Re: Abortions

If a person is in favor of a woman's right to abort why would it be insulting to be accused of having had one? Just like if you think there is nothing wrong with being gay, why would you be insulted if someone called you gay? Or if you're a man and you respect women and you think they are equal to men, why would you mind being called a woman?

I suppose being called most likely to have had an abortion might not be personally insulting to someone in favor of abortion, but they might otherwise find it offensive as it could put them in a position for abuse by those who think abortion is murder.

It's strange how so many of us support gay rights yet we don't like to be called gay if we aren't. Or how we don't like it if we are perceived as being other than the gender that we are even if we have nothing against the opposite sex. That poll made me wonder why I found it offensive to called someone who might have had an abortion even though I see nothing wrong with abortion but lots of things wrong with going through with an unwanted pregnancy. Abortion still carries a stigma, even for the most avid prochoicers.

Edited for content; moved to proper forum -Shattered

Is it possible to support the availability of safe and legal abortion while being horrified by the 'industry' of abortion?

Is it possible to support the availability of safe and legal abortion while hoping that I never have to personally confront the weight of that decision head on?

This is one of the issues in this country that really pisses me off because neither extreme of the issue will ever walk a mile in the other sides moccasins, and the technology, no matter how hard we pray, is not going to just 'go away'.

-Joe

__________________




Treat the Earth well... It was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children.

We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children.

-Native American Proverbs

Good question.

I think perhaps it has something to do with someone else projecting their prejudices onto you, acting like they know you when they actually don't. Or them thinking if you are for everyone having a choice they assume to know what your choice would be...which kind of eliminates the choice, no?

Maybe I'll do better with this later after the coffee kicks in.

lol.. you did fine. I think it also has to do with who's saying it... because you KNOW they mean it as an insult. and it's meant as a nasty judgment. so perhaps the offense also comes from that.

time for MY coffee now.

__________________
"Trust none of what you hear And less of what you see" Springsteen

When the Founding Fathers protected our right to free speech, I think that meant we were supposed to use it.

Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi was the world's most unhinged lunatic. He's now dead. So that moves Ann Coulter up to first place - David Letterman

O, when she is angry she is keen and shrewd; / She was a vixen when she went to school, / And though she be but little, she is fierce. — Shakespeare

Actually, that was good ... exactly what I would have wanted to say.

__________________
If you can dream it, I can code it.
Every hand's a winner, and every hands a loser, the best you could hope for is to die in your sleep.

Have you forgotten? No one can ask such questions in public.

__________________
The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd. Indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible.
-Bertrand Russell

Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are more pliable
-Laurence J. Peters

I never said that you had no right to have an opinion. I just said that it was, in fact, worth nothing.
-Maineman ( on 12 June 2007)

The question is: Why do people object to and protest vehemently against being labelled that which they are.

Remember the old poster on the wall? I'm sure you had it ... "If you were accused of being a Marine, would there be enough evidence to convict?"

My opinion is that it goes against our mindset that we are "individuals" and not "just like everyone else," and it's the natural byproduct of political correctness. A segement of our society has so successfully waged a war against calling people/groups what they are, we have become naturally defensive to being labelled.

If I had ever been in a position of having to be party to an abortion, for the reasons I consider abortion to be a legitimate medical procedure, my answer to the accusation would be "Fuck you."

__________________
She helped me with my suitcase, She stands before my eyes
Driving me to the airport, And to the friendly skies.
Going through security I held her for so long.
She finally looked at me in love, And she was gone.
Just a song before I go, A lesson to be learned.
Travelling twice the speed of sound It's easy to get burned.

What makes you think anyone is "insulting to be accused of having had one?"

What are the odds? I've never had one, I never would have one, but if someone accused me of it, I'd damn well be insulted because it's something I personally don't believe in. I think there are very FEW reasons for anyone to have one, actually..

If I did have one, I'd STILL be insulted that some who may or may not even know me brought it up. It's a personal, and lifelong choice that one has to make, and they certainly don't need anyone elses derision, and smart-alecky comments about something so personal.

Totally missed the point, but then I can not be more specific for fear of being banned.

__________________
The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd. Indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible.
-Bertrand Russell

Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are more pliable
-Laurence J. Peters

I never said that you had no right to have an opinion. I just said that it was, in fact, worth nothing.
-Maineman ( on 12 June 2007)

Oh, give it a rest already. Geeze.

I didn't miss your point. I was clarifying hers. Since the post was editted prior to my seeing it, I have no idea what was originally there.

Can you name the last regular member who got banned from here for stepping on or over the line just a little? Me neither.

If you have a complaint however, I will most certainly be willing to respond to a PM from you explaining your position.

__________________
She helped me with my suitcase, She stands before my eyes
Driving me to the airport, And to the friendly skies.
Going through security I held her for so long.
She finally looked at me in love, And she was gone.
Just a song before I go, A lesson to be learned.
Travelling twice the speed of sound It's easy to get burned.

why, is merely possibly having had an abortion viewed as an accusation in the first place?

I have always been pro-choice but always said it wasn't a choice I'd ever be able to make for myself, to have an abortion. I got pregnant at 25 in a situation that was less than ideal and I kept the baby. I love my daughter dearly and wouldn't change anything about having her, even though I almost lost my life to have her. When she was 4, I was in a committed relationship and I got pregnant, after having an ovary removed and being told I couldn't have more children no less, and while I wanted to have the baby I could not due to medical reasons and I had to terminate that pregnancy. I am neither ashamed of my choice nor would I be insulted if someone said I'd had an abortion.

I think those who would deny a woman the right to safe and legal abortions are the ones who should feel ashamed. Thousands of women were permanently sterilized or died from illegal, unsafe abortions. It seems that some would use pregnancy as a punishment for the woman who does not follow societies rules.

If you do not believe in abortion you should not have one. However, just because that is your belief does not give you the right to force someone else to adhere to your belief.

__________________
Better late than pregnant

Yup, keep it quiet and off the board so no one can question what is going on, got ya.

__________________
The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd. Indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible.
-Bertrand Russell

Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are more pliable
-Laurence J. Peters

I never said that you had no right to have an opinion. I just said that it was, in fact, worth nothing.
-Maineman ( on 12 June 2007)

Parades seem to be the answer these days to overcome that stigma thing.

__________________
"Some men eventually stumble over the truth but they usually pick themselves up and walk on as if nothing ever happened."
-Winston Churchill

"In religion and politics, people's beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second-hand, and without examination, from authorities who have not themselves examined the questions at issue, but have taken them at second-hand from other non-examiners, whose opinions about them were not worth a brass farthing." -Mark Twain