What might the reaction be across the US were abortion to be made illegal ?

@abe182 i have read that there are more abortions than there were soldiers killed during the war 🤷‍♀️

@Snowvixen I guess..

@Snowvixen The practice of abortion—the termination of a pregnancy—has been known since ancient times

@abe182 Yes, people are getting abortions all the time. It’s an important tool in terms of being able to stay in control of your life.

@QuixoticSoul I agree. I think if birth control failed then yes it's an option. But if no birth control was used then I really don't have the answer for that.

@abe182 Why does that matter in the end? Either a woman’s right to bodily autonomy takes precedence, or it doesn’t.

@QuixoticSoul it has nothing to do with women's rights. It has to do with not able to raise the child.

@abe182 I mean, people who don’t want kids but aren’t using protection are the least well equipped to raise them :)

And it has everything to do with women’s rights. Abortion is legal because the fetus isn’t a person in the legal sense, and the woman has a right to make decisions about her body. Almost everything in this debate is totally incidental to that central issue.

The pro-life stance is rooted in giving person-entity-level protections and rights to the fetus, which then override a woman’s rights to make some medical decisions concerning her body. This is the axis around which this whole debate revolves.

If the fetus is not a person, then the circumstances around it’s conception don’t matter - whether we’re talking about birth control, life plans, finances, or rape - the woman can abort.

If the fetus is a person, then the circumstances around it’s conception don’t matter either - whether we’re talking about birth control, life plans, finances, or rape - it would be murder.

@QuixoticSoul With all the families looking to adopt .. babies in particular .. raising the child or killing it are not the only options. Saying that is nothing but a cop out in favor of convenience over being responsible for your own actions.

@Stillwaiting There is no reason to talk about raising anyone because ultimately the discussion here is about forcing someone to bring a fetus to term against their will.

Women aren’t incubators, and if a fetus isn’t a person, that settles the question. It doesn’t matter why or how, the woman decides what happens.

And if the fetus is a person - how it got conceived or how irresponsible/unprepared/criminal those involved were in the process simply doesn’t matter.

So no, it’s got nothing to do with irresponsibility, etc. The thorny bits are all in terms of rights and a workable definition of personhood. Concerns about responsibility, lifestyle, etc are all just red herring.

Tbh this is all pretty simple unless you’re one of the goofs that believes in souls and such. Then you’ve got religious dogma to struggle against. Which is, of course, the problem we have here in America.

@QuixoticSoul

@QuixoticSoul Thinking allowing termination of pregnancy up to point of birth is not ending a viable life or immoral as long as its for the convenience of the mother is the problem we have in America.

@Stillwaiting No, we don’t have that problem in America - pretty much every mainstream pro-choice opinion (including Roe vs Wade) includes a viability caveat, which is why outside of medical emergencies the line is typically drawn at the end of the second trimester.

@QuixoticSoul NY and VA changed laws to loosen 3rd trimester stipulations, loosen other stipulations, broaden who can perform. The bar is being moved to make it easier to obtain a 3rd trimester abortion and make it so Phys Assts and Nurse / Practitioners can perform. No other need for it given allowances already in place.

@Stillwaiting Phys Assts and Nurse can't [i]authorize[/i] it, and that's the part that matters anyway. There might be less barriers, but the justifications aren't changed - and in those circumstances, the less barriers the better.

Third trimester abortions are fucking serious business, they're not done lightly, and are traumatic enough that people who want to abort do so long before when it's as easy as taking a pill. You're making a boogie man out of this situation, for no real reason.