Pages

Monday, July 23, 2012

Graphicly anti-choice.

Well, I was greeted with an unwelcome surprise on the way home from work today. I'm sure we've all seen the anti-abortion signs before. First you're greeted with a photo of a stereotypically cute baby. Then this photo is followed by graphic picture, after bloody graphic picture. This is a rather disgusting tactic and one that is rather misleading.

First we'll look at some facts. Did you know that 50-70% of pregnancies are spontaneously aborted naturally by the body... most without the mother never having known she was pregnant? So by the numbers, planned abortions are well outnumbered by unplanned ones. But since that isn't really relevant to the signs I saw, I'll move on. The most obvious point is the images they are using. Bloody, dismembered, baby carcases. Are they graphic? Yes. Do they get your attention? Undoubtedly so. But are they accurate? Nope.

The images they feature are actually progressed past what is a legal 'age' to perform an abortion in most places. This is very misleading. They try to grab your attention and make you think that every abortion consists of tearing a bloody child from the womb. This is hardly the case. Most planned (legal) abortions are performed very early in the pregnancy and are a far cry from the images these sick people plaster by the roadside. If fact, a woman recently documented her abortion in secret. This documentation can be seen here: http://www.thisismyabortion.com/  As you can see, no bloody fully formed child... just a jar of liquid. I will agree with the anti-choice crowd that late abortions are something I'm not comfortable with (unless the mother's life is in peril, or the child will die anyway). But that's not something we need to worry about since such abortions are already illegal in my country. Yet, rather than remain intellectually honest, they choose to go for the shock factor and mislead those that may consider undergoing this sometimes necessary procedure.

Part of me wonders if these people are as 100% opposed as they seem to be. What of cases of incest and rape? What about when the mother's health is in danger, or if the unborn child is known to have a defect that will either cause death at birth or a horribly painful life? Would they be against that? And why are they against it? I can tell you that the ones I saw today made it very clear that they were anti-choice for religious reasons. That's fine. You are entitled to your opinion. What you aren't entitled to is trying to get your opinion enacted as law and forced upon everyone else.

 Funny that these people are typically saying they are against government getting into our lives, except for when they want the government telling people they have to do what THEY think. There's a very simple solution to this problem. If you don't like abortion, don't get one. It really is that simple. My wife says that she would never have an abortion, yet she agrees that the option has to be there for those that need it. That really is as simple as it is. So please stop trying to force your opinion on others. Pro-choice doesn't mean pro-baby killing. It doesn't mean abortion required. What it does mean is leaving that option open for those that need it, and assuring that safe and legal ways to obtain this service remain available. If you're pro-life (actually anti-choice), you're safe. You can have your baby. No one is going to force you to abort it. So live your life and make your decisions by you ideals, and let everyone else do the same.

Oh, there was an additional bit of irony contained in their displays. Scattered amongst the many graphic images were signs that read "The pill kills". This one really calls for a facepalm, and for two reasons at that. Initially, the pill does not 'kill'. The birth control pill prevents the pregnancy. There is no fertilized egg growing and growing toward the end product of a child. There is nothing alive to kill. Well, unless they want to argue for the individual egg or sperm as 'alive'. But if they do try that, every menstrual cycle that doesn't result in pregnancy is murder, and all the millions and millions of sperm that don't fertilize an egg are victims of a genocide. I don't think anyone of sound mind would argue for that... but you never know. But the fact remains that 'the pill' does not kill a child in any stage of development, because there is no pregnancy to be in development.

The second point is a rather ironic one. They are denouncing the birth control pill. The vast majority of abortions are the result of unintended pregnancies. If these expectant parents had used birth control, they likely wouldn't have a pregnancy to worry about, and would never have been in the position of having to decide to abort or not. The people I saw today should be pro-birth control, not anti-birth control. Getting young adults to use proper birth control methods would slash teen pregnancy rates, but would also drastically reduce the number of abortions performed by the simple fact that the pregnancy was avoided. 

That said, if two consenting adults do take the proper precautions, and the birth control still fails, I feel they should be afforded the option to abort. They did everything to try an prevent the pregnancy, yet find themselves in that position anyway. I am against people using abortion as their only form of birth control though. That is a vast minority, but I feel that still needs to be stated. So, why the despise for birth control from the anti-choice crowd? They should be hugely in favor of it, as it would slash abortion numbers. Yet they oppose that as well. Curious, and highly illogical. The only answer I can draw is that they want to dictate your personal life in every aspect they can. That is something that is far from American, and closer to the theocracy that the founders sought to break away from.

So that's my take. That these sign bearers are crass individuals that have no logical argument, that rely of religious dogma to spread misleading 'information' and lies in order to try and control what you can and can't do at the whims of their personal opinion. What's your take?

-Brain Hulk

Please share, subscribe, comment and follow us on your favorite social networking sites!
facebook | google+ | twitter

No comments:

Post a Comment