IS IT POSSIBLE TO BE BOTH PRO-LIFE AND PRO-CHOICE AT THE SAME TIME?

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IS IT POSSIBLE TO BE BOTH PRO-LIFE AND PRO-CHOICE AT THE SAME TIME?


[+] serious ballot by xxxxxxxx
ACTIVE Fri Nov 18, 05 - Wed Aug 13, 08

I do. I consider myself to be both. Allow me to explain.

In terms of abortion, I am not a *fan*, per se, of it. I think that other options should be thoroughly considered prior to getting one, and that the government would be wise to invest in programs that would provide sensible alternatives; however, I think that a woman's right to decide what she wants to do should not be infringed upon by the government.

To me, this is an issue of freedom more than anything else. If the government takes away this freedom, what freedoms go next? I worry that if this becomes a moral issue, that could be interpreted as a religious issue and move us one step closer to a theocracy.

There seems to be other options to stop abortion than to pass a law banning it. Again, the freedom issue is my biggest concern. I cannot speak for any ideas as to what the government could concoct to encourage alternatives to abortions for pregnant women, but encouragement of other options seems like a sound idea -- there always are people that are looking to adopt, after all. However, people should still be allowed to abort if desired, whether it be for health or personal reasons.

The argument about whether or not a fetus is a being in and of itself will never be settled -- it starts growing upon conception, but it's not an independent being until the moment of birth.

One argument that should be completely thrown out, though, is, "What about the baby's choice to live?" Let's be real here. A baby doesn't have a choice on ANYTHING until it's probably around a year old. Anything the baby does before that seems to be based wholly on instinct -- crying, sleeping, feeding, pooping, etc. The baby doesn't make choices -- it doesn't have the cognitive ability to make choices.

I consider myself pro-life in several aspects: encouraging alternatives to abortion, against war, wavering on the death penalty.

I consider myself pro-choice in several aspects: allowing women the right to choose whether or not to abort and supporting euthanasia, to name two.

It seems as if pro-life and pro-choice are not fundamentally opposite. In fact, perhaps what's most commonly known as 'pro-life' should more accurately be referred to as 'anti-abortion'.

Your thoughts?

Yes it's possible.
No it's not possible.
Pro-life is a choice,
Yes and or No.


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COMMENTS:
Yes. I am not in favor of abortion, but I am also not in favor of Government's ability to prohibit it.
by Cathexis on Fri Nov 18, 05 9:51am [+]

And no one can be 'pro-life' if they favor capital punishment. Hypocrites.
by Cathexis on Fri Nov 18, 05 9:52am [+]

It seems as if in terms of life and choice, you can't have one without the other. If you're not alive, you don't have the ability to make choices; conversely, if you're not allowed the freedom to make choices, what's the use of living?
by xxxxxxxx on Fri Nov 18, 05 10:11am [+]

I think I'll stay out of this one.
by FiddleFaddleOnLSD on Fri Nov 18, 05 10:22am [+]

Absolutely possibe. It's my position. Here's how it breaks down for me:

I am opposed to abortion on moral grounds. I am also opposed to government intervention in the process before the third trimester. In the third trimester of pregnancy, the fetus becomes "viable;" that is, capable of surviving outside the womb, without the mother. After this, I think abortion should become a legal matter. Before this, abortion IMO should be between a woman, her conscience, and her doctor.

What troubles me most about abortion is how unnecessary it is. I'm not a woman, but how stupid is it, if you don't want a baby, to avail yourself of one or more of the readily available means of contraception. Am I missing something here?
by xxxxxxxx on Fri Nov 18, 05 10:42am [+]

Cathexis: You say that "no one can be 'pro-life' if they favor capital punishment," and people who do this, you label "hypocrites." Although I agree that there appears to be something of a contradiction here, but upon closer examination, it isn't hypocritical at all.

When a person characterizes themselves as "pro life" in the abortion debate, they are merely opposing abortion, they are stating that they are against ending the life of an unborn person.

This position does NOT mean they cannot be in favor of capital punishment for someone who murders someone.

It is disingenuous to pretend that you do not understand that a "pro life" stance in the abortion debate is not an embrace of all living persons under this umbrella.

But you knew that, didn't you? Of course you did.
by xxxxxxxx on Fri Nov 18, 05 10:52am [+]

^And, as a logical matter, a person who opposes capital punishment is not "hypocritical" if he/she does not oppose abortion.

"Oh, the tangled webs we weave..."
by xxxxxxxx on Fri Nov 18, 05 10:55am [+]

Cath: there is no hypocrisy in supporting the death penalty and opposing abortion. People who oppose abortion do so because they believe it is murdering an innocent child (I don't entirely agree, but I certainly see their point). Executions have nothing to do with innocent children.

Anymore than someone who supports taxation but opposes theft is a hypocrite.
by herzog on Fri Nov 18, 05 11:11am [+]

I didn't read grifs comment before I posted, but apparently we are of the same opinion on this.
by herzog on Fri Nov 18, 05 11:22am [+]

yes it is possible - I am "pro-life" and also "pro-choice". Yes there are means of preventing a pregnancy, but sometimes a woman is not given THAT choice. Sometimes choices have to be made about who lives and who dies. Those of us commenting on this website live in the luxury of the modern world. In some parts of the world, the birth of another child may mean the death of the mother, may mean the rest of her children cannot survive, may mean a life of poverty and suffering. Humans have the right to make those choice for themselves and regarding their offsprings. Others don't have the right to make those choices for them. Regarding the death penalty - there are some crimes that in my view, people do deserve to die for. However my primary problem with the death penalty is that we cannot administer it with infallibility - that sometimes we kill innocent people, and is that not murder? Should we risk the execution of the innocent to punish the guilty, or even to remove a source of danger from society? Life IS about making choices and about being responsible for those choices. And the right choice is often not crystal clear. It seems to me that to act as if one answer to a problem is always the right answer is to avoid our true responsibilities, to attempt to take the easy way out, to forfeit a part of what we are as humans.
by lightreaper on Fri Nov 18, 05 11:38am [+]

I think that what Cathexis is trying to say is that the term "pro-life" lends itself to being a blanket term and not specific.
by xxxxxxxx on Fri Nov 18, 05 11:39am [+]

It's always seemed odd to me that the choice of life never comes into play when we are talking about being pro-choice. Most people that call themselves pro-choice don't even consider life. So that's not really a choice.
by Kiki on Fri Nov 18, 05 3:33pm [+]

Oh of course.
by xxxxxxxx on Thu Jun 15, 06 9:00am [+]

The only way to be pro-choice is to endorse and promote Life as a choice. The so-called pro-choice crowd hardly acknowledges pro-life views and certainly doesn't support them. They should really call themselves what they truely are, Pro-abortion.
by remote_observer on Tue Jun 27, 06 2:17pm [+]

What drives me nuts about this issue is that the pro-life position is effectively ignored by the courts and by pro-abortionists. I am obviously anti-abortion, I don't believe any human being should be given the right to kill an unborn fetus. It's murder if someone kills a pregnant womans unborn fetus, why is the same act called a choice when a fetus is killed by the mother? And yes, the fetus is being killed. At least doctors have acknowledged that much. But people like myself (about 50% of americans) are forced to not only acknowledge that abortion is a "choice"; in far too many cases we (Taxpayers) have to pay for those "choices". I am being forced to pay for what I believe to be modern day infanticide, against my will, my beliefs and my better judgement. But that's not the worst part. As the parent of an adolescent daughter, my rights as her father to protect her from making choices an adolescent teen is simply not yet equiped to make, have been stripped, violated and tossed in a trash heap. My grandchild is dead, my daughter is severly tramatized and my wife is inconsolable, all because a school nurse advised my daughter to seek advise from planned parenthood rather than her own family. I know my daughter was very frightened and unprepared to care for her child, but my wife and I are not. We were very disappointed in our little girl for getting herself in this position in the first place, but we are not afraid nor are we unprepared to care for our grandchild. The choise between life and death should never be put on the shoulders of an adolescent child. I wish and I pray for a more enlightened and responsible form of council for all of our children. So if you believe a pro-choice agenda is empowering young women, I know two women that will never fully recover from the destruction caused by your power.
by remote_observer on Tue Jul 04, 06 12:45am [+]

Voted : Yes and or No.
It all depends. On your beliefs and emotions. People are so emotional when it comes to 'babies' and 'children'. Even 'baby' animals. But so often nowadays with 'looser morals' or restrictions we have many 'unwanted pregnancies', unexpected and undesirable 'surprises', that need to be dealt with, rectified, modified. To eliminate the problem one does what one has to do.
by Time4Space on Mon Jan 14, 08 12:09pm [+]






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