Hmm. A small part of me is tempted to agree with you on the "reasons of convenience" bit. This is the part of me that is very hard and cynical and privately thinks that sometimes in life you get what you deserve. And if you can't stick it out, you're a pansy.
But you can't go through life thinking in those terms.
Also (and I really hate to pull this card, but it's necessary) you are a guy. If you were the promiscuous irresponsible type (which I know you're not) you could get some girl (hell, girls) pregnant and it wouldn't make a difference to you. You wouldn't have to go through the social stigma of being an unwed mother, you wouldn't have to give up 18 years of your life raising a child when you aren't emotionally equipped to do it right. The mother would.
If they can't be bothered by the consequences of their actions, then they shouldn't be having sex in the first place- Well the fact of the matter is, there are plenty of men out there who could knock a girl up and happily not deal with the consequences. No one minds nearly as much about this. If you want to outlaw abortion, you should make it illegal to be a deadbeat dad as well.
Also, I believe that women have the right to enjoy sex without being terrified of getting pregnant. (Which is another whole argument in itself, I know.) Obviously, I'm not saying everyone should have unprotected promiscuous sex. In this day and age, unprotected anonymous sex is a stupid this to do. But just because you've had sex doesn't mean you "deserve it" if you get pregnant.
The bottom line: biologically, procreation is something in which women are about 100 times more important than men. (Not to be crude, but with modern technology the male role in procreation can be reduced to jerking off in a cup.) The is a gift/responsibility which is ours from a biological standpoint, one that we should therefore have the right to control. Men would have to be able to have an unplanned pregnancy in order for this not to apply. Not bloody likely.
What I'm trying to get at is that there is an inherent inequality in our society to day as regards women, sex and pregnancy. It is this inequality which I think is one of the several contributing factors in abortion.
And until in our society it is impossible for the burden of parenting to fall solely on the mother, until there is a better emotional/social/governmental support structure in place for women who didn't plan on being pregnant, women will continue to get abortions. (And I'm not even touching outside the "convenience" abortions you mentioned.) Fixing the above, if it ever happens, is going to take serious time and money.
So practically speaking, in order to really accomplish something, I feel that the pro-life movement should focus more on fixing the reasons why women have abortions in the first place and not just work toward banning it without dealing with the root of the problem. As I said before, outlawing it is not going to stop it from happening. It's just going to make things more unsafe.
Re: Holy shit!
But you can't go through life thinking in those terms.
Also (and I really hate to pull this card, but it's necessary) you are a guy. If you were the promiscuous irresponsible type (which I know you're not) you could get some girl (hell, girls) pregnant and it wouldn't make a difference to you. You wouldn't have to go through the social stigma of being an unwed mother, you wouldn't have to give up 18 years of your life raising a child when you aren't emotionally equipped to do it right. The mother would.
If they can't be bothered by the consequences of their actions, then they shouldn't be having sex in the first place- Well the fact of the matter is, there are plenty of men out there who could knock a girl up and happily not deal with the consequences. No one minds nearly as much about this. If you want to outlaw abortion, you should make it illegal to be a deadbeat dad as well.
Also, I believe that women have the right to enjoy sex without being terrified of getting pregnant. (Which is another whole argument in itself, I know.) Obviously, I'm not saying everyone should have unprotected promiscuous sex. In this day and age, unprotected anonymous sex is a stupid this to do. But just because you've had sex doesn't mean you "deserve it" if you get pregnant.
The bottom line: biologically, procreation is something in which women are about 100 times more important than men. (Not to be crude, but with modern technology the male role in procreation can be reduced to jerking off in a cup.) The is a gift/responsibility which is ours from a biological standpoint, one that we should therefore have the right to control. Men would have to be able to have an unplanned pregnancy in order for this not to apply. Not bloody likely.
What I'm trying to get at is that there is an inherent inequality in our society to day as regards women, sex and pregnancy. It is this inequality which I think is one of the several contributing factors in abortion.
And until in our society it is impossible for the burden of parenting to fall solely on the mother, until there is a better emotional/social/governmental support structure in place for women who didn't plan on being pregnant, women will continue to get abortions. (And I'm not even touching outside the "convenience" abortions you mentioned.) Fixing the above, if it ever happens, is going to take serious time and money.
So practically speaking, in order to really accomplish something, I feel that the pro-life movement should focus more on fixing the reasons why women have abortions in the first place and not just work toward banning it without dealing with the root of the problem. As I said before, outlawing it is not going to stop it from happening. It's just going to make things more unsafe.