Abortion: 10 years as an atheist and I still don't get it

[robvalue]

I’ve always seen this as a harsh reality and a choice between two undesirable positions. The rights must ultimately be given to the mother or the unborn. Compromise is pretty much impossible. I then consider the consequences of each side, and personally conclude that giving the rights to the mother is less harmful overall.

I suppose as far as morality is concerned, I find the idea of restraining a woman and forcing her to come to term against her will, possibly over a period of months, to be hideously immoral. (This would be if a woman is found to be attempting to get an abortion.) So it’s not so much about being moral, but rather avoiding the most immorality. I think that if you don’t enforce this totalitarian measure, but set administering abortions to be illegal, you’ll end up with at least as many abortions still taking place in secret but with more injury and death to the mothers.

It annoys me when people on either side of this debate try to trivialise the other side, as if there is nothing to consider. We live in times where polarisation has become the norm, and so debate is difficult because people get hysterical about things and try to just shout the other side down.

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PS: Even with the restraint scenario in action, I suspect secret abortions would still happen at the same rate but women would just become totally secretive about their intentions.