maracas,

You won. You are the winner. RU486 will be available one day. Suction and RU486.

Why berate someone who believes in life? Someone who walks around in the daylight.

With any luck the death penalty may be reintroduced. Does that appeal to you maracas?

As a young teenager, far too young to become a mother, I fell pregnant. I realised that I had had german measles around the time of conception. There was extreme pressure to abort. Whether from christian belief, faith or naivity I fought to have my child.
Almost 30 years later my daughter is always a pleasure. She suffers a little deafness, a minor heart murmur and eysight problems, but is the most wonderful person. Her intellect is high and her nature is very sweet.
I have never regretted having her.
Abortion is a sad topic, it is so sad that a woman feels the need to terminate a pregnancy.
I have 4 adult children and I believe that all children are precious.
Although there have been times that have been hard, I am a fortunate woman. I am very proud of all my children, they are fine young people.

Sherrin I nearly fell of my chair laughing at your comment about
mantras. Compared to the mantras and dogmas of the Catholic Church,
which the true believers follow will zeal, a woman's right to choose is common sense and should be considered a human right.

You are free to believe all those mantras and dogmas of the Church,
but I hope that you don't expect the rest of us to take them in anyway seriously....

Yabby,
I am a Catholic, who is against abortion. However I believe in the right of the woman to make her own descion, concerning her own body. Only she knows her circumstances, whether or not she is in a position, emotionally, economicly and a hundred other factors, I support Abbott's notion to introduce benefits during pregnancy, however he also supports a lowering in those benefits, without compensating factors such as public health and education funding increases, thus making his suggestions a political stunt. I do not agree with Friedrich's interpretation of the Bible on this matter, this is far too complicated for one line from the holy book to deal with. I feel extremely compassionately toward Kay, I too was diagnosed as infertile, and tried IVF without success, untill in 1999 at the age of 42 I became a father for the first time. I have tremendous pride in my daughters achievements, and thank God for her every day, children can be such a joy, however if circumstances had been different, I most certainly would not have kept going with the process, which produces the same result {no child} so as much as I love being a father, I think it is an individual choice, one that cannot be made for you and should not be made for you by any other party, be it Church or Government, however I would really like to see a pregnant mother given a "real" choice by the Federal Government. Keep or increase benefits to single mothers especially in the pregnancy period, and till the child turns 16, so the mother can nurture the child to become a productive and responsible citizen.

Aka “. There was extreme pressure to abort. Whether from christian belief, faith or naivity I fought to have my child.”

You made your choice and by the sounds of things fought to make it.

You should, therefore, understand the value of choice more than most and vehemently resist inflicting an “imposed decision” on someone else.

Sherrin Ward “It is easier than trying to address what would cause her to feel she had to make that choice.”

Making a “personal choice” is one of the fundamental differences between living and existing. Cattle and lower orders of animals “exist” without “choice”, driven only by biological imperatives. Humans have “freewill” and can, thus “choose” and make decisions which are beyond the cognitive capabilities of lower orders.

Reducing women to the “lower orders” by refusing them the right to make cognitive decisions represents the subjugation of the gender and something which, since the end of the inquisition, reasonable minded people have progressively grown out of.

Shonga “I would really like to see a pregnant mother given a "real" choice by the Federal Government. Keep or increase benefits to single mothers especially in the pregnancy period, and till the child turns 16, so the mother can nurture the child to become a productive and responsible citizen.”

How and when we procreate is of no concern to the federal government.

The federal government is not there to nurture us from cradle to the grave – it is there to provide for those things we cannot provide for as individuals like an army and road networks and other infrastructure.

Socialist meddling is dead and buried and all the misguided and asinine notions of some state sponsored sheltered existence is buried with it – thank goodness. Socialist bureaucracies only work to relieve individuals of their freewill and choices, not to enhance them.

Rebecca,

Thank you for a great article, your bravery and a very good point. How can we publicly discuss such an issue when the voices of women who have abortions are silenced by shame? We're making decisions based on a partial picture.

Pro-choice does not equal anti-life. Abortion doesn't mean a woman doesn't want a baby. I imagine it most often means a woman wants her children to have good lives and she's unfortunate enough to have fallen pregnant when she's unable to provide that.

How often do women abort while they're unprepared and go on to have families later?

It's not a black and white issue and treating it like one is promoting ignorance.