advice.
>
> Dennis

Why would one need to be female for this advice to have any merit? FWIW my SO feels exactly the same way as Carrol. She has no qualms with my discussing her abortions and she is not going to be made to feel any guilt for her decision. It was not a difficult choice for her to make although I initially thought it was. She opened my eyes to the dangers in such thinking. The idea that an abortion is a "last resort" that carries some moral component is an obstacle to womens health and freedom. It shouldn't be considered any differently than getting stitches on an open wound. You unintentionally cut yourself so you have sutures applied to the wound. You unintentionally get pregnant so you have it aborted. There is no compelling reason to regard an abortion in any other terms. When you lay on guilt about what a hard choice it is, how there are better options, or how regrettably unavoidable it may be you load up too much negative moral baggage on the women who have to make this choice. I doubt I'm going to change anyones mind on the subject and if you personally feel such moral weight concerning the subject that's yours to deal with but telling other women that they should feel the same is a horribly unconscionable thing to do someone. I'm uncertain why this is such an incendiary topic. Why people feel that something magical happens when an egg is fertilized is a mystery to me but belief in magic in general is a mystery to me.

John Thornton



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