Short, concise and to the point -

[kyburg]

Comments

[lordindra.livejournal.com]

Interesting. And not an unquestioned endorsement of either side of the debate.

I wish I could support abortion bans... I hate abortion(except for saving the life of the mother, which I view as equivalent to self defense exceptions to murder). But banning them won't accomplish that goal. An effective abortion ban, especially with the cultural force behind allowing it we have now in the US, would be a truly frightening regime to live under.

Interestingly, around the time of the last presidential campaign, when the neocons were blasting the liberal states for promoting abortion... An interesting study came out. The most liberal, pro choice states had the lowest rates of abortion. It wasn't a tiny difference that could be waved away with "oh that was just a good year for them and an off year for the bible belt"... it was a huge difference, though I can't recall the numbers. The most effective way to end abortion is to give women other options, and to make sure they know about them. Liberal states do both far better than the conservative states.

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

It's worth digging up to get the source -

I don't know that I would have an abortion - never have, and frankly, I took such steps that I would never have to make that decision that at this point, the whole sexuality issue is almost moot.

However, I truly believe that the only way to prevent an abortion from taking place is to address the reasons you have unplanned/unwanted pregnancies. Once a woman presents for a termination, it's over. If the reason is financial, if you have the funds - okay, you might be able to talk her out of it.

Past that?

..

It's her decision - and we expect parents to make every kind of decision for their children, why is this any different?

[feyandstrange.livejournal.com]

Oh, very nice. Where's this from?

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

Right click to get the source -

[nsingman.livejournal.com]

US federal funding for the UN Population Fund is unconstitutional (see Article I, Section 8 of the US Constitution, and also Amendment X). Thus, opposition to such funding may have nothing to do with one's beliefs on abortion or its legality, and therefore does not indicate inconsistency with the belief that abortion is murder. One may believe that abortion is infanticide, and contribute voluntarily to the fund, but oppose federal spending for that purpose.

[nagasvoice.livejournal.com]

Yes, indeed--clarifies rather well.

[foogod.livejournal.com]

There are a lot of good points here, but I have to disagree with the conclusion drawn for "Morally condemning extremists who bomb abortion clinics". This is not inconsistant in any way with believing that abortion is murder. If anything, this is actually very consistent with the position that murder of any form (including abortion) is not acceptable.

Regardless of the justifications posed for abortion clinic bombings, rational people must acknowledge that at the very least this constitutes vigilanteism and hypocrisy (perpetrating the same sin that you are condemning others for). Moreover, as abortion clinic bombings often result in the injury or death of incidental people who have not been directly involved in abortions themselves, these deaths (and the potential for these deaths) cannot be justified in any case and quite clearly fall into the category of manslaughter at the very least.

Idolizing abortion clinic bombers would be roughly equivalent to stating that revenge killings and murder-initiated lynchings should be praised as well, and in my opinion that is a far more inconsistent position for a supposedly "pro-life" advocate to have.

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

Hence, the repeated use of "pro-life, my ass" comments.

The one thing that really bothers me about the whole "showing up at a clinic for purposes other than health care" is that any kind of behavior shown there (bombings, protests, discussions, leaflet passing, harassment) is considered the same kind of behavior - and trying the worst of it under racketeering law didn't do much but block the worst of it for a few years.

So - challenging the worst of the behavior in this fashion? Food for thought - and an interesting spin.

Maybe they'll get it. Maybe.