There are at least some states where killing a pregnant woman can result in double homicide or if you cause the death of the unborn child but the mother lives, you can be charged with some degree of murder/manslaughter. I am not sure as to the time frame of the child's development.
The responsible thing would be to focus all of our efforts into strategies that ACTUALLY reduce abortions rather than attempting to pass a ban that will not significantly reduce abortions, will drastically increase the dangers in having an abortion, and will drastically increase the use of RU-486. We should NOT take away the right of a woman to choose what happens in her body.
I am not ignoring the fetus at all. You have no right to push your opinions on someone who does not share your beliefs.
In case you haven't noticed, the prohibition of drugs has not worked any better than a prohibition on abortion would. Everything that is going on is happening within the woman's body. She has (and SHOULD have) the right to choose what her own body is used for. If she does not want to use her uterus to fron a fetus to term, that is (and SHOULD be) her choice. The answer to this depends on the state in which the murder is committed.
The subject of abortion comes down to moral judgement and our government should not legislate morality. I, personally, do not feel that abortion as a means of birth control is wrong but that is my opinion. I'm not the person making that choice and decision nor have I ever had to. I'm not the one that has to live with the consequences either way. Nor do any of you, so why push your morality on anyone else when it isn't your decision.
So even though alcohol (and drug) abuse during pregnancy has been proven that it can lead to problems with the unborn child, women should be allowed to consume as much as they desire? At what point do you think we should start protecting the unborn child?
Abortion is (and SHOULD be) one of the available options. And to choose what you do with your life. If a woman decides that she does not want to bring a child into this world, you have no right to mandate that she must. You can agree with anyone you like, but you do not have the right to force your opinions on people who do not share your beliefs.
But even you agree that we should be able to tell a woman what happens to her body in the third trimester.
As a compromise, I would go even further. I would agree to limit abortions to 12-15 weeks if the pro-life crowd would agree to stop pushing for more. Abortion is a choice, women should have the right to that choice, but putting a time limit on that choice is more than reasonable IMO. It is unreasonable to remove that choice entirely. If you are going to make the choice to abort, make that choice early or bring the fetus to term and either raise it or adopt it. I suspect that all but the most fervent pro-choicers would agree to such a compromise, but I am virtually certain it will never come to pass as a result of the intransigence of the pro-lifers.
My argument would have to do with policing that activity. How exactly would you enforce a drinking ban on pregnant women? Impossible.
You didn't address the comment. Is protecting a conceived human before birth a right or a responsibility? Do you really believe that making something legal makes it right? The only problem I have with your comment here is that it is illogical. Do you want me to believe that protecting the unborn is wrong for doctors who are doing that every day? Do you think a doctor who was consistently careless and by malpractice cause the premature terminations of several pregnancies would be thought of as responsible? Do you really believe doctors and nurses work so hard at the Houston Medical Center to prevent miscarriage because of a choice on the part of the mother and not out of care of the unborn human? There is a large group of nurses and doctors who ethically refuse to perform abortions for purely ethical reasons. This all relates to the responsibility of parenting and reproduction. Not the social engineering of the 'rights' movements. When was it a right for someone to choose to kill? A woman has the right to refuse sex. That is a right. When it is violated that is called a rape. A violation of her rights. No doctor in the world would tell you without lying that an unborn baby is a part of a woman's body. That is total illogical word twisting. There are two separate unique scientifically verifiable, DNA tested persons involved in carrying a pregnancy to term. It breaks my heart to think we no longer see caring for an unborn child as a responsibility.
Andymoon, just to let you know I have had a bad week... watched my first Texan game and felt upset all day yesterday and nothing stirs my emotions like the abortion issue. I totally respect your views. I am passionate about children, especially those who can't speak for themselves...
Bars could refuse to serve an obviously drunk pregnant woman. If a pregnant woman is taken to the hospital for drug or alcohol abuse, punitive measures could be taken. It's certainly not impossible.
Let me ask a question here. I am honestly interested in the answers. I know what I would do. This is a hypothetical situation so the answer needs to be either/or. If you want to invent a way to avoid the either/or please don't respond. Imagine you saw a clinic burning and there was nobody around. You ran inside and quickly found a maternity ward. Inside you found a living, one month old baby, and a heavy incubator/monitoring system containing three recently fertilized ova for use in vitro fertilization. The building is burning down, and you know you can only make one trip, but you can not cary both. You know without a doubt that whichever you leave behind will be consumed by the flames. Would you save the one month old baby or the three fertilized ova?
Obviously everyone would save the 3-month-old. I personally don't put the same status on a petri-dish embryo that I do a fetus. I don't personally know where the line should be drawn, but it should be a long time before a head appearing. Even so, exercises like this are pointless. Choosing who to save is not relevant to a discussion of willful killing.
It is both the right and the responsibility of a woman who has chosen to bring that child to term and bear it. It is neither for someone who has not made that choice. No. I would be happy to live in a society where abortion was not even a consideration. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Right and wrong is an intensely personal thing. You may see drinking as wrong, but you have no right to push that opinion on another person by prohibiting alcohol use. Just as you have no right to force your opinion on a woman who chooses abortion. How? No, but neither is it wrong for a doctor to comply with a woman's choice to have an abortion, assuming that the doctor does not have a problem with it either. There is a HUGE difference between carlessness or negligence and choice. I am quite certain that those doctors and nurses care for the fetus as much as is humanly possible. Just as the doctors who perform abortions are caring for the woman by honoring her choice. Nobody is thinking about taking away their ability to choose, are they? They are welcome to refuse to perform abortions just as women have the right to choose to see doctors who do not share those beliefs. There is a HUGE responsibility when it comes to parenting and reproduction. I CHOSE to take on that responsibility when my wife and I started trying to get her pregnant. Just as any woman has the right to choose not to take on that burden. When was it a right for someone to mandate that a woman MUST use her uterus to bring a fetus to term and bear it? It is a rape when a woman's right to choose whether to have sex or not is taken away by someone through force or violence. By trying to force a woman to bring a fetus to term, you are raping her by removing her right to choose what happens in her own body. You are the one doing the twisting. I am very deliberately saying that a woman has the right to choose what happens IN her own body. That includes the right to choose whether to use her womb to bring a fetus to term and bear it. Most of us do at some point in our lives. However, NONE of us has the right to mandate that another person must take on that responsibility.
I am sorry you had a hard week, but buck up, the Rockets season starts tomorrow!!! As I do yours. I am passionate about children, but I am more passionate about the rights that we, as Americans, have.
