OohPooPahDoo
Gold Member
The real issue in the abortion debate is the question of whose rights trump whose - do the rights of a fetus trump the rights of a woman, or vice versa?
Choosing the former places the fetus as a higher citizen above women, thus subjugating them to second class citizenry - enjoying only part of the rights of citizenship. Choosing the latter preserves the first class citizenship of women and
That's pretty much it. The right claims they want "limited" government yet they don't believe government's limit stops at a person's reproductive function. If government can criminalize abortion in the name of protecting the fetus, what's to stop them from banning alcohol consumption for all women between puberty and menopause who have not been rendered sterile by surgery? Any of those women could be carrying child without knowing it, thus to allow them to consume alcohol would create the very real risk that an "innocent human being" is being poisoned by its mother. Will the right stand for it?
If the rights of the fetus trump the rights of the mother - what's to stop the government from compelling women to receive pre-natal treatment in accordance with government guidelines - for the purposes of protecting the innocent fetus? What's to stop government from deciding any pregnant woman who consumes even one drop of alcohol needs to be confined and surpervised until birth ?(even though most docs agree very light consumption late in the pregnancy is no problem)
The fact is what the right wants is for the rights of a fetus to exceed the rights of a woman. Based on that idealogy, government would be justified in doing anything it needed to protect the life of a fetus - from regulating the diets of all women who are fertile and sexually active to requiring them to attend natural child birth classes, if the government decides that will best protect the life of the fetus - or perhaps, instead, forcing women to receive epidurals against their will - if government decides that will best protect the life of a fetus.
The right only wants limited government when it comes to business. When it comes to the restriction of the most basic personal liberty to own one's own body - they do not.
Choosing the former places the fetus as a higher citizen above women, thus subjugating them to second class citizenry - enjoying only part of the rights of citizenship. Choosing the latter preserves the first class citizenship of women and
That's pretty much it. The right claims they want "limited" government yet they don't believe government's limit stops at a person's reproductive function. If government can criminalize abortion in the name of protecting the fetus, what's to stop them from banning alcohol consumption for all women between puberty and menopause who have not been rendered sterile by surgery? Any of those women could be carrying child without knowing it, thus to allow them to consume alcohol would create the very real risk that an "innocent human being" is being poisoned by its mother. Will the right stand for it?
If the rights of the fetus trump the rights of the mother - what's to stop the government from compelling women to receive pre-natal treatment in accordance with government guidelines - for the purposes of protecting the innocent fetus? What's to stop government from deciding any pregnant woman who consumes even one drop of alcohol needs to be confined and surpervised until birth ?(even though most docs agree very light consumption late in the pregnancy is no problem)
The fact is what the right wants is for the rights of a fetus to exceed the rights of a woman. Based on that idealogy, government would be justified in doing anything it needed to protect the life of a fetus - from regulating the diets of all women who are fertile and sexually active to requiring them to attend natural child birth classes, if the government decides that will best protect the life of the fetus - or perhaps, instead, forcing women to receive epidurals against their will - if government decides that will best protect the life of a fetus.
The right only wants limited government when it comes to business. When it comes to the restriction of the most basic personal liberty to own one's own body - they do not.