NJO: Source: Cynthia Jeub's blog.
Note:
this post is written with the utmost respect for people with differing
opinions. The comments section is open to discussion, and I hope you
appreciate my desire to build common ground. Please read this post to see where these comments come from.
Yesterday, I posted about my experience with the organization Justice
for All, which travels to college campuses around the country to inform
people about the abortion issue. Here are some selections from the
comments asking about my stance, and my responses.
...
Myth five: Criminalizing abortion would force it onto the
black market, where people are at a greater risk of death from attempted
abortions.
“K” went on to say:
Personally I am pro choice, even though I personally
would not have an abortion, because of how before abortion was made
legal, many pregnant women would die from trying to abort by themselves
in unsafe situations.
As mentioned in my last point, abortions aren’t proven as a safe
procedure right now. The fact that abortions move to the black market
when they are made illegal doesn’t convince me to make it legal. As I
explained to a good friend who is pro-choice recently, I think of
abortion as the murder of a child. This is my own opinion, but you’re
welcome to challenge me and we’ll discuss it openly.
Because I see it as
murder, I think it’s better as a criminalized activity that happens in
alleyways than as a legal, respected but controversial decision. Right
now, murder happens in back alleyways often, but at least we’re treating
it as a crime, instead of legalizing it.
As a last note, I’m surprised by how all the people I’ve talked to
about this say they are pro-choice, but that they would never have an
abortion themselves. I challenged a classmate about this stance at the
beginning of the semester, by suggesting that she would never commit
murder, but thought it would be fine if someone else did. She replied
that she didn’t think abortion was murder. Perhaps, in the end, that is
the real question: is abortion murder? And if it isn’t, why do
pro-choice people insist they would never do it? Why is it considered an
necessary evil if there’s nothing wrong with abortion?
NJO: Whole post at Cynthia Jeub's blog.
