Abortion

[Jimmy Higgins]

But if you don't recognize the heart of the issue there's no reasonable hope of solving it. And for most of them the heart of the issue is punishing sex they disapprove of.

I wish I knew; they exasperate me too. All I can suggest is that we try to meet them half-way -- treat their concern for the unborn as sincere and reasonable, don't accuse them of hating women, or wanting to punish sex.

The problem is it is impossible to solve a problem when you ignore the data. ...This isn't demonizing anyone, it is recognizing truth. It is putting all of the pieces to the puzzle together that provide us their motive. The movement is anti-sex.

How does making an issue of that help solve the problem? They are what they are.

They would be incapable of being negotiated with.

Explaining to them that the people they look down on look down on them too is going to make them want to change in order to earn our approval?

They don't want my approval. They want to legislate how people have sex.

We've seen it with the legislation they've past, the fake pregnancy support clinics, make up fake breast cancer threats, anti-gay movement, sex "education" programs, attempts to restrict access to contraception... it's all about putting sex in a box that only they get to open up and dole out. None of this is demonizing, out-of-context, or hyperbole.

Your plan is to work with these people, that lie to teens, pregnant women, and the general public. Not to get them upset. They aren't upset, they are obsessed with the power to rule over our sexuality. They are about to get a huge victory, bigger than Roe v Wade was for female freedom. And based on the draft text, that victory will expand, and there is absolutely nothing we can do but wait and hope Kavanaugh holds a kegger because SCOTUS can overturn any law they darn well please, and this court is showing they'll do exactly that.

Let me know how your collaboration goes with the movement that has not the slightest interest in what you think. They hold the reins to judicial power in the US. You think they'll give any of that up in a compromise?!

 

[Bomb#20]

I wish I knew; they exasperate me too. All I can suggest is that we try to meet them half-way -- treat their concern for the unborn as sincere and reasonable, don't accuse them of hating women, or wanting to punish sex.

The problem is it is impossible to solve a problem when you ignore the data. ...This isn't demonizing anyone, it is recognizing truth. It is putting all of the pieces to the puzzle together that provide us their motive. The movement is anti-sex.

How does making an issue of that help solve the problem? They are what they are.

They would be incapable of being negotiated with.

Explaining to them that the people they look down on look down on them too is going to make them want to change in order to earn our approval?

They don't want my approval. They want to legislate how people have sex.

Yes, that was my point. Since they don't want your approval, how the bejesus do you figure that you telling them about the thing they're doing that you disapprove of is going to help solve the problem? You say "The problem is it is impossible to solve a problem when you ignore the data." Well, it's equally impossible to solve the problem when you make a stink about the data. So what makes you think you've produced a substantive argument for not ignoring the data? Go ahead and ignore the data -- the data is true, but it's useless to us.

Your plan is to work with these people

What? No! Working with these people is Rhea's plan, not mine. My plan is to say "Nice doggie" while backing away. My plan is to de-escalate as best we can, try not to rile them up, and try to get them so bored with the topic they stop voting single-issue on it. The only thing to be done to actually secure abortion rights in the next few years is to set up an off-shore network to mail women RU486 in unrecognizable envelopes from non-repeating return addresses.

Let me know how your collaboration goes with the movement that has not the slightest interest in what you think. They hold the reins to judicial power in the US. You think they'll give any of that up in a compromise?!

Let me know how screaming about how "they are obsessed with the power to rule over our sexuality" goes. Oh, never mind, we already know how that goes. Our side has been loudly proclaiming for decades that the pro-lifers don't care about life and only want to punish sex, and all we have to show for it is they've gone to a considerable effort to disprove the accusation, by getting rid of the rape/incest exception. Thanks a lot, guys. How the hell did you all think they were going to react to that unpleasant truth?

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I wish I knew; they exasperate me too. All I can suggest is that we try to meet them half-way -- treat their concern for the unborn as sincere and reasonable, don't accuse them of hating women, or wanting to punish sex.

The problem is it is impossible to solve a problem when you ignore the data. ...This isn't demonizing anyone, it is recognizing truth. It is putting all of the pieces to the puzzle together that provide us their motive. The movement is anti-sex.

How does making an issue of that help solve the problem? They are what they are.

They would be incapable of being negotiated with.

Explaining to them that the people they look down on look down on them too is going to make them want to change in order to earn our approval?

They don't want my approval. They want to legislate how people have sex.

Yes, that was my point. Since they don't want your approval, how the bejesus do you figure that you telling them about the thing they're doing that you disapprove of is going to help solve the problem?

Never said that it did. I voted for people that would help appoint judges that wouldn't overturn Roe v Wade or a legislative derivative of it. Instead two guys who didn't even win the popular vote won the right to undo Roe v Wade, among other things.

 

[Learner]

No... you misunderstood? I said, I wouldn't be for any woman being forced to have abortions 'against their will' against their final decision!

Right - and since no one said this (women should be forced to have abortions) and no one is saying this and no group is advocating for it and no laws are being drafted to create the situation,

then your statement

ike the reason as you would say rightly, the manner of being forced against the will, to have an abortion (or for that matter, being psychologically persuaded to have one for some social political agenda), also...

is one or several of:

• a deliberate false accusation to poison opinion
• a deliberate false accusation as red herring to distract from your lack of argument
• bearing false witness
• Cultish delusion

• Perhaps there is some other answer for why you would pose the question; that somehow explains that you know it is utterly untrue while still posing it multiple times. Enlighten us.

Ok, I see I have made a mistake here. Sorry about that. I meant to say, I wouldn't be for anyone being foced 'not to have an abortion' against the individuals will, when they've made up their minds. It should have reads as:

"liike the reason as you would say rightly, the manner of being forced against the will, to NOT have an abortion (or for that matter, being psychologically persuaded to have one for some social political agenda),"

Following on by the bit, (or for that matter,...). I'm saying here, I wouldn't be for any idividuals being forced to have an abortion either!

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

No... you misunderstood? I said, I wouldn't be for any woman being forced to have abortions 'against their will' against their final decision!

Right - and since no one said this (women should be forced to have abortions) and no one is saying this and no group is advocating for it and no laws are being drafted to create the situation,

then your statement

ike the reason as you would say rightly, the manner of being forced against the will, to have an abortion (or for that matter, being psychologically persuaded to have one for some social political agenda), also...

is one or several of:

• a deliberate false accusation to poison opinion
• a deliberate false accusation as red herring to distract from your lack of argument
• bearing false witness
• Cultish delusion

• Perhaps there is some other answer for why you would pose the question; that somehow explains that you know it is utterly untrue while still posing it multiple times. Enlighten us.

Ok, I see I have made a mistake here. Sorry about that. I meant to say, I wouldn't be for anyone being foced 'not to have an abortion' against the individuals will, when they've made up their minds. It should have reads as:

"liike the reason as you would say rightly, the manner of being forced against the will, to NOT have an abortion (or for that matter, being psychologically persuaded to have one for some social political agenda),"

Following on by the bit, (or for that matter,...). I'm saying here, I wouldn't be for any idividuals being forced to have an abortion either!

Why? For the mother's sake or just the fetus's?

 

[Learner]

No... you misunderstood? I said, I wouldn't be for any woman being forced to have abortions 'against their will' against their final decision!

Right - and since no one said this (women should be forced to have abortions) and no one is saying this and no group is advocating for it and no laws are being drafted to create the situation,

then your statement

ike the reason as you would say rightly, the manner of being forced against the will, to have an abortion (or for that matter, being psychologically persuaded to have one for some social political agenda), also...

is one or several of:

• a deliberate false accusation to poison opinion
• a deliberate false accusation as red herring to distract from your lack of argument
• bearing false witness
• Cultish delusion

• Perhaps there is some other answer for why you would pose the question; that somehow explains that you know it is utterly untrue while still posing it multiple times. Enlighten us.

Ok, I see I have made a mistake here. Sorry about that. I meant to say, I wouldn't be for anyone being foced 'not to have an abortion' against the individuals will, when they've made up their minds. It should have reads as:

"liike the reason as you would say rightly, the manner of being forced against the will, to NOT have an abortion (or for that matter, being psychologically persuaded to have one for some social political agenda),"

Following on by the bit, (or for that matter,...). I'm saying here, I wouldn't be for any idividuals being forced to have an abortion either!

Why? For the mother's sake or just the fetus's?

You recognise the female as a mother, but the feus is "just a fetus".... that has a mother?

For the mother and her 'newborn child's sake, I'd say..

 

[Learner]

What can be done about the differences of views? Well, butting the fuck out of other people’s business might be a good starting point. Other people have their own views, and when those views relate to how they choose to use their own bodies, your dissenting view is utterly worthless and irrelevant, and your insistence in having any say whatsoever is vile and evil. Keep your opinions to yourself.

Charming. You have your opinion too at least Somewhat passionate, but fair enough, as you see it..

Yeah, my opinion is that people should be free to act on their own opinions with regards to their own bodies and their own private lives.

And who's arguing against that?

You bet your life I am fucking passionate about this; And you can shove your ‘charming’ up your hairy arse.

I would much rather that people expressed noble sentiments in crude language, than that they expressed evil sentiments in polite terms, and pretended that politeness is somehow an indication that their motives are no longer evil.

Seeking to strip people of their right to self-determination, in favour of compelling them to conform to your opinions, is the most vile thing I can easily imagine, and massively outweighs using a few profanities for emphasis as an indication of evil.

Utter tosh. Where do I actually say "strip people of their rights?" It does sound noble stating the obvious, the rights of individuals etc..

I sincerely hope that I have shocked you; Rest assured that my foul language is not even a fraction as shocking or as unpleasant as your sweetly expressed desire to control other people’s lives.

No not at all shocked. but I am hoping too, you're not going to be offended, and that you can 'take what you give' so to speak:

Your passion I meant previously (in a polite way), seems to me, you're being riled up from your pride.

 

[bilby]

What can be done about the differences of views? Well, butting the fuck out of other people’s business might be a good starting point. Other people have their own views, and when those views relate to how they choose to use their own bodies, your dissenting view is utterly worthless and irrelevant, and your insistence in having any say whatsoever is vile and evil. Keep your opinions to yourself.

Charming. You have your opinion too at least Somewhat passionate, but fair enough, as you see it..

Yeah, my opinion is that people should be free to act on their own opinions with regards to their own bodies and their own private lives.

And who's arguing against that?

You bet your life I am fucking passionate about this; And you can shove your ‘charming’ up your hairy arse.

I would much rather that people expressed noble sentiments in crude language, than that they expressed evil sentiments in polite terms, and pretended that politeness is somehow an indication that their motives are no longer evil.

Seeking to strip people of their right to self-determination, in favour of compelling them to conform to your opinions, is the most vile thing I can easily imagine, and massively outweighs using a few profanities for emphasis as an indication of evil.

Utter tosh. Where do I actually say "strip people of their rights?" It does sound noble stating the obvious, the rights of individuals etc..

I sincerely hope that I have shocked you; Rest assured that my foul language is not even a fraction as shocking or as unpleasant as your sweetly expressed desire to control other people’s lives.

No not at all shocked. but I am hoping too, you're not going to be offended, and that you can 'take what you give' so to speak:

Your passion I meant previously (in a polite way), seems to me, you're being riled up from your pride.

Nah, I am just sick of your shit.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Why? For the mother's sake or just the fetus's?

For the mother and her 'newborn child's sake, I'd say..

So empathy for the mother dissolves if she wants the abortion?

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Well, those pro-lifers better get their butts into gear now that they'll be helping all those women that didn't want to be pregnant or have children... will be forced by the Government to endure the rest of pregnancy and have children.

I'm not expecting much follow through, of course, their moral stance is more bankrupt that Donald Trump's casinos.

 

[Rhea]

Well, those pro-lifers better get their butts into gear now that they'll be helping all those women that didn't want to be pregnant or have children... will be forced by the Government to endure the rest of pregnancy and have children.

I'm not expecting much follow through, of course, their moral stance is more bankrupt that Donald Trump's casinos.

They will not do anything to help beyond a token available to those willing to be targeted for indoctrination.

They have had CENTURIES to demonstrate care for families resulting from accidental pregancy, and their efforts have been as insubstantial as a ghost.

It will be easy to see if the number of children in poverty rise, if the number of children in foster care rise, if the number of women in the workforce drops, if the number of children suffering abuse rises. It will be EASY to see if the “pro-life” people have any interest in the already born. But azgain, they have had 50 years to show their capacity for compassion of the born and to poor under Roe, and they have had centuries to show their capacity for compassion outside of it.

They told us who they are. I believe them.

 

[prideandfall]

So what’s the approach then?

step 1: stop apologizing for being pro-choice.
this is both at the personal and national level, because basically every pro-choice advocate i've ever encountered is supremely sorry for being pro-choice and will instantly jump at the chance to make concessions about the terms and limits to abortion access.

step 2: change the cultural attitude of those who are pro-choice to stop being such cunts about it, ie: most pro-choice people i know shame women for getting abortions either expressly or implicitly.

step 3: use the power you have to influence the power you don't have. seriously, ya'll need to stop fucking men, until they get off their asses and make abortion legal.

step 4: stop arguing the abortion topic on their terms.
jesus fuck, stop arguing about when life starts - just look at this thread, over half of it was completely intellectually derailed by the obvious red herring or 'when is it a baby' which completely detracted from the actual discussion about abortion rights.
when life begins is irrelevant, because it's a goal post you can't shift with people who believe life begins at conception, so the only way that conversation can go is for the pro-choice person to cede ground.
the instant a sperm hits an egg, it's a person, ok? and killing it is justifiable homicide, the same way it's justifiable homicide to kill someone breaking into your house, or for a soldier to kill an enemy in a war, or a state to kill someone for a capital crime.
we as a society have dozens of reasons why it's OK to kill someone, abortion is just another one on that list.

 

[Bomb#20]

... stop arguing about when life starts - just look at this thread, over half of it was completely intellectually derailed by the obvious red herring or 'when is it a baby' which completely detracted from the actual discussion about abortion rights.
when life begins is irrelevant, because it's a goal post you can't shift with people who believe life begins at conception, so the only way that conversation can go is for the pro-choice person to cede ground.
the instant a sperm hits an egg, it's a person, ok? and killing it is justifiable homicide, the same way it's justifiable homicide to kill someone breaking into your house, or for a soldier to kill an enemy in a war, or a state to kill someone for a capital crime.
we as a society have dozens of reasons why it's OK to kill someone, abortion is just another one on that list.

Oh for the love of god. "The instant a sperm hits an egg, it's a person, ok?" is the pro-choice person ceding ground! You are proposing that we abandon an argument that's persuasive to 50% of the electorate and instead employ an argument that's persuasive to 5% of the electorate. The other 95% will perceive that burglars, enemy combatants and murderers tried to hurt us, and the unborn didn't. Are you bloody well trying to lose?!?

 

[prideandfall]

Oh for the love of god. "The instant a sperm hits an egg, it's a person, ok?" is the pro-choice person ceding ground!

no, that conceding a point for the sake of argument. but zero ground is being given in terms of the ideology being espoused.
most people get trapped in a pointless round-and-round where the religious nutbag insists life begins at fertilization, the limp-wrist pro-choice advocate tries to argue against that, neither person budges whatsoever on the point, and nothing is accomplished even from a rhetorical perspective.

You are proposing that we abandon an argument that's persuasive to 50% of the electorate and instead employ an argument that's persuasive to 5% of the electorate. The other 95% will perceive that burglars, enemy combatants and murderers tried to hurt us, and the unborn didn't. Are you bloody well trying to lose?!?

what argument is it you think is persuasive here?
if you're pro-choice anyways then the question of when life begins doesn't matter (excepting that for many it seems to be an arbitrary cut off point where one is no longer pro choice), because it's not a factor in your being pro-choice otherwise.
if you're a forced-birther, the question of when life begins is irrelevant because you believe it's at conception and *nothing* will change your mind on that so arguing the issue is a complete waste of time.

the 'when does life begin' argument is meaningless for abortion rights, not one single person in the history of the human species was ever against the murder of an innocent child until someone said "oh well it's not a child yet until the 3rd trimester" and then totally changed their mind about murdering children and was OK with it.
that never happens. nobody is convinced by that. there is no persuasion being done with this line of argument, it's the appendix of intellectual discourse - it does nothing except get infected and then eventually explode.

 

[Jarhyn]

... stop arguing about when life starts - just look at this thread, over half of it was completely intellectually derailed by the obvious red herring or 'when is it a baby' which completely detracted from the actual discussion about abortion rights.
when life begins is irrelevant, because it's a goal post you can't shift with people who believe life begins at conception, so the only way that conversation can go is for the pro-choice person to cede ground.
the instant a sperm hits an egg, it's a person, ok? and killing it is justifiable homicide, the same way it's justifiable homicide to kill someone breaking into your house, or for a soldier to kill an enemy in a war, or a state to kill someone for a capital crime.
we as a society have dozens of reasons why it's OK to kill someone, abortion is just another one on that list.

Oh for the love of god. "The instant a sperm hits an egg, it's a person, ok?" is the pro-choice person ceding ground! You are proposing that we abandon an argument that's persuasive to 50% of the electorate and instead employ an argument that's persuasive to 5% of the electorate. The other 95% will perceive that burglars, enemy combatants and murderers tried to hurt us, and the unborn didn't. Are you bloody well trying to lose?!?

And yet you didn't grok that calling oneself "pro-abortion" is dumb?

 

[Bomb#20]

Oh for the love of god. "The instant a sperm hits an egg, it's a person, ok?" is the pro-choice person ceding ground! You are proposing that we abandon an argument that's persuasive to 50% of the electorate and instead employ an argument that's persuasive to 5% of the electorate. The other 95% will perceive that burglars, enemy combatants and murderers tried to hurt us, and the unborn didn't. Are you bloody well trying to lose?!?

And yet you didn't grok that calling oneself "pro-abortion" is dumb?

How are you getting that? It's insisting on being called "pro-choice" and making a public show of rejecting the term "pro-abortion" that's dumb. It's just another piece of the old "I want abortion to be safe, legal and rare" saw. They're dumb for exactly the same reason p&f's strategy is dumb. Put yourself in the other guy's shoes. How do you think discourse like that sounds in the ears of pro-lifers? It sounds to them like an admission that the instant a sperm hits an egg, it's a person! If an embryo were really "just a clump of cells", why would we want getting rid of it to be rare? It's just handing the other side rhetorical ammunition for free, along with wiping away any cognitive dissonance they might have about ascribing personhood to unicellular organisms. "I don't need to check for flaws in my own position and take the other guy's argument seriously, because not even he believes it." is an ever-tempting reasoning trap. Don't help them fall into it.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

The term 'pro-abortion' is a red herring. To me, the fundamental aspect is whether the State has the right to intercede in the intimate life of a woman (and people in general). That requires legal access to abortion, but it is so much larger than just abortion, so pro-abortion is nothing but a red herring made to paint a broad civil rights position into a one solely about abortion.

As we saw with Justice Thomas, he wants to recriminalize gay sex and allow states to restrict access to birth control.

A woman shouldn't have to be married to get birth control. Women should be able to access birth control as a simple right. A woman shouldn't require a permission slip to see a OBGYN. A pregnancy test kit shouldn't have to be accompanied by a state official. A woman has rights to herself. That includes abortion, but goes well beyond it.

 

[prideandfall]

How do you think discourse like that sounds in the ears of pro-lifers? It sounds to them like an admission that the instant a sperm hits an egg, it's a person!

so what exactly do you think the other side of that is?
forced birthers think that it's a human the second a sperm hits an egg, they already think that and they absolutely will not under any circumstances change their view on this, because to them it's an emotional choice predicated on a storybook - there is no argument you could ever make, no scientific fact or ethical point or biblical passage you could reference that will ever change their mind about when life starts.
so instead of debating the actual merits of bodily autonomy and medical rights, every discussion on abortion devolves into this stupid and pointless back-and-forth where we stop talking about abortion entirely and get into a theological game of "throw-a-brick-at-each-other's-face-and-see-who-passes-out-first".

how the fuck is that productive or helpful?
the delicate fee-fees of religious oppressors that you're so horribly concerned with are an immutable factor that will never change, so what difference does it make how the discourse sounds to them?

If an embryo were really "just a clump of cells", why would we want getting rid of it to be rare? It's just handing the other side rhetorical ammunition for free, along with wiping away any cognitive dissonance they might have about ascribing personhood to unicellular organisms. "I don't need to check for flaws in my own position and take the other guy's argument seriously, because not even he believes it." is an ever-tempting reasoning trap. Don't help them fall into it.

holy fuck you think religious people ever check their own position for flaws?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA seriously what is wrong with you? have you never spoken to another human being before?

arguing when life begins is ceding ground in the argument.
conceding the rhetorical point to move the conversation along to something that actually matters (ie, that abortion access is granted and you can't do fuck-all about it) is making actual progress.

 

[excreationist]

I just wanted to comment on "my body my choice"....

I think the baby is inside the woman's body but isn't part of their body. It is the baby's body.

Apparently in some abortions the baby is able to survive, at least for a while, outside of the womb. I think that makes the "my body my choice" argument even weaker.

Then there is the talk about abortion being a "right" - which I don't really follow.

On the other hand I don't really believe in "the right to life".

 

[Loren Pechtel]

I just wanted to comment on "my body my choice"....

I think the baby is inside the woman's body but isn't part of their body. It is the baby's body.

Apparently in some abortions the baby is able to survive, at least for a while, outside of the womb. I think that makes the "my body my choice" argument even weaker.

Then there is the talk about abortion being a "right" - which I don't really follow.

On the other hand I don't really believe in "the right to life".

If it were viable they would be doing a delivery, not an abortion.

In fatal fetal defect cases they sometimes induce labor--lower risk for her to deliver than to have an abortion, and in some cases it's deliver early or C-section at term. There are various things that won't interfere with survival in the womb but quickly kill once that protection is removed.

The "pro-life" crowd loves to make an issue out of hopeless cases where the doctors do the humane thing--nothing. If survival is impossible the attempt simply inflicts suffering (assuming there's a mind there that can perceive suffering) for no meaningful gain. If the lungs aren't adequate the baby slowly dies by lack of oxygen--that's why so many preemies at the edge of survival end up with serious damage.