It occured to me today that my posts as of late have been mainly fluff: avatars, candles, news updates, and the like. There are a few things I’ve posted about recently—mainly the Larry King Live interview with LDS President Hinkley and my Ohayocon pictures & review—that have generated a veritable fuckload of search engine traffic, which is fun.
It also occured to me that I could quite possibly have forgotten how to formulate a proper written argument. (It’s been a while since undergrad.) This shortcoming could present a problem when trying to pontificate on a potentially controversial subject; after all, I’m not the sort to go spouting off at the mouth on a regular basis. So, when I do get on my soapbox, I try not to sound like a raving idiot.
So, instead of writing a proper essay, I will instead string together a few potentially controversial facts, and see where the comments go.
*dons flame-retardant gear*
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Fact Set #1:
I was conceived in… *counting on fingers* …the summer of 1975. My mother was 20 years old, and unmarried. My father, when she told him of the pregnancy, apparently offered to pay the cost of having me aborted. Thankfully for me, my mother refused the offer. I was raised my my mother and her mother, often with public assistance.
I’ve never met my father, but I know who he is. I’ve seen pictures. Although he never acknowledged his paternity, I was accepted by his sisters and his parents as part of their family.
Considering that he tried to kill me, I’m not too keen on ever meeting him.
Fact Set #2:
Eric Snowdeal IV was born on July 4, 2004. He was only 24 weeks and 6 days into gestation, making him a “micro-preemie.” He weighed less than two pounds at birth. Now, seven months later, he is progressing like a normal four-month old (in age-adjusted terms, of course) and his parents couldn’t be happier.
A fetus only one week younger than Eric was at birth may legally be terminated.
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I will now resist the urge to continue further. I expect heated debate already. If my facts are incorrect or incomplete, please feel free to correct me.
Discuss.
Wow, no one’s discussing. There must be a bunch of slackers reading your LJ. I’m afraid that I’m more or less in agreement with the way your post leans, so you’re probably not going to get much of an argument from me about this. I think abortion is wrong, except in cases of extreme birth defects. The “it’s the woman’s body” argument doesn’t wash with me because it’s also the baby’s life. I may be a scientist and a liberal, but I find that I can’t just arbitrarily pick a point at which life begins in order to give one person free license to destroy another person’s chance to be born. Life is life regardless of how many weeks along the fetus is and I don’t think that people should have the right to take a life at 20 weeks of gestation any more than they do at 20 years after birth. I feel sorry for women who have been raped, but I feel sorrier for the baby that will never even get the chance to take a breath or have an adopted family. As for those who abort as a means of fixing an “oops,” that’s the worst kind of irresponsibility. If you don’t want to be a parent, then don’t fuck anyone. If you get knocked up accidentally, suck it up and take responsibility. You can always put the baby up for adoption. There are plenty of couples who would love to have a baby and can’t.