by natalienu 16 Replies latest jw friends
Ok I dont want to add to the flames here. But its not selfish to end a pregnancy. Especially when you know your not able to care for the child.
Selfish is a woman with 5 children who leaves them at home alone while she goes out and parties because she hasnt matured yet.
Selfish is a woman who beats the living crap out of her babies because she has not learned patience.
I have never had an abortion, But I respect anybody who has had to make that difficult choice in thier life.
Home girl you did as much harm as killing a tapeworm. As much as Fundys hate to admit the female body aborts more fetuses trying to concive than most women abort diliberately. The JWs have no soul. The baby can't breath therefore is not a breather or a soul. Nurologicaly you have to be pretty far long before it resymbols a human brain. The likeness is only skin deep for many animals can be mistaken for humans early on. If you really feel guilty ladies have a tissue sample taken and stored it will give you total piece of mind.
More importantly life is not sacred to God. He does not care he is going to kill us all anyway you did the mass of cells a favor because if I am wrong, and God is stupid enought to give it a "soul" then it it will be resurected. So will you.
This is really a hard question because everyone has a different viewpoint. If you believe that abortion is wrong one may think you should feel as guilty as if you were to have murdered someone in the past. On the other hand if someone thinks its ok then of course they are going to tell you not to feel guilty any more than you would for cutting your hair.
What you need to ask yourself is what you believe. A lot of people confuse morals and religion and they are two seperate things. Sometimes our morals dictate our religion and sometimes our religious beliefs dictate our morals, but you can have one without the other. So take religion out of the equasion and ask yourself, what do you believe? When does human life begin and when is it ok to terminate a life? Certainly we would all (well maybe most here) agree that killing a newborn baby is wrong. But what are your feelings about a full term fetus? Or a fetus at 6 months, or 3 months, or a zygote? The moral dillema lies within you, no matter who you ask, they are going to give you an answer based upon their own moral beliefs.
Its the easy way out to lean on the morality of others as a crutch to support your decisions, but the real challenge in life is coming up with your own morality and leaning on that. Sure you can take as examples other people, religious material, secular material etc, but the answer lies not within any of us here, but yourself. And with yourself is the only place that you are going to find peace with your decision.
I terminated a pregnancy when I was 16. It was the best thing for me at the time. I was just coming down from being an addict and my sister had just given her second child up for adoption. I knew if I had the baby I could not give it up and I knew keeping it would be wrong. I didn't have the baby. Sometimes I regret it, but on the whole it was right FOR ME> you have to do what is right for YOU!
Diana
Joysome said: I'm not trying to attack you for this....but that is the most selfish statement I've ever heard.
To which Catlady said: I stand by my statement, I don't think that I OR a child (which I made very clear in my post) should have to pay for life for an accidental pregnancy. How is it selfish to not want to live off the government (essentially the rest of society) on benefits & not be able to give my child a happy & financially secure life?
I would have to agree with Catlady on this one. If you know full well beforehand that you are not mentally, emotionally, or financially capable of giving a child a good home, then I think its a wise decision to end the pregnancy (if adoption isn't an option) There are too many people today that are horrible, horrible parents. They beat their kids, they abuse them sexually, mentally and emotionally. Or some are so preoccupied with the almighty dollar that they barely ever see their kids........sad to say but alot of these kids would have been better off if they had never been born. Each woman should have the right to decide what is best for her and the unborn baby. This is not something that anyone else can or should decide.
Thanks heaps for your input girls! Has made me realise I am not alone anyway.
But I know I made the right choice to do it as I have no intention of ever having kids.
Thanks!
Nat xx
The best essay I ever read concerning abortion was by the late Dr. Carl Sagan and his wife Ann Druyan. Originally published in Parade magazine, April 22, 1990 as "The Question of Abortion: A Search For Answers", and reprinted as Chapter 15 in his book "Billions and Billions".
The article asks the question "Can one be both pro-choice and pro-life" and looks at both sides of the subject in what I felt was a very fair manner, including the scriptural references which fundamentalists use to support their cause, and also including the scientific data available at the time the article was written.
In the early stages of development, there is very little to distinguish a fetus which will become a human from a fetus which will become any other vertebrate creature. Many people don't consider non-human creatures to be persons, so the question boils down to "when does the fetus become a person"? and the answer is "when uniquely human characteristics develop". The most human characteristic has nothing to do with the external form, but our brainwave patterns. Our brains are developed differently than even our closest genetic relatives, chimpanzees. Yet the brain doesn't show these distinct patterns until the 24th to 27th week of pregnancy, around the sixth month. Prior to that time, the fetus has some detectable brain activity, but it isn't different from what would be detected in any other vertebrate fetus.
From this, I gather that the soul hasn't moved in yet, because the vessel isn't ready to contain it. So if the decision is made to terminate the pregnancy, one isn't killing a soul, one is instead halting construction on the residence which would eventually be home to a soul. The soul which might have moved into that vessel will find another vessel instead. Should the decision to terminate be made after the 24th-27th week, the soul still would not die, but merely move out and find another vessel.
I strongly encourage anyone with questions about this topic to read chapter 15 of "Billions and Billions", as it provides what to me seems like a very rational and comforting viewpoint.
