Ok, usually when I start a debate with this kind of topic, it gets really heated and people start getting offended and flamming starts and all of that bad stuff. Lets try to have a mature debate about Abortion.

So, what are your views on abortions? Should the women that do it be charged with murder or should they be free to do what they please? I'll post my views once we get a good debate going.

I'm completely pro-choice, which is not to say I'm pro-baby killing (as I've been accused of before).

I do not consider anything without as personality to be a person. People in vegetative comas? Not people. Fetuses? Not people. "Kill" any of them, and I will not consider that murder.

I also believe in a strong separation between church and state, which is sorely lacking in American socitety. The United States has reached a sort of pseudo-theocracy, which is representative of a radical Christian sect that by all appearances is striving to dismiss the Constitution and basic civil liberties and inalienable rights as a means of strengthening their hold over the government and the institutionalization of the bible.

This directly relates to the pro-life movement, as they claim god should have the right to decide life and death, while they live hypocritical lives, sinning on a daily basis as well as waging wars without provocation. Hell, how many "good Christians" have sex out of wedlock, and how many of them become pregnant, and suddenly do "the right thing?" A lot.

Should abortion be used as a contraceptive? No. Girls need to learn to keep their legs together and along with guys, they need to learn self control. Should abortion be illegal? No. There are always cases in which abortion is the best for all parties. If a woman cannot support a child, she shouldn't have one. Adoption is a terrible option. There are far too many children up for adoption as it is, and there's no reason to add to the numbers, causing smaller and smaller precentiles to actually be adopted. What if the pregnant woman's health is at risk? Do you let her die? What about rape?

The entire notion of letting a fictional novel dictate society and lives is ridiculous. Let people decide their own lives.

i think abortion is wrong. So many families adopt kids now. My family has adopted 3 kids.

I'm actually in the middle of this. It's hard to weight out the issues when they can be interpreted in other ways. I agree with the fact they when they are fetuses, they arn't really a human. Though, abortion seems to be a permant solution to a temporary problem. Take Marilyn Monroe for instance. I read in her biography that she has had up to 50 abortions during her lifetime. In my opinion, thats disgusting and selfish and just downright wrong. Sex is glamorized today so of course teens are going to go for it. They need to accept the consequences and IMO, getting an abortion isn't the solution. I can see though, if the girl was raped and got pregnant, I could see her getting an abortion but i'm still...and will probably be in the middle.

That's wonderful - more people should be like that. Down the line, when I'm married and thinking about a family, if I can't have my own kids I would absolutely adopt. But the sad fact is that most people will not. Why else are fertility clinics so prevalent? I know several married couples in their 30s, 40s, and 50s (family friends) who could not naturally have children, and refused to raise a child who was not their "own blood."

If there was a high enough adoption rate to justify the creation of more orphans/parentless children, then I think having a baby and putting it up for adoption wouldn't be a bad choice. As it is, on a global scale, most children in orphanages or who are up for adoption just don't make it into a loving home. They live off the state, and when they're deemed old enough are abandoned or sent somewhere to work.

That is why I think abortion is a better course than carrying full term and putting a baby up for adoption. There is already too much supply and too little demand.

i think abortion is wrong.but if sum1 wants to have an abortion its their choice....even tho i think they should still have the baby and just put the baby up for adoption, if the dont want too keep the baby

Okay, that's your opinion. But what's the rationale? Even the person who responded about families adopting at least had that little bit of backup information. It seems like yours is a completely emotional response that doesn't have anything to back it up. So I urge you, back it up with a reason. I think that's the point of "mature debates."

And I'm not picking on you, I just wanted to take the opportunity to ask for people posting to give well thought responses with some substance to backing the viewpoint. It's a debate, not a discussion. Like I said, I was going to pounce on this earlier, but that add-in line about families adopting gave some merit to the earlier post.

i am not for or against it.. i just believe that it is the womens choice whether or not she wants to do it.

I'm 100% for it! It's womans choice what she wants to do with her body. I don't consider it as a murder.. hey accidently stepping on a fly is a murder too.. Even doctors consider child to be human when it's born.

I could not do it myself, but i feel it up to the women and who ever is the father of the unborn baby to make the choice for then self if they want have a aboition.

I'm not sure if I'd be for it per say but I'm not against it. I could never do it, but at the same time why should I decided what someone else should be doing. it should be up to the women to decide what she wants to do.

100% pro-choice for a woman to do whatever she wants with her body. but for me, i feel like i'm right the middle too. like the main three i feel like women should only get an abortion is for: medical, rape/incest, and/or has one too many kids that she barely takes care of already. if i was a mother that has been educating my daughter on safe sex and abstinence she still gets pregant, i feel she should have the baby and give it up for an adoption.

very well put!

well if a women is slutty enough to lay on her back and get pregnant she should learn how to take care of a kid our keep there legs crossed so she should be charged with murder

Abortion should never, ever, ever, be illegal. Let us role play for a second.

A 20 year old girl gets raped. She lives on her own, barely being able to support her rent and living expenses with her current job. Uh oh, she's pregnant. Would anyone in their right mind want her to have a baby? If she had to take care of it, she couldn't work. It would also deplete money that she would never have. In the best possible scenario, she shuffles it off to her parents and make them stop their lives and take care of it.

Sometimes, it just doesn't make sense to have a baby. Maybe since this is a forum of mostly teenagers, you may not understand how much work it takes to raise a child. This isn't just something you can say "well i dk they should just be put into an orphanage" because you have no idea what the fuck you're asking of people.

It's a mature debate ... aka if you can't grasp basic use of the English language you can't grasp this topic! Go post in another thread.

This is timeless debate, it's pretty much futile to discuss it considering we won't change anything. I just have to say to everyone who thinks that the mother/father should suffer the consequences of having sex -- it's not about that. It's about the child who shouldn't suffer the consequences of being born into a world that wasn't ready for him, or maybe didn't even want him.

I am pro-choice in every way. It's a woman's prerogative if she wants to keep her baby or not. No one should be able to tell her that she has to have it. Doing so can result in tragic endings all around the table.
I don't entirely agree with abortion myself as I can't truly see getting one myself, but if the circumstances arise, I would want to make my decision and not be attacked because of it.
When r0x0r talked about the seperation of church and state not existing in the US I believe that as well which is why this is truly such a heated debate IMO. It's as if those who can't understand someone not living the way they think another should live, they have to deny them the right to do it.
The practice of abortion is abused, just as the practice of adoption is abused, but look at the alternatives should abortion be made illegal. How many more deaths will have to occur because of young women paying questionable persons to remove something they can't handle at the moment?
Everything has a price, but IMO that price is much to high to make abortion illegal.

Well thank you, it's good to know someone pays attention to what I say, and it's a bonus to see someone agree. But... IMO? I actually had to look that up. I was reading it "...this is truly such a heated debate International Mathematical Olympiad."

Now, that was waaaay off. So I read it again, "...this is truly such a heated debate International Maritime Organization."

=(

I'll thank google for giving me "in my opinion."