Clarify your values

I found this survey via The Abortioneers I would be really interested in reading responses from pro-choice inviduals as well as the anti-choice crowd. Here are my answers:

Do you agree, disagree, or feel unsure about the following statements(?):

1. "Every woman has the right to choose to terminate a pregnancy regardless of when during the pregnancy." Agree.


2. "Abortion should be allowed even beyond 24 weeks of pregnancy." Agree.


3. "Parental consent should be required for any teen under the age of 18 requesting an abortion." Disagree. Anti-choicers often compare the varying state-by-state "consent" laws to the age restriction on buying GUNS. Fucking hell, There are so many things wrong with this comparison, that I have decided to leave that rant for a forthcoming blog entry! Stay tuned!


4. "Women who have more than 5 abortions are irresponsible." Unsure. There could be countless reasons for having that many abortions, and irresponsibility is only one of them. I don't know. It's a very subjective and judgmental conclusion to make without knowing individual circumstances.


5. "Women who have more than 10 abortions are irresponsible." Unsure.


6. "Women should not use abortion as a form of birth control." Agree. Although abortion is technically birth control, I don't think that it should be used as a regular birth control method. There's an 85% likelihood of pregnancy without using any contraceptive. If you only rely on abortion every time, you're looking at a lot of money down the drain, assuming you don't have any qualms with the draining physical process.

7. "I think reproductive health advocacy organizations should promote the use of emergency contraception in order to decrease the number of abortions in the US each year." Agree.


8. "I feel uncomfortable if a woman has an abortion because of the gender of the pregnancy." Agree. Although I may feel uncomfortable about a woman who chooses to abort based on gender, it is not my place to tell her what to do with her body or the gender of potential offspring. As long as she is the only one making this decision (as in: not being coerced), then I trust her, even though I may disagree with her.


9. "Male partners should have the right to be a part of the decision to terminate a pregnancy." Disagree. That would open up so many horrible possibilities. Forced birth being just one of them. And when forcing someone to give birth is legal, then you also have forced abortion.


10. "I think a woman's right to choose to have an abortion is an absolute and inalienable right no matter what." Agree.


open-ended finish the sentence:


1. Abortions are: the intentional and therapeutic termination of a pregnancy.


2. Women who have abortions are: women who don't want or can't care for a(nother) child, and should never be judged for their decision.


3. A woman facing an unwanted pregnancy needs to: educate herself on all of the available options and then imagine how her life would be effected by each hypothetical scenario. Then, it is up to her - and only her - to decide what to do.


4. In this country, abortion should be: safe, legal, and available. Always.


5. People working to restrict abortion should: read more, research more, question more, and think more... outside of their church and the confines of their own narrow world view. And learn to respect women more.


6. People working on behalf of women's right to choose should: never give up and should be respected for their brave work in the medical field, and as activists, escorts, legislators, and writers.