Kodie: You want to treat women like they are impetuous and irresponsible and appeal to their emotions…..it's just appealing to women for another moment of weakness - the same one I'm imagining you blame her for getting herself in that position.
I came to UF recently hoping to speak to people who would discuss issues with me in a levelheaded manner. You’re awfully quick to hurl hateful accusations at me just because I’ve stated I’m anti-abortion.
A sonogram could be used to facilitate the explanation. This doesn’t mean it’s manipulation—it’s just full disclosure. The doctor would explain the current point of the fetus’ development, just like a doctor would explain what stage a tumor was at. (or parasitic relationship, since someone had a problem with my tumor example). But why is it not emotional manipulation to show other pictures before procedures, like the xray of the broken knee, but it IS emotional manipulation to show a picture of the fetus? Could it be that there’s a niggling doubt that it’s a baby? If it’s a clump of cells, it shouldn’t matter to that woman. If it does matter to her, then maybe she should reconsider her decision. You assumed that I thought that women who decided to go along with the abortion anyway were coldhearted. This is not true. I just rest better knowing they won’t be ill-informed about the decision they made.
My position is simple. I just want women to be fully disclosed before getting abortions. Some women don’t care about fetal development, and only bother to follow the stages when they actually DO want to be pregnant. My sister in law had two abortions, and later, when she was ready to start a family, she was ecstatic to be pregnant. She followed her pregnancy book every day, and then she realized that at the stages she had her abortions, the fetus was way farther along that she’d originally thought, and she was heartbroken. If it was standard procedure to explain these stages to a woman before abortion, this would never happen again. If you already know the stages, then fine. If you didn’t before, now you’re making a more educated decision. I also think there should be support groups for women who have post abortion trauma.
Next, you assume I blame her for getting herself into her position. No. In most cases, she or her partner probably could have been more careful with contraception. However, there are cases of broken condoms and rape. But if you see abortion as ending a human life, as I do, abortion should be taken very seriously. It breaks my heart to think it is sometimes used as a contraception method rather than a Iast resort. I would also stress more education on contraceptives in school, not the abstinence bullshit.
Elemenope: If the goal is full disclosure to the patient, there are less emotionally traumatizing ways to go about it.
Like what? If there’s a less emotional way to completely inform the patient of the entire situation, including the possibility of emotional trauma post abortion, then I’d be interested in hearing it.
FO: Everytime you buy beef, you should be informed of the stages of veal development.
You will also be informed of the particular way the calf was killed.
I should hardly think that a decision as serious and life changing as an abortion should be treated the same way as shopping at the grocery store. And there have been studies that show that past a certain stage in the fetus’ development, they actually do feel pain. They will cringe away from a needle if it approaches them. And women’s bodies do change after an abortion. It can sometimes affect their ability to get pregnant in the future.
Knockturnal - do you think it would be good to have laws requiring adoption agencies to be truthful, and for abortion protesters to know what the fuck they're even talking about, not lie, not dramatize, or fearfully imagine it to be worse or more traumatic than it tends to be - for women who get abortions DO think it through, are there because they mean to be, and not assume they haven't
Sure, I think adoption agencies should be truthful. I think any industry should reveal as much information as possible so that their patients/patrons can be more educated. Yes, I think protestors should know what they’re talking about, but it’s most important for the woman to know everything involved in the process since it’s her life and the fetus’ life that is being affected.
Also, I am a woman. I am a liberal. I am an atheist. Go take your assumptions and throw them out the window—they breed ignorance. Like I said, I was hoping to find well reasoned discussion here and on this thread I’m only finding personal slurs. It’s making me rethink my decision to post here.
