Abortion, Should it be Legal or Illegal?

Exactly

actually.. is it really your body? are you your mothers body? i think you would say no.. just because the child is connected to you does not mean that the child is your body... a very bad argument for abortion... i'm happy to hear others and refute those too

huskerswrkhavoc, good point.

blilley7, the "is she a mother" is a great question

Another thought - if the 'mother' chooses to kill her young, is she really a mother ?

no, she's not a mother until the fetus reaches full gestation. You seem to believe that women who have abortions would call themselves mother. Mother over what; a clump of tissue? Even when I had my miscarraige I did not call myself mother of the clump of tissue that ended up in my toilet.

Pardon, cyntrow, didn't mean to upset you. Viable ? Lovely medical term for certain to live - IF all goes well. So, can a child exist out of the womb after a few weeks post conception ? Nope. What's the earliest preemie alive, living ? I don't know. I do believe that a child exists once an egg and a sperm combine and coexist as a single entity.

It's not a baby. It's not a baby until it has a brain and a form.

When the brain and heart are formed it's human. Your strawman arguments are absolutely senseless. No fetus is viable at 3 to 6 weeks gestation when most abortions are performed.

i agree with you

Islandwaves, you need to do a bit more research. MOST women who have had legal abortions go on to have perfectly happy and healthy children if they want them. You are soooooo deluded by the propoganda you have been reading. Do some more research. Your knowledge is limited by your group affiliation. you are very naive.

Your referring to second term (or later) abortions; a vastly different procedure with a vastly different set of circumstances than an early, legal termination. Many unplanned pregnancies are the result of failed birth control. As for the other responders comment of "When you have that child(if your able to conceive again would be a miracle)" I assume you are trying to say that having an abortion in some way alters your future fertility. That is just not true. A termination is safer & easier on a woman's body than carrying a pregnancy to term- which is not to say having children is highly risky either, just that a termination is even less risky. There is no reason a woman who's had an abortion will have future fertility problems that stem from the abortion. A D&C is only slightly more invasive that an yearly pap smear.

that's just silly. What kinds of propoganda are you hearing?

a murderer deserves no rights. let her die trying to kill the baby. her life is NOT more valuable than that babys.

Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if Melinda planted a pipe bomb in a clinic that performs abortions.

"a murderer deserves no rights. let her die trying to kill the baby. her life is NOT more valuable than that babys." I so wish other PLers would call these sick individuals on their twisted anti-life beliefs. In the US even murders have rights. All living humans have rights. A woman who has a tubular pregnancy should die rather than have that pregnancy removed? A tubular pregnancy by the way has no chance of continuing to birth. Within a few weeks of conception the tube will burst and the woman will die if untreated. An 11 year old child who's been raped, should be forced to endure a pregnancy her tiny body is not equipped to carry? A woman with cancer undergoing chemotherapy should further compromise her health to support a pregnancy that means she can't continue with her cancer treatments? You are at best naive, these are some of the reasons women choose to terminate. Their lives are real, unquestionable & their right to it undeniable. But I suspect you're not naive at all. I suspect you're a twisted little person who thinks that your beliefs are more valid than anyone else's. That shooting doctors or blowing up clinics is a valid way to make your point & "protect life".

Unless the child (um, fetus) could have been male, but one will never know, eh ?

And so can be killed, if still within the womb, before a certain time....

And a grown man will NEVER be if conceived within certain wombs - and that is what I meant.

"many organisms are clearly alive with neither heart or brain." Yeah, bacteria. But I don't want bacteria growing in my body.

I think the real question should be "when does life begin?" You ask if one places greater value on the life of the newborn or the inconvience. I maintain that at the stage of gestation during which most women get abortions, "life" has not yet begun. If there is no heart or brain, there is no life.

I don't accept your arbitrary definition of the starting point of life, many organisms are clearly alive with neither heart or brain. Life begins at fertilisation. And it is value of the unborn, not newborn that is the value that must be weighed against the inconvenience, etc. all the best urban