New SD banning abortion..

[andromedaslove]

I don't think having stillbirth baby is the same thing as having an abortion. I think there would be more closure with stillbirth because there wasn't anything you can do about it.

When I first saw this comment I almost literally started screaming!! It took me a few minutes to calm down, and realize that in order for someone to make a comment like that, they obviously have not had to face either situation, and therefore truly have no idea what they are comparing.

When I was 19 years old I chose to have an abortion, and yes there were plenty of times that I thought about "what might have been", but I NEVER regretted my decision. Six years later, I found out that the son I was still carrying had a birth defect which was "incompatible with life", and in July of 2003 my son was born still. I could not function for months, there still is hardly a day that goes by that I don't cry because I miss my child, or wonder WHY this had to happen to him. There is ABSOLUTELY no closure whatsoever to what I have gone through, and I can guarantee you from first hand experience that my abortion and my son's death are NOT under any circumstances comparable.

 

[beckmrk04]

I never said Republicans are evil. And I guess not all of them want to eradicate abortion, just a general theme.

And yes, personal responsibilty goes a long way. Which is why I support teaching kids how to be responsible, teaching them about birth control and giving them access to it instead of just saying "Don't do it because we don't think you should."

But,why should women be held PERSONALLY responsible for babies they don't want when 1) their birth control method fails. 2) They are raped. 3) They are victims of incest.

But, there is nothing in place to hold someone else responsible. It comes down to the mother. And it is her body, her choice, her decision.

ETA- I think, personally, that when someone makes the very serious decision to have an abortion, which contrary to what many believe, is rarely an easy decision, it shows a huge amount of personal responsibility. They are aware that they do not want or cannot take care of a child. They are taking care of themselves. If that isn't personal responsibility, then I don't know what is.

 

[Linnie The Pooh]

When I was 19 years old I chose to have an abortion, and yes there were plenty of times that I thought about "what might have been", but I NEVER regretted my decision. Six years later, I found out that the son I was still carrying had a birth defect which was "incompatible with life", and in July of 2003 my son was born still. I could not function for months, there still is hardly a day that goes by that I don't cry because I miss my child, or wonder WHY this had to happen to him. There is ABSOLUTELY no closure whatsoever to what I have gone through, and I can guarantee you from first hand experience that my abortion and my son's death are NOT under any circumstances comparable.

I am so sorry for your loss and what you went through. That must've been unbelievably hard. So sorry...That is so sad.

I am pro choice on abortion b/c of a family member (literally decades ago when abortion was illegal). She was raped repeatedly by her father growing up and became pregnant, at least twice that we know of. The first baby had severe birth defects and died the next day. The next baby was severely disabled and had to live in an institution (which was what they did with children with disabilities in those days). He eventually died, alone, when he was an adult.

The sister of this relative found herself pregnant (by her father), and I am sure after seeing all the heartache her sister went through, was the reason she opted for abortion. Abortion was illegal so she went to a backdoor abortionist. She died the same day due to a perforated uterus, the autopsy states. She hemorrhaged and bled to death.

Both these relatives were teenagers when they became pregnant by their father. The first sister had severe sanity issues throughout her life and the 2nd lost her life at 18 years old due to unwanted pregnancies that were forced on them by their own father.

He was eventually prosecuted and spent a few years in prison for his crimes against his daughters. Once he was out of prison, he died shortly after. Their small town shunned the girls and their mother once all this happened.

While my example is extreme, it has caused me to become pro choice. I chose life for my children, and believe abortion is wrong, but I don't feel it's right to judge someone unless I've walked in their shoes. I don't think women make the decision lightly. At least I hope not. I will tell them what I think, but not what to do.

 

[TNKBELL]

I guess we should all be thankful that Walt's mother didn't abort him. Women have a right to what happens with her own body but does that mean unborn women? When someone kills a pregnant woman they are charged with double homicide...I mean if it's not a person...why the charge? No matter what the situation incest ect.. it is still murder, that doesn't take away the pain to kill the innocent. Maybe some people may think mentally challenged, retarded and down syndrome children should be killed, but I can tell you that I see love flowing freely from these sweet children and I have been blessed to know several in my life and I thank God for them...and I know thier parents do as well. What is the definition of life?

 

[Beth76]

I guess we should all be thankful that Walt's mother didn't abort him. Women have a right to what happens with her own body but does that mean unborn women? When someone kills a pregnant woman they are charged with double homicide...I mean if it's not a person...why the charge? No matter what the situation incest ect.. it is still murder, that doesn't take away the pain to kill the innocent. Maybe some people may think mentally challenged, retarded and down syndrome children should be killed, but I can tell you that I see love flowing freely from these sweet children and I have been blessed to know several in my life and I thank God for them...and I know thier parents do as well. What is the definition of life?

OK, seriously? You are very misguided. Who mentioned killing mentally challenged children? I missed that one. That would, in fact, be murder. Not every case of a person killing a pregnant women turns out to be a double homicide. And what about the pregnant woman who was caught driving alone in the car pool lane? That judged decreed that she was only one person, not two.

 

[Sylvester McBean]

What is the definition of life?

depends on your definition. defined, a genital wart is a living thing. and those lumps of living tissue are burned off people and left to die every day. it's an individual right to decide whether that form of life is allowed to live, not one left to be decided by elected officials.

 

[AnaheimGirl]

When I first saw this comment I almost literally started screaming!! It took me a few minutes to calm down, and realize that in order for someone to make a comment like that, they obviously have not had to face either situation, and therefore truly have no idea what they are comparing.

When I was 19 years old I chose to have an abortion, and yes there were plenty of times that I thought about "what might have been", but I NEVER regretted my decision. Six years later, I found out that the son I was still carrying had a birth defect which was "incompatible with life", and in July of 2003 my son was born still. I could not function for months, there still is hardly a day that goes by that I don't cry because I miss my child, or wonder WHY this had to happen to him. There is ABSOLUTELY no closure whatsoever to what I have gone through, and I can guarantee you from first hand experience that my abortion and my son's death are NOT under any circumstances comparable.

I'm sorry, I'm not sure if it was my original comment, or the one posted by Kristen that had you almost screaming. I'm going to respond just in case it was mine.

I in no way meant to compare abortion to stillbirth. I was just trying to use an example to illustrate how difficult and heartbreaking it is to place a baby for adoption, in response to the many people who try to compare abortion to adoption. I was speaking of a woman who has lost one child to stillbirth and placed one for adoption, and she indicated that for her the adoption was harder than the stillbirth. For her, she felt more closure knowing her baby had died, than she did not knowing about her birthdaughter. I think it goes without saying that a stillbirth would be infinitely harder on a woman than an abortion. So in a roundabout way, I was trying to say that adoption can be much harder on a woman than abortion. Again, this is in response to people who use the pro-life argument "just place it for adoption", as if there is no difference.

I'm truly sorry if I offended anyone by bringing this up. I haven't suffered the loss of a child, but I can feel my heart being wrenched out just thinking about it. I can't imagine the pain and I offer my sincerest condolences to you and others who have suffered this terrible loss.

 

[JoeEpcotRocks]

depends on your definition. defined, a genital wart is a living thing. and those lumps of living tissue are burned off people and left to die every day. it's an individual right to decide whether that form of life is allowed to live, not one left to be decided by elected officials.

That's quite an analogy there.

 

[Sylvester McBean]

That's quite an analogy there.

depends on your point of view. would you feel better if I had used a stalk of celery as an example? they all divide cells. life is life, the notion that humans are above it all is egocentric. everytime you mow your lawn, you're killing trillions of living cells. a human embryo is no different, except in your view.

 

[AnaheimGirl]

depends on your point of view. would you feel better if I had used a stalk of celery as an example? they all divide cells. life is life, the notion that humans are above it all is egocentric. everytime you mow your lawn, you're killing trillions of living cells. a human embryo is no different, except in your view.

You know, I think of this kind of thing all the time WRT the abortion debate. It's quite clear that humans place different values on different forms of life. We don't give a darn about cutting that grass. Most don't give a darn about that cow or pig that we want to eat, but are disgusted by the thought of eating a dog. What's the difference, really, besides it being a cultural norm?

I go along with the egocentric view that humans are "above" other animals. I also believe born humans are "above" unborn ones, and fetuses are "above" embryos are "above" zygotes or blastocysts. As such, I think that the rights of born humans take precedence over the rights of unborn humans, just as the rights of humans in this country take precendence over the rights of all other life. I abhor abortion, too. I think it's much more than the removal of a wart, but it's not on the same level as murder of a born human.

 

[Linnie The Pooh]

OK, seriously? You are very misguided. Who mentioned killing mentally challenged children? I missed that one. That would, in fact, be murder. Not every case of a person killing a pregnant women turns out to be a double homicide. And what about the pregnant woman who was caught driving alone in the car pool lane? That judged decreed that she was only one person, not two.

I think this person was referencing my post about my relative's baby who was born with severe disabilities due to the baby's mother being raped by her father. The baby lived to be older-I'm not exactly sure how old and died in an institution-with no family around him. The way I phrased it was wrong. I will try to correct it:

I wasn't trying to imply that this boy who lived and had severe disabilities should've been aborted. I was only trying to point out that it was heartbreaking for my relative who had at least two of her father's children, one who died shortly after birth and this other one born with severe disabilities who died alone later in an institiution. I meant that the mother and father/grandfather never went to see the child-just locked him away from the world- it was a sad, sad case which I think led my relative's sister (when she got pregnant by her dad) to decide to have an abortion, rather than go through losing a child shortly after birth due to it being born with no brain (that was the family story) and seeing one shut away in an institution for the rest of it's life. Because of her decision to abort her baby, she died.

I am a sped teacher and also have a son with a disability and I would never, ever, EVER imply that kids with disabilities or fetuses that have defects should be aborted. I didn't mean to convey that and I apologize. I hope my above statement explained it better.

A footnote, I knew that my son, while I carried him, was going to have a disability, but it did not affect my choice to have him, even when the doctor asked me if I wanted to abort him. I was told it would be a saline injection into my son in utero, that would stop his heart-painless for him. I was so traumatized by hearing that I was a wreck for days, it still bothers me to this day. I would've never done that. But I still believe in a person's right to choose.

 

[chobie]

I guess we should all be thankful that Walt's mother didn't abort him. Women have a right to what happens with her own body but does that mean unborn women? When someone kills a pregnant woman they are charged with double homicide...I mean if it's not a person...why the charge? No matter what the situation incest ect.. it is still murder, that doesn't take away the pain to kill the innocent. Maybe some people may think mentally challenged, retarded and down syndrome children should be killed, but I can tell you that I see love flowing freely from these sweet children and I have been blessed to know several in my life and I thank God for them...and I know thier parents do as well. What is the definition of life?

An embryo with a XX chromosome is not a "woman".

 

[momo3hods]

Thank you South Dakota.

Ditto!!

 

[momo3hods]

OMG what a freakin' trainwreck that site is! Leave it to the anti-choice people to glorify the abomination that is teen pregnancy and call it "God's gift!"

Teen sex and especially teen unprotected sex and pregnancy is nothing to be proud of. It certainly should not be glorified on a website for cryin' out loud!

Like someone else said, they blow pictures up to mislead people into thinking its a baby in there. Seeing those pictures does not change my mind about abortion, in fact the growth is even uglier than I suspected and now I am even more sure I'd get an abortion if this happened to me!

It is perceptions like these that make me sad. Particularly the statement about a developing child being referred to as "a growth". You were once at that stage, thank God and your mother for bringing you into the world.. I firmly believe we are humans from the time of conception to natural death.

 

[eyeoreismyhero]

I should have known it was the evil Republicans.

What ever happened to personal responsibility?

Don't say the personal responsibility phrase, the libs on the board don't believe in it and may go into a spasm!

 

[wvjules]

Don't say the personal responsibility phrase, the libs on the board don't believe in it and may go into a spasm!

Let the name calling begin.

Aborting a fetus that you are unable to take care of for whatever reason is taking personal responsibility. Would you rather that child be born to a mother that is unable to take care of it and/or love it as a child should be?

 

[chobie]

It is perceptions like these that make me sad. Particularly the statement about a developing child being referred to as "a growth". You were once at that stage, thank God and your mother for bringing you into the world.. I firmly believe we are humans from the time of conception to natural death.

Good for you! Don't have an abortion; its your choice to beleive in what ever fantasy you wish to.

 

[chobie]

Don't say the personal responsibility phrase, the libs on the board don't believe in it and may go into a spasm!

Liberal here who believes in personal responsibility. I firmly beleive that if you are failing at your job it is your responsibility and not the fault of your boss because she is a woman.

Terminating an unwanted pregnacy or a wanted pregnancy to save your own health is being personally responsible.

 

[eyeoreismyhero]

Liberal here who believes in personal responsibility. I firmly beleive that if you are failing at your job it is your responsibility and not the fault of your boss because she is a woman.

I'm more successful than you will ever be. Don't wanna upset you though just in case this is you crazy hormonal week! Oh I forgot, that isn't you fault is it!

 

[cardaway]

It is perceptions like these that make me sad. Particularly the statement about a developing child being referred to as "a growth". You were once at that stage, thank God and your mother for bringing you into the world.. I firmly believe we are humans from the time of conception to natural death.

It's no worse than the folks who focus on carrying the fetus to term as some kind of responsibility punishment.

You had sinful sex, you're grounded.