Quote:
Originally posted by FPJ
Abortion is legally defensible, yes, but the question (which may have been poorly worded) was not about the defensibility of abortion in general - it was about whether one can really argue for the general legalization of something based solely on special cases.
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Ahh, yes, I see what you mean, now. I was a little confused as to how (my interpretation of) your original statement was even a question :P
However, I think that it's still defensible. Giving people the right to kill without fear of repercussions in instances of war and self-defense still does not automatically give all people everywhere a license to kill in any circumstances. The same is true for abortion. It's a specialized circumstance that only one part of society will even have the possibility of encountering, and of those that have the possibility, only a percentage will actually have to make that decision. And continuing, of that percentage, a smaller percentage will actually decide to actually go through with an abortion.
Conversely, in instances of war and self-defense, combatants and victims have the *option* to kill, which is also parallel to the abortion argument. A combatant can choose to throw down his weapons in the face of fire and not return fire, just as a victim can choose not to retaliate against his attacker.
I don't think the choice to take life of any sort is something that many people take lightly, whether they are hardened soldiers, victimized citizens, or mothers-to-be of undesired children. In fact, I think that of those three "special scenarios," those women who are forced by circumstance to consider abortion would probably be the most hesitant to make the choice.
To me, it seems like people who are pro-life are panicking that "legalizing" abortion in general will cause bedlam and chaos and the extinction of our species, because obviously, if it's available, everybody will want to have one.
If the number of abortions increases, it is most likely directly proportional to the general increase of population, not the increase of legalized abortion clinics. And, really, if a pregnant woman is scared and desperate enough to get rid of her baby, she'll find ways, regardless of what the laws have to say about it.
But all in all, I think education (and I don't mean handing out condoms to 10 year olds) is our best bet for preventing unwanted pregnancies. But as it's been mentioned, numerous times, accidents do happen, and such accidents, given a high enough percentage of them throughout the spread of a population, decrease the quality of living for
all members of a society.