“The Irish government came under increasing pressure to overhaul its ban on abortion today, after it was accused of exposing women to “grossly misleading” information about the procedure.
According to Human Rights Watch, Irish legislation – under which women who have an abortion in Ireland face a life sentence in prison if prosecuted – is putting women’s health at risk and exposing them to deliberate misinformation from rogue pro-life agencies.
Women have been told they may become infertile, require a hysterectomy or possibly need a colostomy bag after an abortion by agencies that target women seeking advice about unwanted pregnancies, says the report.”
Read more at The Guardian
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Oh Ireland… Oh Catholic Ireland…
I’m a bloke but I have an opinion.
I agree with the option of abortion for sound medical reasons (which DOESN’T involve the ‘mental health’ aspect revolving around unemployment* or social pressure). For everything else there’s a morning after pill been around ages.
Anything else is a lifestyle choice and children are NOT handbags. There’s plenty of people out there willing to foster or adopt.
Lying about the results of abortion or giving them harassing calls is wrong. But it’s something they will have to live with for the rest of their lives, with very few people they can confide in about it; I’d think that was more detrimental to mental health myself.
Ignoring celibate morons who call contraception wrong would be a better choice.
*I raised 2 children as a single parent and fostered a third…poverty isn’t a valid reason.
This is a serious problem here – young girls are being encouraged to go for ”non-judgemental pre-abortion counselling”; and are finding themselves isolated in rooms, being shown videos of supposed ”abortions” where foetuses are being removed from a woman’s body, and are being informed that abortion causes infertility, infection, possible death to the pregnant woman and all sorts of other scaremongering tactics. There are no guidelines or regulations on who can set up a counselling service, so militant pro-lifers are setting up offices; and their sole aim is to frighten young girls into not receiving abortions.
It is so true what Doogie says even in schools the sex education does not cover abortion and in some places girls still have to sneak away to England to get an abortion. Only now, in the last few months have the Southern Irish T.V stations shown averts for condoms Come on Ireland get with the show it is our choice what we do with our bodies, maybe by educating people better about abortions it will cut down on the amount of child murders that seem to on the increase!!!!
To be fair – by an awful lot of Irish people the pro-life campaign is judged as being grossly extreme in its tactics, and there are several excellent non-judgemental pre and post abortion counselling agencies in operation. The tactics used by some pro-life agencies are mirrored in many other countries where women do have access to abortion – but do need to be monitored here.
This said, there are problems in legislation here, and women are not being fully protected in law. But our constitution is written in such a way that the ban on abortion can only be overhauled by a referendum – and to date every referendum on this topic has recieved a ‘No’ vote – the Irish Government cannot lift the ban on abortion without the agreement of the Irish people and so far it hasn’t been forthcoming.
@_JonBaxter_ I have just had the first part of my early medical abortion literally this morning. I did have the morning after pill as soon as I could, but it’s only 90% effective. So I don’t think you can just say there’s always that option.
I feel disgusted by the things these pro-life groups in this article are doing. I’m sure they’d fee the same way about me, but there we go.
@ _JonBaxter_ I always find it difficult to when we put provisos on an issue like this, there are certain circumstances where I am uncomfortable with the option of abortion – but I don’t rightly feel that I can claim to be pro-choice and then dictate what makes that choice okay- based on my own set of values or opinions.
To me, the point is that a woman has the right to choose – that she is living with that choice and making a decision based upon her own capabilities and life – absolutely various options should be discussed but to make a sweeping statement about adoption etc doesn’t take into account the many difficulties this path affords. This issue will always be a thorny one and there are so many variables that once we start to attempt to introduce clauses it becomes impossible- its just not that black and white I think…
Doogie-
I’ve just discovered a series of US television ads that present themselves as pregnancy counseling. When you follow the lead from the contact information, you find a deeply deceptive presentation, sponsored by evangelical Christians.
One service they highlight is counseling for post-abortion depression. The depression myth was discredited once and for all in 2008 with actual peer-review research, yet it continues to linger because for some reason it seems like it would be true. That this myth is helped along by fundamentalists with an agenda is deeply offensive.
The morning-after pill doesn’t always work even if available and even if taken on time. There are many causes of contraceptive failure that wouldn’t be known to the woman until she finds out she’s pregnant. Assuming you’re not a qualified psychologist, it’s a tad arrogant to assume you know what is detrimental to mental health and what isn’t. And if you think that birth mothers’ mental health is unaffected by adoption, again, you’re at best naive. Is rape a medical issue or is not wanting to have a rapist’s baby a result of ’social pressure’.
Biologically a foetus is a parasite, although, obviously, willing mothers don’t regard it as such. You are basically saying that a woman should be forced to endure this biological parasite for up to nine months even if they can’t, or for reasons unknown to you, won’t
Hmm, @JonBaxter, I’m not sure it’s up to blokes like you to have opinions about women’s bodies. You cannot know what it’s like to be in that situation until you have been in it yourself. It’s possible to get pregnant despite using contraception, and not find out for a month! It’s possible to get pregnant through sheer ignorance if you are young, especially in conservative countries like Ireland. What about if you get date raped with GHB and don’t even know what happened? I once had to take the morning after pill after a contraceptive fail, and obtaining it was a humiliating and frightening experience, even for an adult woman. Most teenage girls would have given up long before jumping through all of the hoops. The morning after pill simply isn’t an adequate option, especially for the young.
We really do have to stop punishing women. Physically, women have no alternative but to bear the responsibiity of the action. Yes, we have to try to educate and hope it works, but I’m sure it would be a whole different ball game if single men had to carry babies and then go on to look after them for the next 20 years. Maybe if men had a ball cut off or were chemically castrated for a little while as punishment for their part in the baby-making, we might make some headway in the unwanted baby department? Oh, and by the way, you can sit and watch a fellow man have his ball cut off before you go in for your own ball op. Sound fair?
A fetus is not a child, but a bunch of cells, which have the POTENTIAL to become a child, If abortion is murder then so is masterbation, every time you have a wank, you\’re killing millions of sperms, also all POTENTIAL lives. A fetus (depending on which trimester) is just as alive and just as concious as one of your skin cells, but we don\’t give cells rights do we? I find it absurd that most of these \”pro-lifers\”(anti-choicers), have no problem killing animals which ARE concious and which DO feel pan…..but the killing of an unconcious blob inside a womens stomach is an absolute abhorrancy, just because the blob\’s DNA happens to belong to the group of homosapiens. So what? again, the DNA of one of your skin cells belong to the group of homosapiens but it would be absurd to procclaim that your skin cell has rights, right?
I’m a feminist. I have the radical notion that woman are human beings – who can make “good” and “bad” decisions. That includes abortion for any reason. Every person should be able to make their own health care choices about their own body. Even people who have their reproductive organs on the inside.
ireland’s not the only ones who lie. and i certainly think that when guys can get pregnant is when they can have a valid opinion on abortion.
btw, here in the US, it’s true that there are plenty of people willing to adopt…if the kids are little & cute & most of all white. why else would anybody go thru the hel of adopting from eastern europe or russia?
“*I raised 2 children as a single parent and fostered a third…poverty isn’t a valid reason.”
Even IF the women was in a financially or emotionally fit state to bring up a child, she should still have the choice what to do with her own body. A person isn’t obligated to give one of their kidneys to another person to save their life, so a women should not be obligated to give birth to a baby.
It doesn’t take a lot of embellishment to portray abortion as a gruesome and selfish act, does it?!
It is clear that many women are unhappy that so much of the responsibility of reproduction is placed on them by nature, and are happy to use modern science to ‘level the playing field’ somewhat. It is the obstinate rejection of the obvious fact that men and women were created distinctly unequal; that is to say, different. But so many Western societies have been convinced by very vocal minorities that these differences are unfair, and that social engineering and politically correct misstatement should replace rational thought and working with what nature gave us. It is a recipe for disaster, and Britain’s social dysfunction (teen pregnancies, broken homes, etc, etc) should reaffirm the infinitely wise scepticism of abortion in Ireland.
I am originally from Canada and now live in Northern Ireland. My opinion is strictly based on what I have witnessed while I’ve been living here. Clearly Ireland is still a divided country based on religion, especially the North of Ireland, and I feel that people are holding onto anything that they feel ‘defines’ their religion. With the younger generation having more of an ‘open mind’ and questioning certain acts, I think people feel threatened by this and fear the collapse of their faith. And what happens to people who feel threatened? Retaliation, possibly? As a Roman Catholic, I prefer to practice the act of Free Will, isn’t that what was intended after all? Who are we to place judgement on others? Education is what is needed! I was shocked to find that sex education isn’t a priority in schools, and yet …
…..as human beings sex is a natural course in life. Isn’t school supposed to prepare our young minds for the future? Sex education is needed and not just to help you understand ‘where babies come from’, as clearly young men and women across the country know how it works, but it is needed to help people understand all aspects of sex and the human body. Becoming pregnant is one possible outcome, yes, but what about the emotions involved with sex? What about the sexually transmitted diseases that are floating around? These are the things that need to be instilled in our children so they have a full understanding of what could possibly happen to them as an individual. And trust me, after seeing pictures of what syphilis or genital warts can do to you, a couple of seconds to put a condom on doesn’t seem that bad….
…. I’m not saying that educating people is going to cure unwanted pregnancies, but it will certainly help people to understand the choices they make. Lying to this new generation of young people will only force them to seek the truth, educate them, and let them make the decision for themselves.
I expected some flack for my opinion & it’s been lighter than I thought.
I’m not a woman so I don’t know the emotional situation, and it IS entirely their choice in the matter. Pills arn’t 100% effective and there are situations where it ‘may’ be the sensible course.
But I know how I feel about the subject in general, and while every case rates individual consideration it is a subject that should get more public open discussion and better education regarding the options. I’m not ‘pro-life’ as such, but I’m definately ‘anti-abortion’ as a form of casual contraception.
Sex isn’t a game, it has serious consequences and people need to think of that before they have it. Unfortunately women are the ones stuck with the result if they get pregnant…that is part of life.
You can get back to hating me now
Jon: as you rightly observed, you are not a woman. Womens’ bodies are not your body. You cannot get pregnant. Your value judgements (that is what they are) of womens’ characters based on how they treat their bodies when they are pregnant are arrogant and disturbing.
You may not consider yourself pro-life, but you are part of the problem, because you are part of the people that want to shame and openly judge women for being sexually active without desiring pregnancy (just because sex isn’t a game by your standards doesn’t mean that holds true for everyone), and for the perceived moral failing of claiming the well-deserved right to decide what they will do to their bodies.
It worries me to think you’re passing this misogynistic attitude on to your own kids.
A woman’s body is her body is her body is HER BODY. End of discussion.
Oh, back to the past .. my god. Ofcourse a woman should have the normal right to an abortion. It serves the unborn child quite often just as much. Apart from this .. it remains abnormal that someone else can decide about this, after all .. aren’t we all deciding what happens to our bodies and the things in there? Especially abortion in the first period should not be such issue imo.
Oh well, there are other ways ofcourse .. but abortion done in a hospital, with anaesthetic (full), is a normal right I’d say. Life sentence .. my god …. fuck off.
False information? Hmm… that is truly unfortunate, accurate information is something I believe vital in life, that said, I still disagree with abortion. The fetus has major potential to be a valuable individual, the idea that everyone is/has that potential is one major reason most people would be against murder. If you have a preternatural belief that says both that it is the soul that makes murder wrong, and that babies don’t get their souls until a certain point in their development, you have reason to argue otherwise I guess, but most religions (and my fellow agnostics, along with the few athiests I know) the value the unborn child’s life.
That thing about womans rights though is crazy, a woman, or a man, can only be judged, outside of where any soul based ideas come into play, via the worth of there potential, that is why people choose to protect children more than the elderly, and why in the scenario where a feteus poses a major health threat to the mother, and only then, the feteus’s lack of development becomes a viable reason for it being the one to pay the price. But aside from that tragic circumstances it seems like a teenager killing his sixty five year old overbearing father to get emancipate and live freely.
everyone seems to have the same general ideas about abortion, that it is the choice of the individual, right? so why is this still an issue?
Opinions on pro life/ pro choice are fine as opinions, what is not fine if for people in power to manipulate surveys, findings, laws etc to suit those opinions. We all have the right to make a choice and an opinion over this issue because we live in a ‘democratic’ country. I for one will not demonize anyone for they own personal opinions but all information should be as unbias as possible on this subject. If a woman is thinking about having an abortion she should be given the facts and emotional support that is required to assist that decision. If like me you have never had to make such a life changing decision then it is easy to comment on the ifs or buts. But lets be honest until you are actually going through it then you will never be able to fully apreciate the level of emotional stress it has on a person/couple/family.
@Jon, we don’t hate you. We only wish to keep pointing out that your opinion is just that – your opinion. It’s a compound of wishes, hopes and fears, and not a fact or a law. You don’t and can’t get pregnant, ever. You also apparently do not believe that women are just as entitlede to be stupid assholes who do dumb things as yourself.
Jon, you are completely right on one count — children are NOT handbags. They are human beings, with feelings and minds and a huge potential for suffering if deprived of the loving, stable upbringing they need.
And that’s why will always advocate the termination of an unwanted pregnancy in the embryonic or early fetal stage, BEFORE it becomes a sentient being, BEFORE it can be harmed by those not ready, capable or willing to care for it. Precisely because raising a child, i.e. the end result of a pregnancy, is not something that should be undertaken lightly.
I do not oppose adoption — far from it — but there are far too many unadopted children out there already, and adding more will not help their chances.
I do not wish to pass on my genes, and if (despite my best efforts) I ever become pregnant, I will abort. And that is MY choice.
“Sex isn’t a game, it has serious consequences and people need to think of that before they have it.”
that’s absolutely right, jon, & a commendable sentiment. but unfortunately, in the real world thinking is easily & effectively obliterated by drugs, alcohol & lust.
In my opinion if the biological sperm donar is still around he has a right to an informed expression of preference but it is the woman who must make the intellectual choice as the final word.
I never get into the relative merits of one reason or another why a woman would decide to abort… because the whole point is that she should not have to fit into a special category that somehow makes the decision okay.
If the woman does not want to have that child, then that is the end of the discussion. A simple ‘are you sure?’, or even ‘come back in 24 hours’ is enough.
of course, we should have some mechanism for men to legally disown a child that they don’t want to being into the world… but that’s another discussion for another day.
For some real insight into the benefits of freely available abortion on demand, read freakonomics by Steven Levitt.
Pro life is doing the best for humanity. Abortion is an option and a choice made by the person, these dick heads should keep their heads away from people v’s. Sorry for the ad hom.
A fertile egg or a foetus isn’t conscious. It’s just flesh and blood.
But if they get their way they’ll just be adding to the economy (bankers will love that), and make unnecessary space. What’s better a mother having a baby she or he didn’t want or the mother waiting till the right time?
Loving the picture of Jesus. As if that justifies everything, they aren’t pro life, they’re anti choice.
I don’t like abortion – I don’t like it at all – so it’s awful for me to have to say that I think the existence of abortion is necessary. At the risk of souding cruel, I think there are some people in the world who should never be allowed to have children. Babies shouldn’t be born in to a family where they are not wanted or where they will not be looked after properly, and it would be unfair to let a child with something like the tay sachs disease be born – a life lived in constant pain is not worth living at all. Having said that, I do consider life to be precious, and it would be far easier if these stupid people just took some bloody contraception! I mean, it’s obvious – if you don’t want to have a baby, take the pill or use a condom when you have sex. That way you won’t have to kill anything!
Jess, this may surprise you, but a large percentage of unwanted pregnancies occur in women that were using some form of birth control. No contraceptive method is 100% safe, and even 99.8% effectiveness (which, off the top of my head, is what you get when combining pill and condom) means that for every 1000 females using the method, 2 get pregnant. And that’s the effectiveness with proper use, which does not always occur either.
“Babies shouldn’t be born in to a family where they are not wanted or where they will not be looked after properly.”
This is the most important point that the “Focus on the Family” types miss again and again and again.
From an environmental standpoint it is unethical to bring more unwanted babies into the world. Foster care is an anarchic mess. Unwanted children are at greater risk for abuse, low economic standing. There is nothing wrong with catching the cells and taking them out before they turn into a baby. It is a merciful decision to make.
As Mad Magazine once said: The Moral Majority believes a baby is formed the moment a woman’s bra is unhooked.
Jess, I would be very surprised if anyone on either side of this debate would claim to LIKE abortion!
I got pregnant despite a condom and, when it split, the morning after pill.Accidents happen. But it was MY choice on what I wanted to happen to my body and my life. Nobody else’s. If I believed in God I’d be thanking him that I live in a country where I had the free choice to terminate the pregnancy rather than face a lifetime as an impoverished, miserable, unwilling single mum (I wasn’t single at the time but in retrospect I’m sure the guy I was seeing wouldn’t have stuck around).
It doesn’t surprise me at all that this sort of thing happens in Ireland.
@ Berber Anna In which case it’s not their fault, and abortion is of course the option for them (Like I said, babies shouldn’t be born in to a family where they are not wanted. It’s not fair on either the child or the parents; Trish, it would have been very unfair if you had been forced to give birth to a child you clearly didn’t plan.) I only have an issue with the people who don’t bother with the pill or a condom, and see abortion as their form of contraception. Abortion shouldn’t be thought of like that (Like: “Oh, I don’t need to use contraception, I can just have an abortion if I acciedently get pregnant.”)
Sorry if I’m sounding a tad harsh by the way. At my school, I come across a lot of stupid girls who don’t bother with contraception, and who I would dread to think of as mothers.
I think people are getting a little confused on here. Obviously this is a very sensitive subject and people are irritated by other peoples opinions, but lets not get into bullying people. On one hand people are saying it’s a choice of the person, yet they feel the need to argue against someone elses opinion. Jess and Jon you are entitled to your opinion, and those that argue against them are no better than the pro-life activists in Ireland. Again, maybe everyone needs to be a little educated about this situation as a whole before they pass judgement on others.
Kelly, I haven’t seen any hounding of people really, just people explaining their different opinions to each other and pointing out the flaws in each others arguments. As far as abortion debates go, this seems to be a refreshingly civil one.
I’m not arguing against anyone’s choice when I explain what my choice would be, or when I oppose those that would have that choice be in the hands of the state rather than it being a personal matter.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but if that meant those with differing opinions should just shut up, I fear we’d run out of discussion subjects as soon as we’d be finished with the weather (bit cold today, don’t you think?).
Kelly, doesn’t that make you no better than the posters who are no better than the anti-choice people in Ireland, because you’re arguing against the pro-choicers’ wanting to argue their side? Just saying.
Also, if nobody argued against anti-abortion viewpoints, it would stop being a woman’s choice at all.
Well I think people should have the option to choose. There are so many reasons why some people would say they would require an abortion, ranging from unplanned, stupidity, rape, medical reasons. There would be no way of putting a law into place saying this reason is ok but this isn’t as some people would argue otherwise. Yes no contraception is 100% guarenteed and only way of preventing pregnancy is abstenance, but we are only human. We make mistakes. None of my three children were planned, first came as a bit of a shock, but we decided to make the most of it and I believe we made the right decision, but if my partner had said she didn’t want it I would have stood by her. Then I would have made sure we were more careful in the future. But I must agree that sex education in school and at home need to be a lot better in explaining……
the consequences of an unwanted pregnancy. The fact that too many abortions can do more harm than good. That a child is for life and needs unquestionable loving. That a baby needs a parent 24hrs a day. That having a baby is a major responsibility and not a money making product of a one night stand. But personally I think Ireland needs to wake up and realise it is the 21st century and not the stone ages. Yes they have their religious beliefs, but they are thousands of years old in a modern world.
There are medical risks with an abortion procedure. Doctors have to tell you the risks for any other procedure, elective or emergency. I had a hemorrhage with my abortion. People do have perforations to their uterus, “may become infertile, require a hysterectomy or possibly need a colostomy bag “and even die, from legal abortions.
For some reason abortion rights people don’t want the patient to have the same protections as with other surgeries.
I wonder why?
Alll sacred cows of Feminism, abortion, prostitution, sexual “freedom” must not be attacked, no matter how badly it effects women.
There are some medical risks with ANY procedure, that’s pretty well known. It’s hardly secret. This report found out that women were being horribly misled, instead of correctly informed, with a view to making them too scared to have an abortion. That’s kind of different from informing them of any actual risks and how likely they are.
Paul, you are so sane. What would really even up the playing field would be men raised to be responsible for their actions and the children they risk bringing into the world every time they have sex. Oh, and people being realistic about marriage. Earlier marriage is not a death sentence. Sex is not something you have to get “your fair share “of. Women being pro woman enough to develop a little self esteem and let go of a little prideful entitlement wouldn’t hurt either.
Intercourse causes conception. Big surprise. When you get pregnant it isn’t a MISTAKE< it's things working the way they are supposed to. When you try to have children, after you've "had your fun" and made yourself jaded and miserable, you'll be awfully disappointed if those "mistakes " don't work in the other way.
Some of us don’t want to get married at all, and when you get pregnant while using birth control it IS kind of a mistake…
Joan: I do not wish to procreate OR marry, so if I were to get pregnant, you can bet your life it would be a mistake. I would love to get sterilized before (if) I choose to have intercourse with a man (currently still a virgin), but that’s not easy when you’re under 30, childless and unmarried. Also, there’s the possibility of rape, which would be sort of hard to plan for.
Intercourse isn’t solely intended for procreation. It also causes the release of oxytocin in the brain, a chemical that creates feelings of love, trust and bonding. That happens to be something I would like to share with a romantic partner, even though I do not want children.
Also , the idea that ’self esteem’ is shown by abstaining from sex is derived from the antiquated idea that women are devalued — i.e. become less marriagable — by having sex out of wedlock.
Berber Anna, you are under 30 and a virgin, I assume at the oldest in your late teens.Society in the form of music, pop culture and sex ed classes sends a lot of untrue messages to the young. At your age and experience level, you have no idea who you are or what you want in all likelihood. You certainly don\’t have a clue who you will be or what you will want in 10-40 years from now.
I was raised by a Wiccan feminist mother, was a radical feminist,have friends from all walks of life. The biggest sorrow I see among women in their 30’s, 40’s 50’s is they never had children, wasted their reproductive years in “meaningful “relationships with supposedly feminist, anti marriage men, and they aborted the only babies they ever conceived.
Sex has both unitive and reproductive aspects,, to deny either is to deny the nature of sex and yourself
I am a old feminist who used to believe “t’hat self esteem’ …shown by abstaining from sex is derived from the antiquated idea that women are devalued .”
Then I grew up and used my considerable insight and intellect to think and observe rather than buy some other fools rhetoric. Self esteem involves self care, self preservation. Women, even with birth Control bear the brunt of the cost in sex. Our risk for STD’s, the side effects of short and longterm BC use, the burden of pregnancy, whether carried to full term or aborted is still on us.
Self esteem involves looking at why we do things and using our heads , not just buying any propaganda handed out .
I’ve had abortion and I’ve had children, and I have the perspective of age. I know many women whose greatest regrets are the aborted first child, and the loneliness of unmarried old age.
Do you just really not like sex? That’s absolutely fine and I sympathise, but it’s a minority view and most women aren’t going to agree with it. They tend to like sex. Birth control doesn’t actually have to be full of terrible side effects, some women take the pill while not even being sexually active in order to relieve menstrual problems. Sure, there are risks of STD and pregnancy, which is why options like birth control and abortion are important, along with education.
It’s a bit hypocritical to complain about others buying “some other fool’s rhetoric” then trying to put yourself in a position of authority by backing up all your points by saying you have the “perspective of age” and a “considerable intellect.”
Joan: With all your wisdom, you sure make a lot of assumptions. I’m actually in my mid-twenties (turning 27 next Wednesday), and I know full well who I am and what I want. I am a person who has Asperger’s syndrome and would not do well as a parent. I am a person who does not want permanent resposibility over another human being. I am perfectly content with my life as it is — my job, my cat, my friends — and have no desire to change that just because it is a common human habit to reproduce. I’m childfree. That’s MY nature.
I do not wish to marry, because I believe it is foolish to commit to one single person for the rest of my life. For one, you cannot predict the future — half of all marriages end in divorce, after all — and secondly, I do not strictly believe in monogamy (polyfidelity seems to be an equally valid system to me).
Joan: i consider myself relatively liberal in my thoughts, as well as living by the philosophy of live and let die… never more appropriate here i guess… but id like to add my two cents if i may… the fact that someone is 30 and a virgin does not = inexperienced immature teenager so dont feel u have to lecture… having the self-esteem and respect to abstain until you find ur right partner is i think very mature – some of us cant really take back our bad experiences
also some cant procreate – are they less of a woman? isn’t this pain enough? or would u have them not experience “safe” intimacy – as this is not with the intention of procreating? and as much as it might pain me to see ppl abort healthy embryos, it pains me even more to witness more and more broken families, and messed up children. I believe in choice – one side or othr
@Joan E I’m trying to understand what you’re saying…Are you saying that it is a woman’s duty to get married and have children?
Sorry, but I don’t agree with that. While I’m sure you’re very happy as a married woman with a family, there are some people who don’t believe in marriage and who don’t want, or who would be incapable of caring for children, and it would be wrong to force them in to a marriage or in to having a baby. Whilst you might see abortion as women being feminists and not wanting to be ‘tied down’, a lot of people actually make the decision based on the life and happiness of the baby they might have e.g. Berber Anna has actually thought about how good a parent she would be, which is very responsible.
And I think you’ll find that the ‘risks of sex’ are greater WITHOUT birth control. Therefore it is important.
As someone who long ago made the decision not to have kids, I’ve found this comment from someone else has really stuck with me: “I’d rather regret the decision not to have kids than regret the decision to have them.”
That pretty much killed any lingering worries I had about whether I’d wish later in life that I had had children. I think it would be far easier to bear the first regret than the second.
Pro-choice /Pro women/Pro child