Some morn, others celebrate Roe v Wade anniversary

U

UTIceberg

250+ Posts
After stopping to reflect on the 35th anniversary of this decision, a few things came to my mind. I was listening to someone talk yesterday about abortion who made an interesting point about the word fetus. Fetus generally is a word used to dehumanize and demean a growing baby, much like nigger, or spic, or wop, or kike, etc also are used to demean and dehumanize other groups in society. No one ever asks about the “fetus” (“How’s the fetus doing?”, “Are things good with your fetus?”). No, we only use the word fetus to try and dehumanize the fact that this is a living, growing person and just happens to be inside of another person. Next time you hear the word fetus, try using baby in place of the same word and see how the word fits.

Personally, I don’t think the answer to solving abortion can be made through legislation. Just like it’s not illegal to be a racist (in a general sense, not workplace, etc), I don’t believe making abortion against the law is going to do a whole lot of good. Rather, I believe the real hope for abortion relies in a societal change of mind. Once upon a time, racism was viewed as acceptable and appropriate for some. While it is by no means completely eliminated today, we have come a long way in how we view racism and its level of acceptance in society as a whole. Right now, abortion is viewed as acceptable, as a choice, as an option to be considered for some when a women becomes pregnant. That is the view I hope our society can change. I hope we can come to view the option of abortion in the same way we do racism. That it is something to which we are all aware of yet choose to reject in favor of doing what is morally right.
 
This thread is sure to go downhill fast. I'd just like to say I'm glad we are celebrating the 35th and not 38th anniversary, or I'd likely not be posting.
 
Manbearpig is a problem, not the usage of the word fetus.

Why not just come out and say "Hey, I think abortion is bad and I disagree with it" rather than using some ******** analogy to racist terms.

I also believe getting an abortion is a very personal decision and if you've never been faced with a situation where you have to decide on what to do, your opinion on abortion has no frame of refrence (donnie).
 
I appreciate your insights UTIceberg. As a person whose wife is 7 months pregnant I can assure you that when people talk about a 'fetus'/'baby' that you are planning on having they NEVER use the term 'fetus' Never have we gone to the doctor and the MD say, "Your fetus is going great!" This would be correct medically, but not the way we really use the word. The only two times that I can think of that we use the term fetus is either in a textbook, or with regards to abortion.

R I P the over 36 million Americans that have been slaughtered by the hand of a 'doctor' R I P the fact that more Americans lose their live every week through abortion than through the Wars in Irag and Afgahnistan combined.

History will view our time as one were have been almost as efficient at killing as Stalin or Hitler's Germany. What a shame the way we kill our own.
 
I can think of another situation Najia --

Unwanted pregnancy = fetus;
Happy to be pregnant = baby.

I think that was the point of the OP; calling the baby a "fetus" is a way of "de-humanizing" the end result of abortion and numbing the horror of making the decision to terminate a pregnancy. It is not as jaded as calling the baby a "parasite" but the political luggage associated with the term (in non-medical contexts) is there.

The question becomes whether the use of the term should be political and whether an individual's "coping mechanism" is fair game to the political process when that decision is already so difficult.

Abortion is not a cause for celebration, nor should it be a political football. It is a personal decision fraught with peril. We should be doing everything we can to avoid the decision on whether to abort - for the sake of all involved, including the baby.
 
washparkhorn, I've sat and taken histories from many women who do not want to be pregnant and aren't happy being so who have had no difficulty stating, "I don't want this baby." In fact, I can't recall ever hearing a patient using the term 'fetus' or 'baby' as a sign to being happy or unhappy about the pregnancy.

Regarding your second paragraph; the proper way to describe a medical procedure is to use medical terms. Try doing it any other way and you will regret it soon enough. What other way should an abortion be described instead of using 'fetus' or 'products of conception' or similar terms? You do know it is standard across the board for spontaneous abortions & elective abortions. It isn't like there is some particular choice to using the phrase for elective abortions only.

Medical language is made to be dry and neutral for a reason. This did not just start with abortions. Why single out an abortion and say "you know this description attempts to dehumanize the process." Well, with all due respect, ALL procedures or surgeries are described in the same manner.
 
There is a sure fire way to not get pregnant. Don't have sex. Reproduction is intimately connected with the act of sex. To biforcate the two is one of the main precipitants to our society's objectification of women today.
 
The decision to have an abortion is a personal one.

That being said, what would happen if every unwanted pregnancy resulted in the birth of an unwanted child? Do we have the educational and social support systems in place to take care of all these kids? The leaders of our country ignore the poor and uneducated; and as soon as a child exits the cute baby stage they are forgotten by the people pushing so hard for their existence.

My wife and I are expecting our first child and even at 38 I'm worried that I will make mistakes in raising my son.

Giving birth to a child is a lot different than raising one.
 
Is a miscarriage ("spontaneous abortion") an abortion performed by God?

Serious question, although certainly divisively stated.

If we are to pray for the millions of children slaughtered by doctors, should we not pray for the millions more slaughtered by God, nature, or whatever party you deem responsible for miscarriages?
 
Im pro-choice and hate abortions. It's a disgusting procedure. But God forbid my daughter ever found herself as the victim of an unwanted pregnancy, and her hands were tied because the government made that decision for her.

In reply to:
Click to expand...
 
I read the thread title as "Some mom, others celebrate Roe v Wade anniversity," and I thought someone was trying too hard to be ironic.
 
Some mourn, some celebrate, and millions were never given a chance at life.

When I consider the group of people we have running for President, I mourn the fact that there could have been a truly great leader among those millions.
 
I will say again what I said in the original post: I don’t think the answer to eliminating abortions can be solved legally. Making abortions illegal will do no more to stop them from happening than building a wall will stop people from coming over the border or freezing interest rates will stop people from being fiscally irresponsible.

My motive, as someone asked previously, is to eliminate all unnecessary abortions, ones performed under the care of a doctor, through the use of a pill, a coat hanger, etc.

I chose to use the original “inflammatory” language that I did because I think it is disingenuous to use the word “fetus” as if to somehow assuage the guilt some people feel.

I agree that the use of the word “fetus” is not always portrayed in this manner. I am certain there are many times people are not afraid to use the word baby (“I don’t want this baby”) and there are uses for fetus outside of the context to which I was referring. My original language should have been changed to reflect that.
 
It's mourn, people. Mourn.

Doesn't that book "Freakonomics" assert that the drop in the crime rate directly correlates to Roe v. Wade? That the children aborted had a much higher chance of being neglected by parents that wouldn't be able to care for them. this would set these children up to become criminals or people with mental problems.

I'm not saying abortion is good. I one person that has had an abortion. She has told exactly two people. I dont think she celebrates it either, but it was something that had to be done.
 
I was just about to post something similar, Subliminal. Who the hell celebrates Roe v Wade?

Oh ****, I just remembered I left my little smokies on for my Abortion Party tonight.
rolleyes.gif


And yes, there was an assertion that the crime rate has actually improved among the demographic of people associated with unwanted pregnancies.
 
I think abortion is wrong. But I don't think it should be criminalized. Like Bill Clinton said, it should be safe, legal and rare. Just like the original poster, I don't think the law is the right way to go, although I do think Roe v. Wade is a bad decision.

This abortion issue is weird. I don't think any woman actually celebrates an abortion. If she did, she would be viewed as insane or incredibly cold hearted. But if someone were to say, like I do, that you personally think abortion is wrong you are viewed as a bad person. It's like you're supposed to celebrate abortion in abstract, but abhor it in personal reality.

There have been some efforts to celebrate abortion, or more accurately abortion rights, but they never actually took off. There were the "I had an abortion" t-shirts that Planned Parenthood sold. And I think they tried to market some abortion rights Christmas cards or, I guess, Holiday cards.

This whole subject just makes me sad. I remember there was an article by an abortion rights advocate named Amy Richards in which she describes her own abortion, doing a "selective reduction." She was carrying triplets and she aborted two of them, delivering just the one boy. I don't know why, I just feel incredibly sad thinking about it.
 
The whole reduction in crime argument is the weirdest and worst post hoc rationalization I've heard on any issue.* There are moral and religious and political arguments on both sides here, but that should never be one of them.

I have no doubt that abortions reduced the crime rate, but to say that "It was a good idea to terminate these pregnancies, because 30% of them would have been criminals!" is really removing yourself from the real issues into bizarrely heartless statistical analysis. It is almost like you are saying, "I concede that this fetus is a person, but execution is proper because of the likelihood of being a bad person."

*I'm not saying the people on this board are arguing pro-choice on that grounds, but I've seen people elsewhere argue it.
 
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