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Rhyknow
2nd November 2006, 15:44
Well, i was just wondering where communists stand on the subject of abortion? For it? against it?

It's always a heated debate, and i'm sure that a lot of you stand divided on the matter

Demogorgon
2nd November 2006, 15:47
There are a lot more in the pro-choice camp than the pro-life one.

Black Dagger
2nd November 2006, 15:59
Originally posted by [email protected] 03, 2006 01:44 am
It's always a heated debate, and i'm sure that a lot of you stand divided on the matter
Well kind of... except that the anti-choice lot stand in opposing ideologies.

The communist stance is pro-choice, there is no logical room for debating that whilst still claiming to be an anarchist-communist. If a woman does not want to carry a pregnancy to term she must be allowed to terminate it, at any time, anything less is an attack on the autonomy of women.

bcbm
2nd November 2006, 16:14
Originally posted by Black [email protected] 02, 2006 09:59 am

The communist stance is pro-choice
Shit. What about anti-life? :unsure:

Lenin's Law
2nd November 2006, 16:22
Originally posted by [email protected] 02, 2006 03:44 pm
Well, i was just wondering where communists stand on the subject of abortion? For it? against it?

It's always a heated debate, and i'm sure that a lot of you stand divided on the matter
Communists and revolutionaries of all sorts overwhelmingly believe in the woman's right to choose abortion. Not only that, but we believe that aborition is within the scope of women's rights and is a major part of women's liberation; anything less is an attack on women's rights and her independence.

I don't think this issue is nearly as divisive among communists and real revolutionaries as you may think it is.

Black Dagger
2nd November 2006, 16:28
Originally posted by black banner black gun+November 03, 2006 02:14 am--> (black banner black gun @ November 03, 2006 02:14 am)
Black [email protected] 02, 2006 09:59 am

The communist stance is pro-choice
Shit. What about anti-life? :unsure: [/b]
Only for defenders of the bourgeoisie and/or the state ;)

KC
2nd November 2006, 18:15
I'm pro-abortion.

LoneRed
2nd November 2006, 18:33
the anti-abortionists which have been done before, use language to rally support, we are pro-choice, but they are "pro-life" that gets a lot more people

its more along these lines, we are pro-choice, they are pro-control

LuXe
2nd November 2006, 20:42
Pro-choice here.

Can see the other sides point though, however my opinion is to let the individual choose over the matter themselves. But when the fetus has reached a certain age (3 months since impregnation or so) then i would consider it unethical, since then you are actually killing off something with concsience.

RedKnight
2nd November 2006, 20:51
http://www.m-hekmat.com/en/0600en.html#T25 Here is the Worker Communist position. Abortion
Few phenomena like abortion, i.e. the deliberate elimination of the human embryo because of cultural and economic pressures, display the inherent contempt for human life in the present system and the incompatibility of existing class society and exploitative relations with human life and well- being. Abortion is a testimony to the self-alienation of people and their vulnerability in the face of the deprivations and hardships that the existing class society imposes on them.
The worker-communist party is against the act of abortion. The party fights for the creation of a society where no pressures or circumstances would drive people to performing or accepting this act.

At the same time, as long as the adverse social circumstances do drive a large number of women to resorting to backstreet abortions, the worker-communist party in order to prevent abuse by profiteers and ensure protection of women's health calls for the introduction of the following measures:

1 - Legalization of abortion up to the twelfth week of pregnancy.
2 - Abortion after the twelfth week to be legally permitted if there is danger to the health of the mother (until that time when Caesarean section and the saving of the foetus is possible given the latest medical expertise). Such cases to be ascertained by the competent medical authorities.

3 - Wide and freely available facilities for pregnancy tests. Instruction of people in their use to ensure quick detection of unwanted pregnancies.

4 - Free abortion and free post-abortion care in licensed clinics by gynaecologists.

5 - The decision whether to have or not to have an abortion rests with the woman alone. The state has the duty, however, to inform her before her final decision, of the dissuasive arguments and recommendations of the scientific authorities and social counsellors as well as of the financial, material and moral commitments of the state to her and her child.

6 - To reduce the number of abortions, the worker-communist party also calls for the introduction of the following urgent measures to prevent unwanted pregnancies and to free women from economic, cultural and moral pressures.

7 - Broad sexual education of people on contraceptives and on the importance of the issue. Widely accessible advisory services.

8 - Wide and free access to contraceptives.

9 - Allocation of adequate funding and resources to help the women who are considering having an abortion because of economic constraints. The state should stress its duty and readiness to take care of the child should the mother decide to give birth to the child.

10 - Resolute campaigns against prejudices and moral pressures that drive women to abortion. Active state support to women against such pressures, prejudices and intimidations.

11- Campaign against the ignorant, religious, male- chauvinistic and backward attitudes that hinder the growth of people's sexual awareness and, specifically, impede women's and young people's wide use of contraceptives and safe-sex devices.

0NighT0
3rd November 2006, 09:19
I am pro choice all the way but i also agree that abortion after a certain stage of development is unethical. Once consciousness is developed, the baby then has rights as a living human being and one of those rights is the right to live. At that stage i would consider abortion murder.

Dooga Aetrus Blackrazor
3rd November 2006, 10:19
I'm pro-choice in all circumstances and have no problems with abortion in all circumstances.

uber-liberal
3rd November 2006, 15:09
How about pro-responsability? If she doesn't want the child, so be it. But, if she does, or if HE does (fathers have rights, too) than there is a legitimate reason for keeping the child until term.
While I am pro-choice, perhaps making sure that a child is completely unwanted or unwarranted is the first step...

Black Dagger
3rd November 2006, 15:28
How about pro-responsability?

Conservative double-speak for 'pro-life', no thanks.



But, if she does, than there is a legitimate reason for keeping the child until term.

Obviously, what is the point of this observation? If someone wants to carry their pregnancy to term they won't get an abortion, your point has no relevance to this discussion whatsoever.


or if HE does (fathers have rights, too)

NO.

'Fathers' don't have the 'right' to force a woman to carry a pregnancy to term, NO ONE has the 'right' to violate anothers autonomy in such a way.

If he wants to be a father he should go find a woman who wants to be a mother, if you happen to impregnate someone who doesnt want to have a child for whatever reason, tough fucking luck.

Men don't have the 'right' to force pregnancy and birth on any woman they happen to impregnate,

That is anti-choice RUBBISH which hands control of womens bodies over to MEN.


While I am pro-choice

You're not pro-choice, if you were pro-choice you certainly wouldnt be using pro-life double speak like 'pro-responsibility', or suggesting that the guy who ejaculated has the 'right' to force the woman he happened to be with to carry the pregnancy to term, that is definitively ANTI-choice.

Pro-choice means you support the idea that women should be free to choose whether or not she wants to carry pregnancies to term, men don't have a 'choice', it's not their bodies or their personal autonomy that is at stake.



perhaps making sure that a child is completely unwanted or unwarranted is the first step...

What are you waffling about?

This issue is very simple.

If a woman wants an abortion she should be able to get it, no one can or should be able to force a woman to carry a pregnancy to term, including the man who impregnanted her.

Anything less is an anti-choice position.

LSD
3rd November 2006, 16:20
1 - Legalization of abortion up to the twelfth week of pregnancy.
2 - Abortion after the twelfth week to be legally permitted if there is danger to the health of the mother...to be ascertained by the competent medical authorities.


And what precisely happens after 12 weeks that turns abortion from a basic human right into a luxury?

You know, we used to have a similar system in Canada. It was called the "therapeutic abortion committee" and it was made up of "competent medical authorities" who would determine whether or not a given woman had a "legitimate" reason to abort.

Since most "competent medical authorities" were, and continue to be men, however, in practice it meant three petty-bourgeois white men telling generally working class women whether or not they could voluntarily undergo a procedure.

I think your party needs to seriously consider why its promoting a system that a bourgeois republic like Canada ditched 20 years ago for being to reactionary.


10 - Resolute campaigns against prejudices and moral pressures that drive women to abortion.

How about the moral pressure that drives women away from abortion? Because that's where most of the "morality" pushes these days.

This is just more of this "abortion is a tragedy" nonsense that's so comon among "centrists"; an attempt to make abortion somehow compatible with the religious and "moral" dogma of the right.

Yes, illegal abortions are dangerous and, yes, keeping it legal saves lives, but that's not why abortion must be unhindered. No, abortion needs to be allowed, because women have a fundamental right to do whatever they want to the contents of their bodies.

Legal, illegal, 2 weeks or 36, no authority has the right to dictate what a pregnant woman may or may not do to the foetus she carries.


I am pro choice all the way but i also agree that abortion after a certain stage of development is unethical.

Why? Because the "baby" may "quicken"? :rolleyes:

A foetus, at any stage of development, has precisely as many rights as any other part of the body, zero.

Gall bladders don't have rights, kidney's don't have rights, and foetuses don't have rights.


Once consciousness is developed, the baby then has rights as a living human being

Societal rights stem from direct societal membership, not "human life". A 36 week foetus is not more practically "concsious" than a cow, but no one (save the lunatic "TAL" freaks) would propose giving the latter human rights.

Until a baby is actually born, it has absolutely no rights whatsover. And, accordingly, the woman carrying it has the right to do whatever she wants to it.

RedKnight
3rd November 2006, 19:26
Originally posted by [email protected] 03, 2006 04:20 pm

1 - Legalization of abortion up to the twelfth week of pregnancy.
2 - Abortion after the twelfth week to be legally permitted if there is danger to the health of the mother...to be ascertained by the competent medical authorities.


And what precisely happens after 12 weeks that turns abortion from a basic human right into a luxury?

You know, we used to have a similar system in Canada. It was called the "therapeutic abortion committee" and it was made up of "competent medical authorities" who would determine whether or not a given woman had a "legitimate" reason to abort.

Since most "competent medical authorities" were, and continue to be men, however, in practice it meant three petty-bourgeois white men telling generally working class women whether or not they could voluntarily undergo a procedure.

I think your party needs to seriously consider why its promoting a system that a bourgeois republic like Canada ditched 20 years ago for being to reactionary.


10 - Resolute campaigns against prejudices and moral pressures that drive women to abortion.

How about the moral pressure that drives women away from abortion? Because that's where most of the "morality" pushes these days.

This is just more of this "abortion is a tragedy" nonsense that's so comon among "centrists"; an attempt to make abortion somehow compatible with the religious and "moral" dogma of the right.

Yes, illegal abortions are dangerous and, yes, keeping it legal saves lives, but that's not why abortion must be unhindered. No, abortion needs to be allowed, because women have a fundamental right to do whatever they want to the contents of their bodies.

Legal, illegal, 2 weeks or 36, no authority has the right to dictate what a pregnant woman may or may not do to the foetus she carries.


I am pro choice all the way but i also agree that abortion after a certain stage of development is unethical.

Why? Because the "baby" may "quicken"? :rolleyes:

A foetus, at any stage of development, has precisely as many rights as any other part of the body, zero.

Gall bladders don't have rights, kidney's don't have rights, and foetuses don't have rights.


Once consciousness is developed, the baby then has rights as a living human being

Societal rights stem from direct societal membership, not "human life". A 36 week foetus is not more practically "concsious" than a cow, but no one (save the lunatic "TAL" freaks) would propose giving the latter human rights.

Until a baby is actually born, it has absolutely no rights whatsover. And, accordingly, the woman carrying it has the right to do whatever she wants to it.
What about partial birth abortion? Should an unborn infant be killed, just because it hasn't yet exited the womb? I for one am glad that Ohio, my home state, bans abortion after the first trimester. The state even treats all wrongful deaths of a pregnant woman in the second trimester as being the death of two people legaly. So the question remains. When does life begin? When does abortion become infanticide?

Nex
3rd November 2006, 19:56
I'm probablly going to get crucified for this but here is my view:
No human can, in anyway, exercise their rights over another human's rights under any circumstance. The mother exercised her right to choose when she had sex. Once the fetus has reached a stage where it is recognizably human (roughly second trimester) regardless of wether or not it has consciousness the mother can no longer violate it's rights as a human. Life is not a game there are no do overs you do not get to take back a choice of which you do not like the consequences. In the case of rape where the mothers rights as a human have been violated. The perpetrator should be punished, but if she does not end the pregnancy befor the fetus is recognizable human she must carry it to term. I know this sounds harsh and I get screamed at for this stance all the time. If you steal from me I am not vindicated in turning around and killing the nearest bystander. I see a mother running roughshod over the rights of a human child due to rape as one and the same.

TC
3rd November 2006, 20:14
Originally posted by The Rev. LuXe+--> (The Rev. LuXe)Can see the other sides point though, however my opinion is to let the individual choose over the matter themselves. But when the fetus has reached a certain age (3 months since impregnation or so) then i would consider it unethical, since then you are actually killing off something with concsience. [/b]

Originally posted by 0NighT0+--> (0NighT0) I am pro choice all the way but i also agree that abortion after a certain stage of development is unethical. Once consciousness is developed, the baby then has rights as a living human being and one of those rights is the right to live. At that stage i would consider abortion murder.
[/b]

It doesn't have personal sentiants, that requires the context of the experiance of sensory input. Do you remember being a fetus? No i didn't think so. They have an absense of any experiance and awareness until birth because they don't experiance anything until birth.


Even if they did though, it would be totally irrelevant because were a fetus a person (which its not) it would not be entitled to use someone elses body against their wishes. People aren't assumed to have the right to trespass in someone elses house so they definately don't have the right to trespass in someone elses womb.


Mullah Red [email protected]
Here is the Worker Communist position. Abortion
Few phenomena like abortion, i.e. the deliberate elimination of the human embryo because of cultural and economic pressures, display the inherent contempt for human life in the present system and the incompatibility of existing class society and exploitative relations with human life and well- being. Abortion is a testimony to the self-alienation of people and their vulnerability in the face of the deprivations and hardships that the existing class society imposes on them.
The worker-communist party is against the act of abortion. The party fights for the creation of a society where no pressures or circumstances would drive people to performing or accepting this act.


Thats absolutely absurd paternalistic anti-choice rubbish hidden in leftwing language. The cultural pressures have always been for people tolerating unwanted pregnancies rather then ending them and the economic pressures are eliminated in socialism, but in any case, one wouldn't deliberately get pregnant if they felt too constrained by their financial position...so the notion of 'economic pressure' would only apply to begin with to accidental pregnancies which would be assumed as unwanted regardless.

So really its an increadibly patronizing way of ridiculuing poor women's control of their own bodies by assuming that they must naturally want a child if not for their economic conditions, rather than assuming that they might simply not want all of the negative consequences and experiance of unwanted pregnancy and childbirth for purely personal reasons.


At the same time, as long as the adverse social circumstances do drive a large number of women to resorting to backstreet abortions, the worker-communist party in order to prevent abuse by profiteers and ensure protection of women's health calls for the introduction of the following measures:


So, basically, the workers-communist party of iraq is anti-choice, in that it has no regard for women's self determination of their own bodies, but wants to regulate abortion so as to prevent underground abortion facilities. Nice.


The state has the duty, however, to inform her before her final decision, of the dissuasive arguments and recommendations of the scientific authorities and social counsellors as well as of the financial, material and moral commitments of the state to her and her child.


Similar to the American requirement for abortion "counsuling" that the republicans push in some states so, you might eventually get to have an abortion but only after being subjected to a humiliating ordeal of having to explain and justify your strictly personal choices to people in a position of authority over you...its like if the conservatives can't punish women for having sex by making them carry a pregnancy to term at least they'll get a shot at harrassing them first.


11- Campaign against the ignorant, religious, male- chauvinistic and backward attitudes that hinder the growth of people's sexual awareness and, specifically, impede women's and young people's wide use of contraceptives and safe-sex devices.

They could start campaigning against themselves then?



Uber-Liberal
But, if she does, or if HE does (fathers have rights, too) than there is a legitimate reason for keeping the child until term.

I agree that fathers have rights too, like, if someone gets them pregnant, they should get to decide what to do with the medical anomaly.

But don't be absurd. A man's reproductive choice whether or not he's willing to cum in someone (or take the risk that it might happen), doing it doesn't grant him some kindof automatic right over his sex partner's body. Its like you think that having sex with someone means you own them, or at least for the next nine month.

However i also don't think that women should have the right to compell a man to act as a father to a child she wants but he didn't...unlike some of the bourgeois morality conservatives in the earlier discussion on that topic. Both men and women shouldn't have to be a parent just because they had sex with someone who wants different things than they do.


What about partial birth abortion? Should an unborn infant be killed, just because it hasn't yet exited the womb?

Its not an infant, its a fetus.


So the question remains. When does life begin? When does abortion become infanticide?

The issue isn't when 'life' begins as the vast majority of people's bodies are made up of living tissue but when someone's living tissue becomes an individual with interests seperate from that person's...and that happens when its seperate from that person and aware. People don't consider the rights of their organs when having failing ones removed and if necessary replaced despite them being living things.

The question isn't 'when does life begin' but rather 'how do we justify controlling people's physical and sexual rights, turning women into machines for producing valuable workers rather than individuals whose bodies are their own buisness', except, no one wants to pose that question that way openly because the obvious answer would be that they can't justify it.

TC
3rd November 2006, 20:18
Originally posted by [email protected] 03, 2006 07:56 pm
I'm probablly going to get crucified for this but here is my view:
No human can, in anyway, exercise their rights over another human's rights under any circumstance. The mother exercised her right to choose when she had sex. Once the fetus has reached a stage where it is recognizably human (roughly second trimester) regardless of wether or not it has consciousness the mother can no longer violate it's rights as a human. Life is not a game there are no do overs you do not get to take back a choice of which you do not like the consequences. In the case of rape where the mothers rights as a human have been violated. The perpetrator should be punished, but if she does not end the pregnancy befor the fetus is recognizable human she must carry it to term. I know this sounds harsh and I get screamed at for this stance all the time. If you steal from me I am not vindicated in turning around and killing the nearest bystander. I see a mother running roughshod over the rights of a human child due to rape as one and the same.
So, if say, someone stole your liver and kidneys and gave them to a rich guy (lets say, head of an abortion clinic) who needed a transplant, you wouldn't be justified in wanting them back before you died?

LuXe
3rd November 2006, 20:30
It doesn't have personal sentiants, that requires the context of the experiance of sensory input. Do you remember being a fetus? No i didn't think so. They have an absense of any experiance and awareness until birth because they don't experiance anything until birth.

Even if they did though, it would be totally irrelevant because were a fetus a person (which its not) it would not be entitled to use someone elses body against their wishes. People aren't assumed to have the right to trespass in someone elses house so they definately don't have the right to trespass in someone elses womb.
So if someone was trespassing on your lawn you would have shot that person dead?

While some degree of personality is aquired after birth, some basic instincts are still present at such a stage. We do not remember beeing a fetus because it serves us no purpose whatsoever. This of course is a very unclear subject. Im going for pure logic here, TC, and I am asuming you are doing the same. (Unless you have a credible source for your statements) So i will leave this matter as my wiew until something more clear comes up, and we can stop assuming.

Nex
3rd November 2006, 20:32
Well I'd be dead before I could really formulate the thought that I wanted them back wouldn't I?

TC
3rd November 2006, 20:40
Originally posted by [email protected] 03, 2006 08:32 pm
Well I'd be dead before I could really formulate the thought that I wanted them back wouldn't I?
Clearly you're missing the point of the thought experiment, and of course provided you didn't go into shock, you would have time to think of wanting them back before dieing so your objection doesn't even make sense within the thought experiment.

anyways read Judith Jarvis Thomson's argument of for abortion even were fetuses considered real people: http://www.utdallas.edu/~jfg021000/thomson.html

LuXe
3rd November 2006, 21:19
Long text. Ill take my time too read it soon. But for now you know my stance.

Nex
3rd November 2006, 21:35
Originally posted by TragicClown+November 03, 2006 08:40 pm--> (TragicClown @ November 03, 2006 08:40 pm)
[email protected] 03, 2006 08:32 pm
Well I'd be dead before I could really formulate the thought that I wanted them back wouldn't I?
Clearly you're missing the point of the thought experiment, and of course provided you didn't go into shock, you would have time to think of wanting them back before dieing so your objection doesn't even make sense within the thought experiment.

[/b]
I did not miss the point I just felt like rambling off in a different direction rather than reply to the meat of you post. I am reading the link you posted. I'll get back with a reply as soon as I finish.

And yes I would go into shock and bleedout immediately becasue the removal of said organs would leave quite a hole.

Nusocialist
3rd November 2006, 23:43
I personally think this is a complex issue,sure the women's rights are involved,but so are the child's.
After a certain point,around 24-26 weeks,I'm against abortion,because the child can survive outside the womb at this time and is certainly a person.

LSD
4th November 2006, 03:41
What about partial birth abortion? Should an unborn infant be killed, just because it hasn't yet exited the womb?

If that's what the woman wants, absolutely.


So the question remains. When does life begin?

That's not the question at all. The question is when do rights begin, an issue that has very little to do with "life".

"Life", in fact, is irrelevent to this entire issue.

Cancer cells are "life", what's more they're genetically distinct from the other cells in your body; and yet I can't imagine even a single person considering the termination of a tumour to be "murder".

Rights are a creation of human society and they extend only to members of said society. Animals don't have rights, plants don't have rights, organs do not have rights.

And yet all of these things are just as "alive" as any foetus.

If you want to grant "quickened" foetuses human rights, then you'll have to extend those same rights to every other eqaully developed form of life out there. That includes every primate and nearly every complex mammal.

Your average golden retriever is far more "consicent" than any foetus, so if one is deserving of "life" rights than implicitly so is the other.

You see the real problem here is that you're not sure what you even mean by "rights"! You don't have a cogent paradigm of what constitutes rights and freedoms and so are going at this entirely from instinct and socialized "morality".

Human life, you've been taught, is "sacred" and "must be protected". Well, the reality is that "human life" is in and of itself indistinct from any other form of life. Merely being alive doesn't grant us protections, being a part of complex society does.

And since a foetus can never be a part of said society, it can never enjoy the rights of said society.

It's really that simple.


When does abortion become infanticide?

When the baby is born ...obviously.


No human can, in anyway, exercise their rights over another human's rights under any circumstance.

Why not? More importantly what are "rights" and what is "human"?

Seriously, I'm eager to hear your explanation of how you can conceptualize a model of rights that includes foetuses but excludes large trees.


I personally think this is a complex issue,sure the women's rights are involved,but so are the child's.

What child? A child is a prebubescent individual member of human society; a foetus is a collection of cells inside a person's womb.

If you're going to use words, do try to do so correctly.

chimx
4th November 2006, 04:07
i am personally pro-choice and am opposed to any legislation to inhibit a woman from receiving an abortion. in my opinion, a fetus does not constitute a life.

on the other hand, i will acknowledge that other women and men have a different opinion on when life starts, and ultimately my goal isn't to alienate folk by acting like a morally superior persona round them. its a complicated issue for many people, and it is best to tread lightly when dealing with people that are so emotionally committed to the other side.

freakazoid
6th November 2006, 08:58
If you think that it is ok for a woman to have an abortion when the child is still in the womb then how about the minute it is out of the womb? If it was going to be a financial burden on the mother or she felt that she wouldn't be able to care for it then shouldn't she be aloud to kill it, even after she has given birth to it? How about if it is half way out, can they cave in its head then and just throw it to the dogs like some unwanted piece of trash? How about the hour before she is going to give birth, is it allright to kill it then?