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REPLY #14 TO
"ABORTION"



Boldfaced statements are parts of the original essay (or a subsequent reply) to which the respondent has directed his comments.

Italicized/emphasized comments prefaced by (R) are those of the respondent and are presented unedited.

My replies appear under the respondent's comments in blue text and are prefaced by my initials (MB).

(R) In a perfect world, a women's right to choose is made when she chooses to spread her legs and have unprotected sex.
(MB) In the real world, even the most conscientiously-practiced birth control methods fail on occasion due to no fault on the part of either partner. Your argument hearkens back to the old saw that sex is dirty unless procreation is the desired outcome. It also smacks of the archaic admonition that "good girls don't do it".

(R) In a perfect world, when a women is raped, a women would not have the right to compound one evil with another evil by taking the innocent life of her baby, regardless of who the father is.
(MB) In the real world, victims of violent crime are not punished for the actions of their assailants. It is unconscionable to force a woman to bear a child that is the unwanted product of rape. Why not permit her to recover from any effects of the crime and allow her to bear children that she wants who will be fathered by her choice of partner at a time of their own choosing?

(R) In a perfect world, the innocent would not have to suffer for the sake of the guilty. Two wrongs never make a right.
(MB) In the real world, restitution for a crime is never a "wrong". Forcing an unwanted "solution" upon the victim of a crime is the real wrong here.

(R) In a perfect world, women carrying babies with defects would do their best to love and raise their child regardless of what it looks like, since it's existence is a result of their actions; doing this is simply taking responsibility for actions.
(MB) In the real world, all such mothers would have the financial and emotional ability to care for such children and it would always be possible for such children to grow to happy, healthy and productive adulthood. Your argument about "responsibility" completely ignores all cases where pregnancy occurs despite one's best efforts to prevent it. It's really a thinly-veiled plea for abstinence.

(R) In a perfect world, we would not take the life of an innocent baby simply because we will not like how it looks.
(MB) In the real world, parents only want a limited number of children and wish for all of them to be ideal in their eyes. Why should they be faced with the prospect of giving up the opportunity to bear ideal children just because someone else's version of morality seeks to force them to take pot luck?

(R) In a perfect world, the statistics of women having abortions for non-health or non-rape reasons wouldn't be 90%.
(MB) In the real world, it is not always possible or rational to bear and raise every child that is conceived. Better to have fewer children and raise them well than to increase the number of unwanted ones for no better reason than to preserve somebody else's notion of morality.

(R) In a perfect world, abortion would not be an option because all women who have respect for human life.
(MB) In the real world, many women have abortions precisely *because* they respect human life and wish only to bear children to whom the quality of that life can be optimal. It seems barbaric to force the birth and raising of a child who could not have such a life.

(R) We don't live in a perfect world, but we should do everything we can to try to make it perfect. That means outlawing abortion.
(MB) We live in the real world and the legality and availability of abortion is one of the tools we should have to try to make it better.


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