I'm glad you brought that up because one of the most frustrating parts of the movie that I actually wound up liking a lot is that throughout you see so many crazy, Fundamentalist Christian "pro-life" people but never any polar opposites, the people who encourage abortion as a convenience and don't care about "human life."
You want to know the reason why you don't see any of these people? They don't exist.
No one of sane mental state would ever take that stance on abortion. Find one woman who enters an abortion clinic who hasn't put some serious thought into her decision, find one couple that has an abortion out of convenience rather than out of necessity, find one person that continues to have unprotected sex and get abortions. Compared to how easy it is to find someone radical enough to kill to save an unborn child's life, it's damn near impossible. You'd have to be some sort of sick, twisted human being to actually encourage that standpoint and "pro-lifers" insist that every human being who's every had an abortion has this exact stance, which is grossly untrue.
Granted, the "it's my body and I can do with it what I want" mentality is extremely flawed. Abortion was legalized because it's assumed that in a democratic society people are generally smart enough to know what's right and what's wrong and can make decisions for themselves. However, as well all know, there are a lot of stupid people out there and in a country where abstinence-only sex education is still taught by schools, communities, and parents in large populations in the southern states and where large urban populations, particularly poor black and Hispanic inner city groups have outright refused to use condoms and live in socio-economic states where abortions are given to them free, there are scenarios where this is obviously a problem. I wished Lake Of Fire explored this issue more, but the thing is, you can't pass a law against stupidity, i.e., you can't take the right to make an intelligent decision away from everyone just because a few stupid people out there abuse it and screw it up for everyone else. You have no idea how many people in our modern 21st century world still don't understand "USE A CONDOM!!!" or even scarier, have never heard that before.
I think you also said something important: abortion is a secular issue. That is 100% true. As a Christian myself I believe that life begins at conception, and there are many passages in the Bible that speak to the sanctity of life. However, that's not in anyway a political argument. The only reason why it's not a secular issue in this country is because the Conservative Right, which is predominantly fundamentalist Christian, have chosen abortion as a hot topic to fight for to gain support for their party in an attempt to return "family values" to America so that people too stupid to realize their horrible stances on virtually every other major issue can be swayed emotionally by the abortion issue.
And finally, I think that "people don't want children with down syndrome" statement is a little harsh. I think it's more like "people don't want to bring children with down syndrome into a life that they would be unable to live" or "people don't want to have children when their current socio-economic status would greatly damage the child's life as well as their own." Honestly if you knew that your own child was going to be mentally or physically handicapped wouldn't you, if just for an instant, consider saving it the pain of living? I think anyone would, but I'm not sure what the right thing to do is.
------------------------------------
"To become immortal... and then die."
reply
share
blahdyblahdyblah
17 years ago
There are actually quite a few women who have had multiple abortions and did not learn from the first one. There are examples on TV
http://www.jillstanek.com/archives/2008/03/big_brother_nat.html
It's not such a tough call for the self centered people in this world. It's not always a financial thing or an emotional thing, it's just selfishness.
I know that there are people who feel like there aren't any other options, but there are people like her, she considers herself a Christian by the way, who could care less about the human life they just obliterated.
And as far as not knowing about condoms, unless you're completely cut off from the media (TV, magazines, the internet) I doubt you haven't heard about condoms and birth control. I knew about condoms and birth control before I knew how to have sex. People aren't actually as ignorant as everyone makes them out to be. School is not the primary source of sex education and anyone who believes it is is an idiot. And if people claim that the media is telling them to have sex, which they frequently do, they'd also notice the media telling them about safe sex.
I think as long as abortion is legal, women will always know in the back of their heads that if they get pregnant they can always just have an abortion. Whether they claim they would or not, knowing it's an option makes the choice to have sex a lot easier. In a sense they're lucky, you can't abort HIV.
reply
share
Nick55419
16 years ago
It's a tough call and I know that anyone(including myself) who has not had an abortion who feels like they know everything about abortions is talking out there behinds.
If you have never been in a situation you don't know how you'll respond. You can say I'd never kill someone, it's against the first commandment. But what if you were faced with a situation? That's a pitiful example but oh well. You can say, "ohhh I'd never have an abortion, it's a human life." well good for you but you aren't in that situation so who are you to say?
My sibling on the other hand, just informed me two hours ago of her accidental pregnancy and her appointment to have an abortion(which I'm driving her to/partly paying for)
Do I know how she's feeling? No. I'd be devastated, feel alone, sick, upset the list goes on. The BEST thing people can do is NOT JUDGE a woman who is going to have one. Does making someone feel guilty help them at all? No it does not. It makes them depressed, suicidal and hateful towards you, themselves or who knows who else. Don't make it harder than it already is. I guess that's all I'm saying.
reply
share
hsvtarget
16 years ago
I think as long as abortion is legal, women will always know in the back of their heads that if they get pregnant they can always just have an abortion.
I'd counter that nobody "just" has an abortion. That statement trivializes the event, in a way that completely contradicts experience. There's a huge difference between someone who, for whatever reasons, undergoes more than one abortion, and someone who views abortion as an acceptable means of birth control.
I personally know nobody, nor have I ever heard of anyone (I used to live with three people who staffed small women's health clinic, they had to deal with literally hundreds or more; and my mother and sister are nurses) who views abortion as alternative birth control. My sister, originally pro-life but now pro-choice (and particularly concerned with the abortion issue as she struggled for 15 years with infertility) has come to believe that abortion-as-contraceptive is a pro-life urban legend. I'm not sure I go that far, as human beings can be astonishingly self-centered and narcissistic; but I'd bet my life savings that the number is statistically insignificant.
reply
share