I'm pretty liberal for the most part, but I've always had an issue with abortion, and I think there's an area here that gets somewhat overlooked.

Aside from the "is it a human, isn't it, can it think, or breath, etc." arguments, there's something else. An unborn baby at only 2 months can feel pain. If it can feel pain, that means it's aware of itself. It also means you're inflicting injury. If you're inflicting injury, you have to ask what are you injuring?

I do feel a woman has a right with her own body, but let's face the facts, there are only 3 reasons you get pregnant:

1) Didn't bother with a contraceptive.

2) Accident, contraceptive didn't work.

3) Got raped.

If you don't bother with a contraceptive then it's your own fault. That leaves the other 2.

Accidents happen, not your fault. So should you have to bring a child into the world because of an accident? (more following)

Getting raped, as a man who has never been violated that way I won't even try to pretend that I know what that's like. Not your fault either, so again, should it be your burden to carry and raise the child?

So, let's start from here. Of those 2 reasons, which is more likely to happen? Accidents by an insanely large margin. Getting pregnant through rape is such a small fraction of a percentage that despite how often it's brought up in abortion discussions, it's something that happens rarely. (I have seen "statistics" from 140 a year up to 64,000 ... so ... I dunno? I just rarely hear about it in the news, mainstream or not.)

Abortion should stop being used as a form of birth control. It should be used for very very few reasons, none of which are light.

1) Mother will die giving birth.

2) Young girl raped.

Actually, sitting here right now I can't think of any other reasons that those that would be acceptable for inflicting pain and death on a tiny human. And as far as accidents, or whatever else might pop up, there is such a thing as adoption.

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Ignorance Empowers The Corrupt

No it can't.

http://www.religioustolerance.org/abo_pain.htm
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_r...=2&DR_ID=32202
http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/hea...and_pain_.html
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...MP&type=health

"Taking on one of the most highly charged questions in the abortion debate, a team of doctors has concluded that fetuses probably cannot feel pain in the first six months of gestation and therefore do not need anesthesia during abortions.

Their report, being published today in The Journal of the American Medical Association, is based on a review of several hundred scientific papers, and it says that nerve connections in the brain are unlikely to have developed enough for the fetus to feel pain before 29 weeks."

The second source even addresses criticisms, which amount to ad hominem attacks on the researchers. Anti-abortion critics point to the development of stimuli when in fact the cortex does not form until the third trimester.

The most premature live birth occurred at 22 weeks, and the baby had to be kept for another four months to properly develop.

Partially. We can also lay blame on the abstinence programs that have turned droves of children and young adults into ignorant masses of biological occurrences. The Danes have one of the lowest teenage pregnancy rate in the world.

Quote:

Abortion should stop being used as a form of birth control. It should be used for very very few reasons, none of which are light. 1) Mother will die giving birth. 2) Young girl raped. Actually, sitting here right now I can't think of any other reasons that those that would be acceptable for inflicting pain and death on a tiny human. And as far as accidents, or whatever else might pop up, there is such a thing as adoption.

You can't support abortion in cases of rape and then dismiss the concerns of women who had accidents, or even who chose against protection methods. Either abortion is murder or it's not.

I say not.

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"If the substance of life is information, transmitted through genes, then society and culture are essentially immense information transmission systems, and the city, a huge external memory storage device."

Purists are intolerably dull-thinkers.

This is just another one of the many arbitrary reasons given to come up with a cutoff point for abortion. Suppose the researchers are right - so what - does that ipso facto mean a fetus necessarily has no rights before it can sense pain? Nooooooooo. How about if you're sleeping, and I shoot you in the head -you'll die and feel no pain if I do a proper job of it.

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Blade: "more educated and literate people than Justabubba"

Justabubba: "that would include everyone"

http://politicalforum.com/showthread.php?t=27847

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"If the substance of life is information, transmitted through genes, then society and culture are essentially immense information transmission systems, and the city, a huge external memory storage device."

Purists are intolerably dull-thinkers.

So you seriously compared GeneCosta, a taxpaying adult person who shares the responsabilities and rights to live in society with a fetus who cant even feel pain?

Well, as for the reasons for abortion, I say that if the baby is unwanted, its better for it to not to be born.

And k7leetha, shame on you for refering to an abortion as contraceptiv method. If you see what and abortion procedure does to a woman, you would never again say that.