twin " reductions"

[UnluckyStuntman]

First of all, abortion also takes a large physical, pyschological, and financial toll on women. Not only that, but many women go into abortion without being properly informed about what the abortion will be like, how it will affect them psychologically and physically, what the child's development is like at that point.

I would just like to point out that this same thing is true for many women who are pregnant and choose to carry to full term (whether that pregnancy was originally planned or not). I can honestly say that being pregnant is the single most traumatizing thing that I have ever experienced, and I'm not even halfway through it yet.

[TheBlackSheep]

Rifka, thanks for your response. I'm not even going to pretend that I'm trying to make you see abortion in a more favorable light. We'll probably never agree on that. I just think that there's a big difference between undergoing an abortion after an unwanted pregnancy and reducing a pregnancy that is the result of some kind of fertility procedure.

However, in response to your first point, that just means we need better education and better aftercare.

In response to your second point, I'm not trying to take away all accountability. Your examples, killing or abusing someone, are really huge deals and people absolutely should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law in those cases. However, all that separates an accidental pregnancy creating life and one instance of sexual irresponsibility between two consenting adults is that a sperm happens to meet an egg. And this is where we'll never agree again, where I would say that there is a big difference between a life and a potential life and it's all beside the original point of the thread anyway. But, as a final thought, as you've pointed out, abortion is a pretty huge consequence to many, many women who undergo them. There is accountability and there are consequences. I just don't think it's correct to demand that carrying a baby to term and dealing with all of the incredibly large things that go with it must be the consequence that those women deal with.

[Rifka]

Thanks for being understanding, Black Sheep. I think you're right that we'll just have to agree to disagree. I appreciate your sharing your thoughts, though-- it's easy to only see things from one perspective and forget to take into account other perspectives.

UnluckyStuntman-- thanks for pointing that out. I didn't mean to imply that pregnancy was not traumatic and stressful in many ways. I just felt like the Black Sheep's point about pregnancy being physically, financially, and emotionally traumatic made it sound like abortion was an easy out of all of those issues. I wanted to point out that it can still bring with it a lot of those issues. I meant no disrespect to pregnancy and all the tough things about it, though. I respect all those women who endure the many challenges of bringing a child into this world. It's a huge undertaking and I'm sure it will be amazing and super hard when I experience it in the (hopefully near) future.

I'm glad we could have this discussion. It's nice to know that we can discuss these king of things, even when we disagree strongly, without hard feelings. This thread has been a definite learning experience for me, and I hope that it has for everyone else who has participated, too.

[UnluckyStuntman]

I didn't mean to imply that pregnancy was not traumatic and stressful in many ways. I just felt like the Black Sheep's point about pregnancy being physically, financially, and emotionally traumatic made it sound like abortion was an easy out of all of those issues. I wanted to point out that it can still bring with it a lot of those issues. I meant no disrespect to pregnancy and all the tough things about it, though. I respect all those women who endure the many challenges of bringing a child into this world. It's a huge undertaking and I'm sure it will be amazing and super hard when I experience it in the (hopefully near) future.

I can understand that - I think we might all agree that any of these decisions (reductions / abortions / full-term pregnancies) come with their own difficulties and benefits, which are unique to the individual and their circumstances. The morality of these decisions is a different story, but hey, I'm glad we could agree on something.

[Laser Jock]

Oh, Laser Jock, you are possibly the most polite person I've ever met, so don't worry about me feeling attacked.

I guess it's a really fine line, but I think the difference for me is intent. The person who chooses to implant multiple embryos or undergo IVF is doing such things specifically to get pregnant. ....

I don't know that I explained that well at all, but it's the best I've got at the moment.

Thanks for explaining a bit more; I think that makes sense. I still don't entirely agree with you on the (un)equivalence of the morality, but I think I can at least see where you're coming from. And I'm glad you didn't feel attacked.

[Katya]

And I'm with imogen on this one. I'm one of the few pro-choice ladies on this forum, and I wouldn't want to judge another person's carefully considered choice, but this seems... selfish. To me, there is a difference between deciding categorically that you cannot be pregnant at that point in your life and aborting a fetus or choosing to reduce a pregnancy with many healthy fetuses and choosing to abort one fetus of two when you willfully underwent the procedure that put them there. I could not choose that.

Apparently you aren't the only pro-choicer who's troubled by this procedure. Here's an interesting article outlining some other arguments about why this is different from other types of abortions: http://www.slate.com/id/2301322/

[Whistler]

interesting read, thanks for the link