Teenagers and Abortion

[FIFI]

[quote=Harpist4u] The use of abortions in teenagers is just like another type of birth control. QUOTE]

That is grossly false. I know two girls who have recieved under four month abortions: one because she and her then boyfriend were foolish, the other under foul circumstances. Both were effected differently by there choices, but still NIETHER saw this as "another form of birth control" I highly doubt their are many in this world that view it that way. Steryotypes like this against teens just really burn my buns!

[OberonDOtherseid]

Most women are not likely to admit "Well I don't care if I get pregnant 'cause I'll just abort it"...though most have it as a option in the back of their mind in case all else fails....hey, if you don't have the sponge, the rubber or the pill, why not get laid anyway and take the chance? Abortions are an option, right?

[tman_ndsu08]

Quote by: OberonDOtherseid Most women are not likely to admit "Well I don't care if I get pregnant 'cause I'll just abort it"...though most have it as a option in the back of their mind in case all else fails....hey, if you don't have the sponge, the rubber or the pill, why not get laid anyway and take the chance? Abortions are an option, right?

If you value the creation of a new human highly, then it's not an option. If you don't, it is.

Neither opinion is right or wrong.

[asterix404]

The great hypocricy of our time is that we say we value life yet spend a majory of money on gun and weapons. We say we like children yet bring them up to be ignorant. We say that there are other options becides abortions but there are not. Adoption? I live in the great state of NJ, I have a freind who sister went into DYFUS or devision of youth and family serives. She was a ward of the state. Half of the kids in foster care are beeten and abused, the other half... well they are in jail becasue there is no other place to put them. They are treated like inmates. Now my friends sister... she was a ward of the state and guess how well she turned out? 19 just out of HS, no college, a "Boy Friend", very little money... and a child and guess who gets to pay all of this? We do, we pay her medacare and her medacaide and welfare and her college education if she goes to a state school. Now she was only abused for about 7 years in foster homes... oh yes a very viable option. Her mom who was 18 at the time she was born, 17 with my friend, was not taken care of by her grand parents or father since her father was in jail and her grand parents beat the living shit out of either of them if they spoke up and finially my friends sister had enough and went into the system. She shouldn't have a kid, and she shouldn't have been born. Adoption? Please, as far as an answer to that goes how does it fix anything? It's the same argument as "Well I can have sex cuz I can get an abortion" except this is like "I can have sex cuz I can just put the kid up later". Both are damn hard choises that absoultly no one ever takes lightly. The reason I can not regulate it at all, even 3rd trimester... if there a complication and if the fetus is not aborted the mother will die... and this occuers quiet a bit. I also think that if something trajic happens and you can not provide a good life for your child then you should get an abortion. It would solve so many peoples problems of not having a husband or job and living in a trailer park.

Now we get into how to prevent tean pregnancy... the ONLY government backed polocy is abstinance which fails 60% of the time. Everyone tells you that it's 100% effective but it's not... 60% of the time if a teen is asked by his/her partner if they want to have sex they will say yes. Now here comes the kicker... the government will cut funding to any school or college that teaches anything other then abortion, thank you so much bible wearing fuckers. (I say that with the upmost dignaty... sorta) The reason for that... I don't even know... apparently if we tell teens to not have sex they will magicly go against everything biological in their body and just not! Isn't that cool? The time when your body is telling you to reproduce the strongest is the time when all we have to do is just say no! We tried that with drugs... just say no... and it was so effective drug use is on the rise! Teach em all about birth control and proper use of it... teach them about Plan B and all of the uses of that... teach them about the sighns of pregnacy and when is the best time to get an abortion and WHERE you can get one and HOW you can get there. Maby then the teen preg rate will lower.

[gr8ridejester]

Quote by: asterix404 Now we get into how to prevent tean pregnancy... the ONLY government backed polocy is abstinance which fails 60% of the time. Everyone tells you that it's 100% effective but it's not... 60% of the time if a teen is asked by his/her partner if they want to have sex they will say yes. Now here comes the kicker... the government will cut funding to any school or college that teaches anything other then abortion, thank you so much bible wearing fuckers. (I say that with the upmost dignaty... sorta) The reason for that... I don't even know... apparently if we tell teens to not have sex they will magicly go against everything biological in their body and just not! Isn't that cool? The time when your body is telling you to reproduce the strongest is the time when all we have to do is just say no! We tried that with drugs... just say no... and it was so effective drug use is on the rise! Teach em all about birth control and proper use of it... teach them about Plan B and all of the uses of that... teach them about the sighns of pregnacy and when is the best time to get an abortion and WHERE you can get one and HOW you can get there. Maby then the teen preg rate will lower.

It goes back to being responsible for your own actions. Why do you think an unborn child should suffer for your ignorance. (I know, I already said this) The reason most of these programs don't work is because the parents fail to insist on accountablility from their child in the earlier years of their childhood. It is natural for a child to rebel, however, if the most basic values are instilled in the child at an early age, they will remember what they've been taught and not fall victim into peer pressure.

This is the same with sex, drugs and violence. This "Plan B" you mention is an easy out. "Oops, I made a mistake...oh well, I have option B" Where's the responsibilty in that?

The fact of the matter is, you say it's your "choice" but can you really "live" with that decision? You're adult enough to have sex, so, guess what, it's time to be an adult and prepare yourself to raise YOUR child. I would hope you could raise your child better than you were raised. Obviously, you lack the respect, dignity and appreciation for life.

[atheist]

Restricting the option of abortion is like saying to a woman's face:

"You have no rights over your own body."

(if you actually say this in front of one expect to walk away with a nice new shiner on your face ^_^ )

Despite the idea that if this woman had gotten pregnant she also could have prevented it by protection or abstaining, it still applies.

However it is also saying to a fetus' "mind" (if it has even developed one) "you have no rights to a life."

A fetus though, in my opinion, is LESS IMPORTANT than a fully functioning, moving, thinking, and actually "living" person. Although a human life is a human life I value beings that actually have experience and mobility than one that cannot even fend for itself.

[atheist]

I have a cool proposal:

*imagine if abortion were banned*

If a woman wants an abortion yet she still must carry it because of the ban, castrate the man that had impregnated her. BOTH sexes are punished this way; since the woman is forced to give birth to a kid take away the man's rights to have an erection. If they still want more kids make sure to store up loads of sperm before the castration.

If the man is willing to support the child if the female does not want it punish him anyway: they both got themselves into the situation anyway. Before one has sex one must sign a form acknowledging that they are having intercourse with another because they either A) want a child B) want to have fun (and are using protection) C) want to have fun without protection. These documents would help in clearing up any misconceptions between partners (i.e. a pregnant woman cannot have her partner castrated if the document said that they were having sex in order to have a baby, or had sex with protection). If no documents are signed and a woman is impregnated than punishment can still apply.

I hope anti-abortionists get message. I'm not really serious up there.

[syracusa]

Quote by: kingjust I agree with abortion before 12 weeks, anything after, set up for adoption if you havn't already grown attached to your child.

All pregnant women are offered the opportunity to undergo a test named AFP (stands fpr Alpha-Fito-Protein something). This test looks at the risk for Down, Trisomy, birth defects and other miseries of this nature.

It can only be performed between 15-20 weeks. If this test comes back "high risk" it does not tell you with 100% precision that there's something wrong with the child but it means that you need to investigate further (so need more time!). From here, you can go on to have a level 2 ultra-sound (that may tell you more) or get radical and just have an amniocentesis.

The amnio tells you 100% whether it is black or white. However, many people are afraid to do it becasue it carries a 1-2% risk of miscarriage and you do stand the risk of losing a perfectly healthy child.

How can abortions be OK only before 12 weeks when women would not even be able to know that they bear a severely handicapped child until much later?

I don't think so!!!!!!

I am having this AFP test on Thursday and needless to say I am on needles.
Believe me, things are not that simple (only before 12 weeks or else!).

[syracusa]

Quote by: The American They both are the same, and the fact is, this is a killing nation of its people. We have come to accept killing as a way of living. it is accepted now.

First: "killing" has always been "accepted" - not in theory but in practice. Don't tell me people didn't "use to" kill before. Just check history.

Second: aren't you seeing "killing" as a "way of life" and aren't you "accepting it" as "do what you gotta do" when you send the "boys" to war to kill other people that you think WILL attack you some day?

Na-ha. Doesn't hold water.

[syracusa]

Quote by: Harpist4u I do not understand why older teenagers (16-19) are still considered children. 60 years ago they would be married and having children.

You answered your own question. It is becasue 16-19 year olds were marrying 60 YEARS AGO! Not now. We don't live 60 years ago. We live NOW so you must report yourself to the now, not to 60 years ago.

2000 years ago slaves obeyed their masters. We don't live 2000 years ago.

KWIM?,,,

[syracusa]

Quote by: gr8ridejester In the case of rape, yeh, it's a sticky subject, but the baby should be given the opportunity to live. I know it sounds heartless to the rape victim, but there are other options besides doing worse to the baby than what the raper did to the victim. It may be your choice to have sex to create a baby, but after you've done the creating part, it's no longer you're body we're talking about. It's the babies body and his/her choice.

Forgive me for not contributing anything substantial to the discussion with this post. But...

ARE YOU ON CRACK???? !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No, seriously!

"Someone rapes me and I should be forced to have that child anyway".

Your statements reek of mental illness. Sorry.
Yeah - I consider myself offended. Very. If I could take away your freedom of speech, your right to vote and everything in between, I would.

Of course, I can't, but just know that I would. Count on people like myself!

[tman_ndsu08]

I say that anything inside the mother becomes part of her body.

Once the baby is birthed it recieves it's rights, not before.

[asterix404]

Alright now I am going to bight into you, I was nice before. First off how the hell do you get off not valuing life? How is it that having someone beeting for 18 years of their life in a DYFS home is better then not being born at all? How is it that the cost of that child that is passed onto the rest of us is better then no cost at all, or a one time cost to terminate? Plan b isn't something you fall back on... it never has been. Have people sure... but does everyone fuck no. My gf and I broke up and she was on the pill. She missed 3 days... not becasue she wasn't respociable but becasue she was distressed. Shes also 20 and in college. It would not be responcable for her OWN life to have the kid and deff not responcable for me since she made the mistake. I was looking at being roally screwed... but plan b saved both of our asses. She woudln't have also gotton an abortion... but a medically induced miscarrage... well those are alright because they happen. How do you feal about miscarrages which are normal? Should the woman be scorned and hated becasue she killed a child? What is the difference between a child lost in a miscarrage and a child lost due to an abortion? The child is dead... for all we know both could have been the mothers fault. The same amount of people who cause their bodies to misscarrage as a form of birth control are about the same number of people who use abortion as a normal contraseptive. Teach them about responceability? Trust em with a kid but not a car... trust them with a kid but don't trust them to drink or work 40 hours... umm there are a slew of things we don't trust people who are under 18 to do, and why? Because they are still learning about why we don't trust them. Around 18-19 then things actuilly change. I did... I hope many of you did. So I did take responcibility... and I will in the future if my life or my partners life is threatned with something that we can not handle. We will deal with it by whatever means we can live with... and if an abortion is on the table... so be it.

Here are some fun links: http://www.truth4youth.com/index_flash.phphttp://www.truth4youth.com/index_flash.php

This one tells you about how uneffective condoms are and how good being celbit is... this is the crap that we are teaching children to be "responcable" about... so to be honest go screw yourself... cuz obviously no one will screw you with your limited knolage about safe sex.

[syracusa]

The problem with pro-lifers is that they do not understand reason, logic or compassion for damned lives - they just know their dogma and know it well.

There's no arguing with this kind of people and this is why I do not understand why pro-choice people even bother feeding such threads.
Who are they trying to convince? Abd with what? With reasoning and argumentation?

Haven't you caught on so far that this method does NOT work???
Has using reason ever worked in this case? No!

When someone comes to me and tells me that even if I get raped, I should have that child anyway, because that's what THE DOGMA says - that is when I consider the debate over.

How about we end it here?
This thread is starting to stink.

Like nasty feet. :eek:

[LogicaLunatic]

Quote by: The American The fetus has rights before birth. We have laws stating so.

So the fetus can be claimed as a dependant when tax time comes?

If the fetus has rights then it is an american. If it is an american then I can claim it on my taxes.

:)

[moustache]

i believe that the fetus is a human being, and that abortions are wrong.

think about it this way, when you kill a child in the womb, you could be killing the next pope, or the next abraham lincoln, or the next ghandi. this child could live on to be a great person.

as for having the baby after being raped, i believe that is an exception. when that happens then an abortion can be considered in my opinion.

[tman_ndsu08]

The kid could also be the next great serial killer.

[syracusa]

Quote by: tman_ndsu08 The kid could also be the next great serial killer.

Very good one. Not to mention that statistically and matter-of-factly speaking - the chance for an "about-to-be-aborted" fetus to be the next pope or the next heroic brain surgeon are much smaller than his/her chance to be a delinquent or some other sort of human failure - given that most abortions are likely to be performed by people in dire circumstances, who are not exactly prepared to set their fetus on a glorious life trajectory.

Yet pro-lifers love using this completely absurd "coulda, woulda shoulda" argument along the lines of "fetus-could-be-the-Pope!" when in reality that unwanted fetus has waaaaaaay more chances to be the guy they will burn to put on death row in 20 years from now!

This reminds me of this scientist who had the guts and integrity to remind the public (hats off for this) that one of the very probable reasons for the decrease in violent crime over the past decades is that a large number of what would have been future killers and delinquents was aborted (abortions being legal and safe for everyone since Roe vs. Wade).

It sounds very logical to me.

[SVMc]

A few people have hit on this subject in here, which is IMO the most important one. We are talking about babies having babies. Where is our own responsibility?

No, I'm not absolving teens of all responsibility for their own actions, however I'm also recognizing the vast amount of studies out there that prove that teaching your children about sex, and as importantly about birth control and safe sex will equip your child to make better choices.

Simply looking at the difference in teen pregancy rates in most developing nations:

Despite recent declines, the current level of births to adolescents continues to be much higher in the United States than in most other developed countries.' Continued decreases in U.S. rates have only succeeded in moving the country's levels slightly closer to where those of most other developed countries were during the late 1990s. (By 2000, the teenage birthrate in the United States had declined to 49 per 1,000, as compared with late-1990s rates of 7-9 in Sweden and France, and 20-31 in Canada and Great Britain.)... At that time, differences in sexual activity were not found to account for the variation in pregnancy rates; instead, the limited available information suggested that use of contraceptives, particularly the pill, by teenage women was lower in the United States than in other developed countries....In addition to having a higher adolescent pregnancy rate, the United States has higher rates of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) among adolescents than most other developed countries.' Source]

Almost every academic study that cross compares developing nations and teenage preganancy / abortion / STD reaches the same conclusion. The United States has failed to teach it's children the basics of sex, birth control, and sexual protection.

Imagine the reduction in abortions if the money put into pro-life and abstinence training was put into sexual education.

[moustache]

i say we leave the killing and living up to god.