RE: Pro-life atheists
May 28, 2014 at 6:12 pm
(This post was last modified: May 28, 2014 at 6:12 pm by Heywood.)
(May 28, 2014 at 5:12 pm)One Above All Wrote: However, to impose my moral code onto others would be, in itself, immoral. Free will/Freedom of choice/Whatever you want to call it, should be our top priority when debating and deciding what others can and can't do. Think about, for example, someone who wants a tattoo. Should they do it? No. It will most likely ruin their chances of ever getting a proper job, if it's somewhere visible. But can they do it? Do they have the freedom to do it? Yes, because it is their choice. You don't get to decide what they do with their bodies.
Pregnant women who want an abortion are similar, but different in that they are affecting a second life form (by ending it) directly, even though it is inside their bodies and technically is a part of their bodies... No, wait... that's just it. It is a part of their bodies. It is, for all intents and purposes, theirs. To oppose abortion is not to be "pro-life". It is to be a "forced birther". Because women and fetuses (especially if the mother doesn't want her child; I'll expand on this after this paragraph) are put in danger before, during, and after labor. This link: http://www.who.int/pmnch/media/press_mat...llness/en/ tells us of newborn babies who die. This link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stillbirth#Prevalence tells us of stillbirths (note the "one every 20 minutes" stat for the USA alone), which are psychologically devastating to the mother. And this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maternal_de...bal_Trends tells us of mothers who die as a result of labor.
If the mother does not want her child, what makes you think giving birth to it will make her love it? She won't give it up for adoption, due to social stigma that forced birthers enforce. She will keep it, mistreat it (since they don't want it) and, eventually, kill it. If she does give it up for adoption, there's still this little disease known as "postpartum depression" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postpartum_depression). It can affect women who give birth, regardless of what they do with the baby, and women who miscarriage, and can be fatal to baby (if the mother keeps it) and mother. There's also postpartum psychosis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postpartum_psychosis), which is rarer, but still too common for my liking.
Satisfied?
You're rationalizing your copout.
The position that it is immoral for you to impose your moral code on others is untenable. If others thought it was morally acceptable to shoot gingers, would you not speak out against the shooting of gingers? Of course you would. But if your actions are consistent with your stated beliefs....you would remain silent. You would do nothing to stop them from shooting gingers because to do so would be an act of imposing your morality upon them. You are not pro-life. You are afraid of telling others they are doing wrong.