I'll be completely in favor of a woman's right to control what happens in her body as soon as that standard is extended to men. And no, I don't mean men can decide that their girlfriend has to have an abortion. I was thinking about how if an american citizen really has the right to decide what will happen to their body then suicide should be allowed. I know - they can't put you in prison for killing yourself. But if you're about to kill yourself and the police find you they'll try their best to stop you so they can throw you in the psych ward afterwards. It just doesn't seem right. And then there's the The Unborn Victims of Violence Act of 2004. It says that a "child in utero" can be the victim if they are injured or killed in a crime. I think the government needs to make a decision. Is an unborn baby a person or not? Is killing that person illegal? Is it only okay if the mother decides? The mother could be on the way to the abortion clinic, and get shot. The shooter could be charged with double homicide. This whole issue needs to be decided.

Its not her body. The fetus has its own DNA. It is an individual.
When you can prove that the fetus is not human and is actually a "part" of the womens body; I can understand.
But the fetus is NOT the womans body.
So much for freedom for all.

It's inside the woman's body. It's using the woman's body.

She has the right to control what happens in her body ie in her womb.
No-one denies a fetus is human.
If it's so individual why can it not exist without her body? It relies soley on it, it is not independant.

As for whether or not a fetus is a person, laws differ from country to country - here it is not racognised as a "full legal person" but it has select rights, once born, regarding treatment in the womb (very select mind you).

How do you define a part of a body? Every single egg in a woman's body has unique dna. Even though she is born with all of them, how can you say they are not part of her body?

If I get a heart transplant and that heart pumps my blood and keeps me alive, how can you say it is not part of my body because it has different dna?

There are people known as chimeras who are born with two different types of dna in their bodies. Some cells have one type, others have another.

DNA is obviously not what defines a body part.

Besides, if an embryo is not part of a woman's body, how can you force her to keep a foreign, alien entity in her body? That is sick.

lol, never thought of that.

Abortion debates are always touchy for me.
Here in South Carolina, they tried to pass a law that made women who wanted/needed an abortion be forced to see an ultrasound before the procedure. Of course, that fired me up. I think if a woman was raped and was carrying the offspring of her assailant, she shouldn't be forced to see the fetus before the abortion. Also, women who's bodies medically could NOT adjust to pregnancy shouldn't be forced to view the fetus either. Sometimes women do not have a choice (in their minds) but to abort. It could kill them to have a child. That is why adoption is a good idea.
I am definitely pro-choice. I saw some good points on here, and some stupid ones. I am all for people believing what they want to believe. That is one of the perks about being American.
I'm not sure who said that a fetus IS a woman's body. It is not a woman's body. It is IN the woman's body. The fetus and mother share an umbilical cord, so in essence, the fetus is a part of the woman's body.
And by the way, men are allowed to do what they want with their bodies as well. Suicide is for quitters.

The people who dreamed up that ultrasound idea are typical of the ignorant, average pro-lifer. They picture a fully formed baby being ripped apart during an abortion.

90% of abortions are done in the first trimester. Good luck seeing anything in an ultrasound of the majority of abortions. A tiny embryo barely even shows up. They are little more than a few millimeters in size.

Hate to break it to you but when I bore my two girls.. each fetus was contained within my body; now you might know some other method of growing a fetus, extrauterine, if you do would you like to share that information with the rest of us?

It is my body that is pregnant; not the fetus, it grows and lives off my bodily resources; what I put into my body be it healthy or adverse will affect fetal growth..off my body..
It lives in a symbiotic relationship to me; without me it will die.. if I die...it will die.
It is therefore MY BODY.

from the pro choice perspective how can any human being be pro life?

Of course a woman/person should have control of their own body, anyone who disagrees with this is a fool.

but from the pro life perspective how can any human being be pro choice about abortion.

Every human being should have control over their body and no one has the right to impose theirself on another person. In the case of abortion and pregnancy we find two examples, where either the fetus imposes on the womans body as so often and quite rightly pointed out by the pro choice movement but on the otherside also we have the woman/doctors imposing themselves on the body of the unborn child.

So if we believe in bodily attonomy we have to see that something has got to give in the situation of pregnancy. For me, I believe the right to life outweighs the right to bodily attonomy because as soon as we take away the right to life, the right to bodily attonomy falls. That is to say the right to bodily attonomy is dependent upon the right to life. That is by no means the only reason I am pro life there are many factors to consider. One such thing is that if we have this situation where it is either pregnacy or abortion, we can say that a pregancy lasts only 9 months, abortion ends a whole life. A fetus does not impose itself purposefully, but nature has delt that card, abortion is the purposeful act of a sentient and most often mature adult to kill another human being. For me then the best possible outcome of the situation and the most moral position to take is that it is reasonable to expect a by law woman to not kill her unborn child...again these are not the only factors but the whole pro life movement is based on bodily attonomy for all human beings and the right to life of all human beings from that position the only possible position is pro life.

Well I know that when I first found out I was pregnant, the doctor did an ultrasound. It is true, the baby is really small, but the heart beating is visible. They also zoom in and all. It looks like a kidney bean with a heartbeat.
It made me emotional when I first saw it. It is the first time a lot of mothers actually come to terms with the fact that they are growing a human inside them.
So yes, it can be heartbreaking to see that and still go through with an abortion.

The people around here are very "moral." I use the term loosely because they are hypocritical. Look at Ravenel.... he was indicted on federal cocaine distribution charges

I don't think she (hypothetical "she") looks at it that way...if she is prolife then she wouldn't view it as a loss of control anyways - she would see it as doing 'what is right'.

If the gov't banned, say, organized religion, I'd be all over that b/c I think the benefits would outweigh the loss of autonomy.

I believe pro-lifers should start adopting and taking care of these babies that they are fighting for. Get all pro-lifers names and addresses and start forcing them to pay and take care for these unwanted babies. I mean everything is fine and dandy until they have to take care of the kid. lets see those people run their mouth then.

YOu see people in america have control of their bodies and they can abort all they want but then you here don't even have control of your own house! I tried to do this home renovation and I couldn't do anything I wanted to do on my house without government permission. So I bought the property but I can't do anything I want with it except that of changing the paint, even if the property is completetly mine. I must have permission even to finish a basement! Now that's crazy.

not to get off the subject, but i dont consider the united states as free as they would like us to think.

You mean permits and stuff? Isn't that supposed to be about lead exposure and that sorta thing?

This is how I view marriage licenses, too.

Yes, I mean the permits and stuff. It's about money. If you like add an extra room to your house then the city will charge you more taxes. In PR you don't need to have any permits for anything you want to change in your home. You buy a property then you do what you please in it. Here is not such freedom.

Simply?
I honestly don't know! O.o
I'm pro-choice and proud of it.

Unfortunately, just as a pro-choice woman has a right to abort, pro-life women have the right to not adopt children. So though they'd love to force a child on ME, I will NEVER force a child on them. I consider it taking the higher ground. I give them their freedoms, they try to take away mine.