Why should I care about abortion?

I feel like many of your opinions on abortions are based on a false, and ultimately separate, misunderstanding of why people commit suicide.

Well, no, I actually do know a lot about suicide. I don't think it's very fair of you to make an assumption like that. Your understanding of suicide is probably based on what you were raised to believe. And I'm not the only person out there who disagrees with that stance. Entire cultures have had different narratives about suicide than the current popular one...

So long story short, I don't find that to be a very compelling argument...

A woman choosing an abortion is looking for a way to continue her life in the healthiest, happiest way possible.

I think this is a dishonest statement. Unless there's a life-threatening medical condition, her life won't end. And the abortion does directly result in the death of something that would have been a human if not interfered with.

Now, I preferred what the other person was saying about evictionism, but you don't seem to be going in that direction, so I'll just leave it at this: I don't find this to be very compelling...

This is so there is no additional 'person' inside to directly effect, only the potential the previous poster mentioned.

Right, I think I addressed that when I said I saw it as a scale. I don't see it as something as simple as "person" or "not person". I don't think a fetus is equivalent with an adult, but I also don't see them as equivalent with sperm. And I don't see babies as equivalent to adults, etc.

Suicidal individuals are looking for a way to escape being alive. They are often suffering from mental illnesses, which if treated, will often make them glad they do not follow through.

I don't find this very compelling. If a mentally ill person can be found responsible for, say, a crime, then I don't see why an adult human, who understands that their actions will result in their death, cannot be responsible for that. Furthermore, plenty of suicidal people have legitimate reasons for their feelings. I don't think it makes sense to assume it's irrational/unjustified in all cases of suicide, yet assume it's justified in all cases of abortion.

As for family members... that seems more than irrelevant to me. I doubt you would oppose abortion if a family member of the woman was against it. So it doesn't make sense to oppose suicide for the same reason.

Otherwise, if of sound mind (not suffering from mental illness)

Some mental illnesses are more or less incurable, yet do not make the sufferer incapable of making other life decisions in a rational manner.

, one might seek to commit suicide as a way to prevent or relieve the suffering of old age or terminal disease. This is in some places legal, and many consider it to be ethical.

This is equivalent to limiting abortion to "special cases" (e.g. rape or medical conditions) as I see it.

Honestly, I don't think your arguments are very compelling... I think it's contradictory to oppose suicide and support abortion. And I think that your arguments were heavily slanted to portray suicide negatively, even though the arguments for one and against the other are pretty interchangeable as far as I see (ex: if we are to talk about the reduction of crime/poverty abortion causes, we should talk about the environmental/financial benefits of suicide, too.)

I really don't see this discussion going anywhere because I think we just disagree on so many of the premises. So if it's alright with you, I'm going to talk to someone else.

/r/TwoXChromosomes Thread Parent