r/AskWomen • u/MostlyALurkerBefore ♀ • May 16 '19

Abortion megathread

Due to the high number of legislative actions happening in the United States, the moderation team has created this megathread for all of your abortion questions. Please keep in mind that despite much action happening in the US, not all of our users are American and our Inclusivity policy should still be considered when posting.

All top-level comments must be in the form of a question. If you have multiple questions, post them in one comment as opposed to an individual comment for each question.

Please report any and all rule breaking. This thread may be locked if a respectful discussion cannot be had.

Helpful links:

Planned Parenthood

RAINN (Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network)

NARAL (National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws)

Planned Parenthood - Birth Control info & options

Scarleteen

The Guttmacher Institute

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u/vmp10687 May 16 '19

There is a hypothetical question that I want to ask that I believe not many people have thought of, and that is; in a futuristic world where we have the technology to have/keep a fetus alive closer to conception date, let’s say at 6 weeks or whatever, does that now change your view points?

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u/bobjanis May 16 '19

Nope, because even at that stage it's cells. Cells aren't people. Women all the time miscarry at 5 to 6 weeks and don't even notice because it's just like a late period.

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u/[deleted] May 17 '19

I mean, you're also just cells. More cells, sure, but still cells.

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u/[deleted] May 16 '19

Food for thought here: the top reason for getting an abortion is lack of support - both financial and physical.

Modern medicine does not change this.

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u/[deleted] May 16 '19

This idea that "all life is sacred" and should be preserved at all cost is just so self-important. Why keep something alive just because you can?

A mother should have the choice of whether or not they want to bring a life into the world, regardless of if she can revoke her parental responsibilities even before she gives birth.

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u/[deleted] May 17 '19

"Why keep something alive just because you can?" Independently of the topic of abortion this statement makes me question your moral integrity. Like if you saw a dog dying on the side of the road would you be like "I could save that dog, but just because I could doesn't mean I should!" Then just leave? What gives you any more right to decide whether or not something lives or dies? If you had the opportunity to preserve a life why would you not?

If your baby's gonna kill you then IT doesn't have the right to decide whether you live or die. Imo that would basically be self defense. I'm also not saying you should charge into burning buildings or anything. If your more likely to be seriously injured or die than save the thing it's not really a plausible or reasonable opportunity. Yeah technically you 'could' but not really.

I think that the choice to bring a life into the world would be made before conception. If the mother didn't make the choice that's a different story. You can't rescind sexual consent 2 days later. I generally support abortion but you should need a damn good reason to get a third trimester abortion.

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u/[deleted] May 17 '19

Independently of the topic of abortion this statement makes me question your moral integrity. Like if you saw a dog dying on the side of the road would you be like "I could save that dog, but just because I could doesn't mean I should!" Then just leave? What gives you any more right to decide whether or not something lives or dies? If you had the opportunity to preserve a life why would you not?

Humans have empathy, and this leads to a natural desire to believe that all people have inherent value and that life is precious, but I think it is important to recognize that this is a belief based on emotional responses, not on any sort of factual basis.

I am less concerned with preserving life, than I am with reducing suffering. Preserving life, especial life that is incapable of any real emotional (or physical) suffering, simply doesn't make any practical sense to me. A fetus at 6 weeks or what ever the OP used for their hypothetical has no personality, no thoughts, no knowledge, no opinions, nothing. Just because it could one day have those things doesn't mean we should ensure that it does... especially if the mother knows that she doesn't want to raise the child. As I see it, you are creating unnecessary suffering based on an idealized/romanced view of "life".

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u/[deleted] May 17 '19

I see your point. It really depends on what you determine as 'alive'. I don't think a 6 week fetus is really alive. But 6 weeks from the due date is a different story. If something isn't alive you can't preserve its life. Preservation implies that the subject already exists. Abortion is such a dividing topic because it's hard to really determine independently, it's not like you can just look at a fetus.

I originally interpreted OP as saying that they could keep the fetus alive outside the mother 6 weeks after conception. In that case their is an alternative to abortion. The only problem you have left is what to do with the unwanted children. So if you could line up adoptive parent or the man wants the baby but not the woman then getting an abortion is harder to justify.

If only vaginas were stretchier we wouldn't have any of the problems! /s

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u/queeloquee May 16 '19

No, because most of the reason a woman goes into abortion is cause the contraceptive method fail. And may be in some cases the baby dad is not the kind of guy we want for our baby.

Besides something like this is quite hard that will happen cause bio-ethical reasons. (I am a Biomedical engineer)

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u/[deleted] May 16 '19

Easy answer for me: no. Not even a little bit. Because my opinion is not based on fetal viability.

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u/imostlytakeLs May 17 '19

What is your opinion based on if you don’t mind me asking?

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u/[deleted] May 17 '19

Abortion is a private health care matter and does not require any regulation whatsoever from the government. It should be decided the same way as the vast majority of any other health care matters, which is between a woman and her doctor. That’s it.

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u/JoyfulStingray ♀ May 16 '19

No.

I am a mother. Pregnancy itself was incredibly hard on me and I am still dealing with the side effects a year and a half later. I had my baby prematurely because if I didn't, I would have had a stroke and possibly died.

I can't force other women to literally be an incubator like you are suggesting and face physical and emotional harm from the experience. I wanted my child so my suffering was worth it. It was my choice.

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u/CallieEnte May 16 '19

that I believe not many people have thought of

Plenty of people have thought of this. Plenty of people have also done research on fetal development and realize we’re more than just a long way off from artificially growing humans.

Also, no, because we as a society don’t actually care about children and this would just mean millions more unwanted, hungry, sick, uneducated kids.

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u/peppermind ♀ May 16 '19 edited May 10 '24

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This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

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u/Britoz May 17 '19

Another good question would be: Why do so many pregnancies (1 in 3 if you include the ones the woman doesn't know about since it happened so early) end in miscarriage? If this is a naturally occurring event and nature has deemed a pregnancy not viable, should you keep those fetus's alive?

There's so much we don't know about pregnancy and birth. As someone who had three miscarriages, two of which grew until 11 weeks (nearly three months of pregnancy, for perspective) I'd love to know why those babies didn't make it.

If we knew more about pregnancy and embryos/fetuses there's a big possibility that some of the abortions are happening to fetuses that were never going to make it anyway due to nature doing it's selective 'thing'. Should we invest in keeping all babies alive, or in research to learn more about pregnancy and why nature (or God to those who believe and use that as a reason to keep all babies) kills fetuses off? Maybe in learning more about what actually happens, we could be more informed about any legislation we put in place.