You aren't a monster. Far from it.

@TheIrishTexan That you "can't handle" it doesn't give you any right to interfere with what any woman chooses to do.

@TheIrishTexan why not i don't understand. what the h-- difference does it make to you ?

@TheIrishTexan See? That's just it. Life really isn't valuable at all. There are individual lives which are precious to individual people, but overall, life isn't precious in and of itself. Further, there are more pregnancies that terminate all by themselves than there are abortions. No pregnancy, in the history of pregnancy, has ever been guaranteed to result in a live birth. Even though women give birth every day, it's still a major undertaking, never promised to be successful. Pregnancy is usually the most dangerous time in any woman's life. It could kill her in any number of ways. The risks are ALL hers. She should be the ONLY one making the decision whether to follow through on that process. When a man can grow a uterus and ovaries, and can face the prospect of an unwanted, unintended, or unsafe pregnancy, then he can make the decisions for himself. No amount of caterwauling and righteous indignation will ever change that.

I agree 100%. Not only should we consider the mom, but consider the PAIN that child will endure in life from being poked and prodded with needles and medical procedures.

@Lewellyn3 As a pediatric neurologist I have seen some of the most horrible diseases that gradually (or not so gradually) suck the life out of babies and children. It's always emotionally hard when parents refuse a DNR order and we have to keep poking and prodding them.

@TheIrishTexan - my question to you, since you feel life is precious, is who takes care of the baby? If you don't think the woman should be allowed to terminate the pregnancy, she knows she doesn't have what it takes to spend 2 years, every penny, and every minute of her time just to watch her child slowly fade away, leaving her exhausted, broke, and heartbroken and taking her away from her other children....by making that unborn child's life so precious, the quality of life for that child, the parents, siblings, family, and friends are all affected. The parents are exhausted from hospital stays and rough nights and 24 hour care. When do their siblings get to be kids when they're growing up in the shadow of their brother slowly dying right next to them? Are you Pro-life or Pro Fetus? Are you going to start volunteering to adopt or donate your time to the people who have to take care of these babies? Genetic deformities, babies born severely addicted with brain damage, babies who will never know life without pain and suffering...will you take care of those babies you don't have the mercy to let die before the hell begins? Why should a parent be forced to do that when they know there is no hope? How is that Pro-life? It's not. It's pro pain and pro suffering and pro life destroying. You have your opinion, and I respect that. My opinion is that Pro-life is not pro life at all. It is selfish. It is pro fetus and pro pain and pro screw you now deal with it. It is not good and pro choice is not evil, it is punishment dealt on people who, especially in the case of genetic deformities, did nothing wrong.

@Amy0825

I realize that the media shows "the religious" in only a negative light. As my mom used to say, "The squeaky wheel gets the grease", so we're all portrayed alike. But there are some of us - the ones who don't make the news - that honestly DO care about life. I have struggled with abortion for many years, and it has taken me decades to sort through all the dogmas and information that are repeated over again to us to learn how I feel about it.

Do I think life begins at conception? Yes. If we can bring an organism from Mars and call it life, then, yes, I believe a fetus is indeed life. A human life. In only a few weeks, I regard it as life because anything with a heartbeat is alive.

Do I think abortion is wrong? That's a harder question. While the concept of taking an innocent's life is abhorrent, envisioning a young teen dying from infection or blood loss from an unsterile abortion performed by an unskilled doctor (if a doctor at all) is equally abhorrent. So is forcing a child into giving birth to a baby that is a product of incest or rape; or risking the life of a mother because she's too young to give birth or when she already has children at home depending on her. Forcing the life onto a weak baby that is pathetically unable to sustain life because of a birth defect is cruel. Some deformities, such as crie du chat, condemns the infant to a life of severe pain for the short life it has. So, while I'm very much Pro Life, I am also for euthanasia when it is more merciful. I hate abortion; I also hate the death penalty for the same reason - it takes the choice away from an individual. I don't condone abortion as a method of birth control, due to the effects it can have later when the woman wants to carry her fetus to term. But abortion, until science finds a better way, must be allowed. There simply isn't a better solution. We can't generalize when abortion is acceptable or necessary. Each case must be considered by the mother and her physician. Its a difficult decision already on when a pregnancy should be ended. Therefore those of us who don't like the idea must choose compassion over judgement, for we really aren't qualified to judge a woman for choosing it in the first place. Choose comfort over scorn, love over hate, and well find we'll all be better for it.

@TheIrishTexan He had his chance to choose by deciding whether to have a vasectomy or wear a condom. After that, he has no say. Nor should he.

@TheIrishTexan Contraception fails. Why on earth should any woman be forced to gestate and bear a child when she was actively trying to prevent it in the first place?

@TheIrishTexan "It came from him first"??? You have got to be kidding with that bullshit.

@TheIrishTexan No, the man should not have a say because it's not him that takes the risk of dying from pregnancy, which is many times the risk of a first trimester abortion. Both carry risk, abortion carries less when done in a safe, sterile manner. When the first man dies of pregnancy-related complications from what's growing in his uterus, then men can have a say. Now, I do think that if there is a relationship between the woman and man involved, they should discuss it, but if it was a rape, or a one night stand where they barely know each other, nope.

seems pretty air tight to me

I'm slightly autistic. But so is bill gates.

@TheIrishTexan That would be a rare exception as I’ve known several and none of them could even take care of themselves.

Downs syndrome kids are getting more rehab now and can grow up to be independent in society. I know one that runs his own restaurant.

There is a charity that aids in the adoption of D.S. children in the U.S. Can't remember their name, though, but they've helped facilitate over 500 adoptions one year.

I think the flaw in your argument is that a baby won`t know its being killed, a mature human will.

@alangodless to me the issue is who has more right to be permitted to continue living, I don't care if mass murderers or child killers get a little scared because they are going to die, I hope they are terrified then maybe they will understand even briefly what they have done. Whether or not someone knows they are going to die didn't occur at all to me, it was the moments/time that they would not have.

Why do you think you even get a say in the matter? What are you basing your right to weigh in on?

@KKGator The sperm donor right. Never did an abortion. Once one came pregnant according a doctor... I told her I will marry you and I spilled the beans to her there was somebody else and she will be dropped because of the pregnancy. Then turn out she wasn't pregnant. Eventually we got married with no baby involved. BUT THE QUESTION WAS NOT HAVING A RIGHT TO WEIGH ON THE DECISION. IF IT IS MY BABY AND SHE DON'T WANT THE BABY, SHE SHOULD HAD KEPT HER LEGS CROSSED. It will depend on who she is. I only sleep with those capable and worthy of my Seed. That is how I saw it then and now. I always been Selective. I don't know them, I know me.

@TheIrishTexan I am very sorry for your lost... we did lost one but was like 4-5 months. We never counted that one. We were told would had been a boy. We scratched that one from the books. But is the same way I see it. We are more than Donors.

@TheIrishTexan I remember my wife almost 9 months pregnant crying while taking a shower because her baby wasn't moving and our first was a constant kicker. It was tough... the moment we got to the hospital... she started kicking. But it is hell on a woman thinking her first born she carried for 8 months has died. WE ARE A LOT MORE THAN JUST HEARTLESS DONORS.

@TheIrishTexan And exactly how would you propose forcing anyone to do any of that?

@TheIrishTexan Why do you have this punitive attitude toward women?

@TheIrishTexan You want to punish all women for having sex by forcing them to carry an unwanted pregnancy. Call them "hoes" if they enjoy sex and don't want to be pregnant. BTW, I have yet to see one argument for personhood prior to 12 weeks(when the cerebral cortex starts to develop)that isn't based on religion. What's yours? What makes you so sure that a single cell or blastocyst is a person that you would deprive a known person of liberty and sometimes life to benefit it?

@KKGator Because we were asked to respond in the poll, we should ALL have the right to discuss this issue. None of us brought this issue up; the person who devised the poll did. Why are you so against men expressing an opinion, even if only rhetorical? Your abortion rights aren't being threatened by having a simple discussion.

I've never gotten a good explanation for that one. If god let them kill you, doesn't that mean he wanted you dead? How can a person be punished for a crime against a religious person if it only happened due to "God's Will"?

@PhoebeCat I think you have a misconception on God's will. Abortion wouldn't be God's will, theoretically speaking, as God doesn't condone man to decide who lives and who dies. Abortion is an act of someone's free will, just as any decision we make, not God's will. If my murdering someone meant it was God's will, murder couldn't be classified as a crime.

I think if life support is needed at birth, it should never be initiated. The kiddo was born dead.

I get where you are coming from but it assumes perfect knowledge, some horrendous metabolic defects do not even begin to develop until after birth because up until that point the mother's body was doing the work. Parents then spend months after the baby becomes noticeably unwell with a continuously worsening condition to get a diagnosis.

I don't know what you think you read, but I said nothing regarding post-partum.

@KKGator No you didn't. The original poster did, and I thought it should be addressed as part of the total answer, that's all.

My brain is more sacred to me than my womb. I had the latter removed, I hope the former stays as long as possible.

@Amy0825 Like the women in my life, you value your mind, and I respect that ... but if you are by nature a "momma bear" and your womb is something a man doesn't have ... no man should be telling you what to do with it. Or some other woman for that matter.

You use the word murder for emotional effect. You really should stick to the non-emotional word terminate.

@Amy0825 Lol, same here, Amy! I had to remove mine at a very young age due to a class 5 pap smear. I hope my brain lasts longer!

And it gives more time for less obvious defects to emerge.