Right now I am at a loss as to what to write about. I really have no direction for today's post. The fact is that I try to write things about which I care and am somewhat knowledgable or wish to be. There are many topics on which I would like to pontificate, but am not knowledgable enough to do so with any eloquince. I was about to write a long series on my thoughts on the Planned Parenthood/budget debate, but decided against it as it would be unproductive and it falls into the aforementioned category of things I know to little about.
So instead, I will offer my opion on the Pro-life/Pro-choice debate. I am neither and here is why. If you are Pro-choice you are percieved as supporting abortion no matter what. It should really be called the Pro-abortion side as I have not heard a pro-choicer once offer the choice of adoption as viable. In fact, I have been called a Pro-lifer because I asked what the options are for adoption. If you are Pro-life, you are percieved as against abortion in all cases for all reasons. Many pro-lifers are this way. If you mention abortion at all, you are an evil Pro-choicer.
Here is where I stand on this issue. I am Pro-responsability. There are times when abortion is a viable option. The first that comes to mind is if the mother's life is in danger. I believe the mother always comes first. If taking the child to term will place the mother in danger, the child goes. I also believe that if there is no medical reason, there is no reason for abortion. The pro-choicers would have you believe that if a young girl gets pregnant, she is in danger from her parents and thus is entitled to an abortion without their knowledge. They also contend that just because they decided to have sex is no reason they should face the consequences. I believe that if you have sex, you should pay the consequences. This goes for us guys as well. Responsability is paramount.
Now comes the point in which the question, "what if she gets raped and becomes pregnant?" I used to believe that the number of pregnancies that result from rape was <1%. The fact is that no one is sure of the actual percentage. Of all the stats I looked up they all concluded that <5% of victims of violent rape get pregnant, and these were just estimates based on the average of pregnancies resulting from a single instance of unprotected sex. That doesn't take into account so many variables. Before I make a stand on this particular side of the issue, I would like to see some more info. Such as, an actual percentage of rape victims who got pregnant; the percent of women who were raped, took the child to term and regretted it; the percent of women raped who tried to take the children to term and had a miscarriage; the percentage of women recieved counseling prior to the abortion and still decided on the abortion; etc. The fact is that we don't have these statistics. I will still withhold judgement. This is not something I can comfortably say that it ok or not. I don't know what it would be like to have to deal with that.
To sum it all up, I believe we should all be held accountable for our actions. When abortion became an issue, the parent was in charge of the child and CPS had very little sway. These days CPS can remove the child from the home on very little evidence and a lot of hearsay. Thus the arguement that the child is in danger if she takes the baby to term is null and void. If the child is in danger, CPS should step in. The other question that needs to be anwered is, what, if anything, is being taught about adoption? I have seen tons of literature on abortion (admittedly from both sides), but very little on what adoption agencies will do for someone who doesn't want the child. The problem is, once you mention adoption to any girl, you are labeled a Pro-lifer and told to quit harrassing a the child.
I think I have ranted enough on this. If you want to comment, please keep it clean and respectful. I look forward to any debate and questions. Once again this is my opinion and is not meant to be hateful or condemning. we each make our decisions and we have to live with them. As every woman is ready to point out, I am not a woman. This doesn't mean I can't have an opinion, it just means that I have a different perspective. Thank you.
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