Newsroo,
Your language squarely lays the 'blame' for being pregnant at the feet of the victim.
You think the almighty penis is too precious.
You suffer for it.
You await an open invitation.
You crap on.
You think it what we should be doing,
You lose your grip on reality and start talking about abstinence
You take a shortcut to perversion and madness.

In a number of forums on abortion, I have put forward a number of suggestions to reduce the rate of unwanted pregnancy and abortions. Everything from having a national goal of reducing the abortion rate, to better contraception use, to better research into abortion, to more adoption, to better counselling etc.

In return, people have called me various things, and then launched into the mantra of “choice, Choice, CHOICE”, (without mentioning the foetus’s choice), and I’m about 99% convinced, that they actually like abortion, and want more, More, MORE.

Statistics on abortion in Australia are not being adequately kept, but an article in MJA gives some estimates compared to other countries.

Eg
Abortion rate per 1000 women aged 15–44 years
Germany 7.7
The Netherlands 8.7
Finland 10.9
Norway 14.8
Canada 15.4 (2000)
England and Wales 16.1
Sweden 19.6
Australia 19.7 (2003, estimated)
New Zealand 21.0 (2003)
United States 21.3 (2000)
http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/182_09_020505/cha10829_fm.html

So maybe another option is to study what certain countries do that have an abortion rate at least half that of Australia.

What would you suggest Newsroo?

Newsroo,

Both 'right-to-lifers' and 'pro-choicers' have their own dogma. Both sides seem terminally unable to acknowledge that the opposing side could have any reasonable argument. The current 'debate' creates a deadlock.

Ultimately, the way the debate is set up can never create effective solutions.

Unexpected pregnancies cause misery for some women, and unexpected joy for others – myself included in the latter. Fortunately, I had the support to make a decision consistent with my belief system. But I was also confronted with negativity from many 'pro-choice' women who told me that continuing my pregnancy would ruin my life. If I had been scared into having an abortion, I would certainly have suffered as a result.

It is certainly not true that all women suffer some sort of interminable guilt over their abortion. But conversely, it is not good enough to deny that serious depression, anxiety and grief exist in some women as a result of abortion. The key here, however, seems based upon many factors: how supported the woman is in her decision, how well it fits her personal belief system, the type and amount of counselling (pre and post) she receives, how she experiences the abortion procedure, previous psychological distress… In short, her own personal circumstances.

To deny that some women are deeply affected by abortion de-legitimises their experience, which stigmatises their grief, just as some women are stigmatised by choosing abortion. Disenfranchised grief can have devastating consequences.

While post-abortion grief is sometimes used out of context and applied to more women than necessary for political advantage, it’s certainly not something that ‘pro-servitude’ men “just made up”.

While the ethical and moral debate continues, we need to focus on the immediate, practical issue: How do we better support women who have made the decision to terminate their pregnancy? And how we better support women, who will not benefit from terminating their pregnancy, to continue it?

This requires an implicit understanding of the women who are likely to suffer from abortion, based on their own personal circumstances, as described above.

Abortion does not benefit all women, all of the time.

"Abortion is often related to family (via such terms as ”family planning”), but what is mysteriously missing is the term “best interests of the child”."

Forgive me for pointing out the obvious, but when a foetus is aborted, there is no child. For a foetus to become a child, it has to be born.

Is that a twittering parrot I can hear, or is it just the old textual loop?

Mahatma Duck,
You do not point out the obvious.
You want to abort a foetus so there is no child.
You are twittering.
You are a parrot.
You can hear.
You are an old textual loop.

You are an example of what I wrote about earlier. If someone suggests ways to reduce the rate of abortion or the rate of unwanted pregnancy, then they just get called names and a whole range of maligning things are said about them (which appears to be your greatest talent).

Noticeable also, (but not atypical of abortion advocates by any means), that you have not suggested ways to decrease the rate of abortion, or decrease the rate of unwanted pregnancy.

I'm more than convinced that abortion advocates do not want to see a reduction in the rate of abortion or unwanted pregnancy.

All these words about contraception and family planning, maybe it would be better to take the gamble out of it completely and make sure that the only pregnancies that could ever happen are planned and wanted.

The best way to do this, of course, is to sterilise the whole male side of the species, and make sure that pregnancies can only occur through IVF or Artificial Inseminimation by Donor.

This initial stage could be followed by one where all male children are not only sterilised prior to an age where fertilisation of a female was possible, but that all these male children, by careful surgery, could be rendered impotent, whilst remaining externally intact.

Perhaps given time we could abolish the male side of the species completely, as they seem so disposable at the moment anyway. As well as this, it would stop males from interfering in the reproductive lives of women.

The possible shortcoming of all this is that somehow 'the state' - now all female - would have to pay for the raising of the children, and it would stop some women from getting pregnant for the sake of it, or out of strange feelings of 'love'.

At least there would be no more abortions, except for foetuses that show signs of disability, or of being male, of course.

(What's that I hear about not being able to pick a possible father with the most money or best genes...........?)

The main reason for abortion is lack of support from significant others,concern for themselves as much as the woman concerned.In many ways abortion benefits men more than women.It is some men who insist upon it and is a cop out for them.Some mothers of young women are terrified they will be left with the baby.Fear of rejection,loss of love lack of support and negativity ,panic sets in and hasty decisions are made much to the regret of some.Post abortion syndrome is a fact not a myth and not easily overcome for some women,especialy when not allowed to talk about it,most abortion clinics do not offer this kind of counselling.The debate is getting bogged down and the real after effects are getting buried here.