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Originally posted by Say_hello_for_me
Its sometimes hard to say what one would do unless one is directly confronted with the situation. In this case, her daughter-to-be isn't even unwanted. She wants to have a baby, and she wants to have this baby.

But you get that "what if", and its at the very least an uncomfortable feeling. Selfish maybe? Judgemental? I didn't even know what kind of guilt to feel. It seemed like Sidd's impression was the same... the whole conversation can be a bit much.

So its not to say she would have had an abortion; rather, its just not to say that she wouldn't have had one either. There are definitely Catholics we know that have willingly and knowingly had handicapped kids. But the decision fits into the rubric of what the mother expects to do with her life. Its one thing for a stay at home mom to think "well, I have 4, maybe this one just counts as 2 more" or something like that. Its another for a working woman to think "how the hell can I raise a handicapped child when I'm supposed to be at work 8 hours per day for the next 25 years".

As for the hypotheticals, I think it will mostly fall on the person who commits the act of violence, not on the person who willingly submits her body to the act (unless someone induces their own abortion... yuck). So little if any in #1, but throw the book at the doctor the same as in #2.

Anyhoo, if Hillary was serious about it (greater efforts to prevent unintended pregnancies), than its probably the only thing I would ever giver her credit for. The thing is though, if she takes affirmative steps that haven't been taken before, its gonna be a whole lot of credit I'm giving her. The whole issue is just that troubling to me. Taking a softer tone and emphasizing reducing the basic demand for abortion (down 40% already in the last 10 years), is a great affirmative step for the Dems to do. If they were able to say that they are the only ones doing anything practical (i.e., that works), it would probably given them a pretty decent inroad into the cultural conservatives.

Of course, there are a few other things they could do too, but the last time stated thoughts on the subject (a few months ago), a riot broke out.

In my opinion the best way to reduce abortions is to reduce unwanted pregnancies. The best way to reduce unwanted pregnancies is contraception. It seems to me that a large swath of the pro-life group insures a high number of abortions by preventing the distribution of condoms. I think planned parenthood does the best job of trying to reduce abortions and most social conservatives just get in the way of their efforts.