# Ban abortions? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 30, 2003, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-abortions/165145 "2003-03-30T02:49:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 23
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-abortions/165145/441 "2003-04-10T21:17:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Walloon \* > OK, I see how this game works. The fact that we can so easily find contradictions in your position might indicate your position is untenable. Anyhoo, I didn’t consider the matter a “game”, myself, but if we were to use that analogy: There exists a game with a bunch of rules that have evolved over time with the intent of making the game playable for most of the people most of the time. What you’re proposing is a rule change to crack down on perceived “cheaters”. The problems are that: [ul][li]Your rule change could trap some honest players, despite trying to build in exceptions to cover them;[/li][li]The people who you claim are “cheating” will simply use your exceptions and continue playing as before, since you have no good way to weed them out from the honest players.[/li][li]Trying to put in serious measures of weeding out cheaters from honest players might trap some cheaters, but more likely it will just hassle honest players.[/li][li]Many players will view the rule as pointless (it makes the game unplayable) and ignore it, and hiring enough referees to catch the cheaters is prohibitive.[/li][li]The benefits offered by your new rule are unclear, at best.[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-abortions/165145/442 "2003-04-10T22:05:34Z")
How are you going to prove a woman was raped? Even if you require it to be reported, what’s to stop a woman from saying she was grabbed from behind, dragged somewhere very dark, raped under threat of force (to explain a lack of injuries), and she never saw her attacker? Absolutely nothing. They don’t have to falsely accuse someone, all they have to do is make up some masked rapist who never showed his face. ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-abortions/165145/443 "2003-04-10T22:08:55Z")
> [@](#): > > OK, I see how this game works. He meant that the game is your arguments as a whole, not how to sidestep a ban WRT getting an abortion by claiming rape. I too am beginning to get that same picture; actually both sides are giving great arguments on why abortion should not be allowed in cases of rape from my POV. It’s easy to make a scenario which will test a law or ban. People and lawyers do it every day. SCOTUS decides which side of the fence it will fall on. [Abuse is already happening when abortion is allowed:](http://www.californiaprolife.org/abortion/aborstats.html) > [@](#): > > The number of repeat abortions continues to rise: > > Almost half of the women undergoing an abortion - - 46% - - have already had at least one previous abortion,’ a percentage which has tripled since 1974. In 1983, 39% of abortion patients reported having 1, 2, 3, or more abortions; in 1974 the percentage was 15. (Facts in Brief, Alan Guttmacher Institute, September 1995.) > Now, at least 15% of the women have had 2 or more abortions. The Alan Guttmacher Institute has not published a breakdown on repeat abortions recently, but in 1987 26.9% of abortion patients reported I previous abortion, 10.7 had 2, and 5.3 reported 3 or more earlier abortions. (“Characteristics of U.S. Women Having Abortions, 1982-1983,” Family Planning Perspectives, January/February 1987, p. 3.) > Given the reluctance of many women to disclose having had even one abortion, one can assume the published figures on repeat abortions are a minimum. (“Characteristics and Prior Contraceptive Use of U.S. Abortion Patients,” Family Planning Perspectives, July/August 1988, p. 159. > Abortion providers have inner conflicts about their work: > > "But some [abortion counselors] are uncomfortable when ‘repeat abortions’ seem to become a habit. A counselor from Connecticut told of a 31-year-old woman who came to her clinic for her 14th abortion. Then there was the Colorado woman who became pregnant every time she ‘fell in love,’ hoping it would lead to marriage. She has had seven abortions. " 2 women, 2 to 21 men, and 21 deaths…My definition of Irresponsible. > [@](#): > > If the emotional trauma of going through a very thorough pelvic exam right after being raped is your idea of easy, I don’t think you and I are ever going to see eye to eye on that. No easier than having an abortion after a rape. But then again if you insert any crime after the words “I’ve been \_\_\_.”, the police are still gonna investigate and ask you questions and possibly do medical tests on whether you were raped, mugged, shot, stabbed, beaten, ran-over, drugged, (or any other trauma by criminal behavior) to substantiate the claim. Men can attest to all of these (including rape, but not becoming pregnant) as well as women, so to say that men have no perspective on this, you are wrong. > [@](#): > > I don’t mourn for all the trillions of sperm that never fertilized any eggs, because to me those sperm are no more “persons” than an embryo or fetus. The fact that sperm or eggs died and never accomplished their ultimate objective no more vexes me than an unborn entity that dies before reaching personhood. Both parties have already agreed that sperm and eggs are not a person, baby, or fetus until conception a very definable event (just like birth). It does not vex me either that sperm and eggs die, hence I am for conception control, but not birth control when the death of a fetus takes place. > [@](#): > > I’m glad for you that you consider what takes place in abortion threads as some kind of ‘debate’, as you’d expect I see them somewhat differently. I see them as rituals and, I fear, I have little time for ritual. Then why are you here acting like a shill and taking rhetorical pot-shots and wasting your time and ours? > [@](#): > > And forcing a woman to go through a pregnancy she doesn’t want and have a baby she doesn’t want is supposed to hammer that lesson into her? Education and conception control is the responsibility of both the man and woman, that’s the responsibility that I am talking about. Abortion rates would be much lower if the everyone was more responsibile. 21 abortions by 2 women…Pretty damn high failure rate or just irresponsible? > [@](#): > > Damned by whom? Oh, that’s right. You lose some control over women’s lives if you don’t require them to report it. An interesting pair of factoids from [http://www.hopeforhealing.org/myths](http://www.hopeforhealing.org/myths) Thanks for the site; I even found something that should help women (and men) who will be raped in the future by rapists who are still loose in the streets, because they were not apprehended yet…“control” over criminal behavior, not women’s lives is the issue here. [What to do if you are raped…](http://www.hopeforhealing.org/ifyoureraped) ---
**Author:** ![Essured](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Essured](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Essured)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-abortions/165145/444 "2003-04-10T22:21:03Z")
> [@](#): > > Education and conception control is the responsibility of both the man and woman, that’s the responsibility that I am talking about. Abortion rates would be much lower if the everyone was more responsibile. I don’t understand why you’re talking about responsibility. If a committed couple practice safe sex, say by using two different good methods of contraception, and still fall pregnant, are they allowed to get an abortion ? They have been very responsible. If they are, how are you going to legislate how “responsible” you have to be to access an abortion ? If they aren’t allowed an abortion, why are you talking about responsibility at all? With no contraception being 100% failsafe, (short of a hysterectomy) responsibility just doesn’t enter into the equation. What exactly are you trying to say about responsibility ? Yes, you can pick out anecdotes of people who constantly have unprotected sex and abort regularly, but that is hardly a typical example. I can also pick out anecdotes of peope who bomb abortion clinics, but what’s the point ? They aren’t the typical pro-lifer, either. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-abortions/165145/445 "2003-04-10T22:25:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Yeticus Rex \* > \*\* > Thanks for the site; I even found something that should help women (and men) who will be raped in the future by rapists who are still loose in the streets, because they were not apprehended yet…“control” over criminal behavior, not women’s lives is the issue here. [What to do if you are raped…](http://www.hopeforhealing.org/ifyoureraped) \*\* Yes, that site contains many important clues as to why women wouldn’t want to report rapes. From the page you linked: > [@](#): > > One thing that is nearly impossible at first is to realize that what happened to you is not something that was your fault. But these women, reeling from the trauma and the abuse, should be legally bound to hie to the police because otherwise they will be forced to bear an unwanted fetus to term. > [@](#): > > You are only responsible for your actions, not for the actions of another person. The choices you made must have been the right ones if you are able to read this. Not every woman who is raped lived through it. You did. That’s what’s most important. That is _precisely_ what’s most important. The victim’s survival is most important, not whether she can meet some artificial standard for ability to withstand repeated trauma. > [@](#): > > There’s no shame in doing what you have to do to survive a rape. And that includes not going immediately to the police if doing so will intensify your trauma. Julie ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-abortions/165145/446 "2003-04-10T22:28:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Goo \* > **I don’t understand why you’re talking about responsibility. If a committed couple practice safe sex, say by using two different good methods of contraception, and still fall pregnant, are they allowed to get an abortion ?** Indeed, I can even provide _proof_ that my husband and I are using good methods of birth control, but no. We are just plain irresponsible, and I must bear (pardon the pun) the consequences! Julie ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-abortions/165145/447 "2003-04-10T22:28:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Yeticus Rex \* > Abortion rates would be much lower if the everyone was more responsibile. 21 abortions by 2 women…Pretty damn high failure rate or just irresponsible? Ah, but in order to “get” those two irresponsible women, your ban could create problems for _ten_ women whose only crime was being on the unlucky side of a 1% contraceptive failure rate. If you want to crack down on only the most irresponsible women, why not give _all_ women four legal abortions, to be used at any time for any reason whatsoever (including being raped)? Then only the most “irresponsible” women will be affected. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-abortions/165145/448 "2003-04-10T22:31:13Z")
How about some more advice for those who have been sexually assaulted? Apologies if the link is a little screwy; it’s a framed page, [http://studentlife.tamu.edu/gies/default.htm:](http://studentlife.tamu.edu/gies/default.htm:) > [@](#): > > Talking About the Attack Vs. Keeping the Secret > > Some victims may be compelled to tell others about the attack, some feel it must be hidden from everyone or from certain people. Such risks are real, for some people may not be as supportive or understanding, or, even worse, may not believe or may blame the victim for what happened. It is extremely important for victims to be able to talk about the assault, their feelings about it and how it has changed their life. > If You Are A Victim, Remember… > > ``` > * It's OK to choose not to tell or ask for a supportive person to help you tell others about the assault. > > ``` ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-abortions/165145/449 "2003-04-10T22:33:26Z")
> [@](#): > > How about a comatose patient? How does he rate compared to a slug? The comatose patient, unless he is brain dead, will wake up. More importantly, he has a previously established identity of personhood. So a comotose patient, or anyone who is otherwise unconcious (such as asleep) still has a protected interest in life. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-abortions/165145/450 "2003-04-10T22:42:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Yeticus Rex \* > \*\*No easier than having an abortion after a rape. \*\* Do you mean “no harder”? If so, an abortion after a rape will be at least a few weeks from the rape–not that same day. An abortion is also a choice, allowing the woman to control her own destiny. She can decide when to go and where to go. Workers at clinics will not treat her like a criminal or a specimen. She decides. She chooses. She controls. Julie ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-abortions/165145/451 "2003-04-11T01:11:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jsgoddess: \* > Yes, that site contains many important clues as to why women wouldn’t want to report rapes. Why are clues needed when there are websites and counselors that are telling you to seek medical attention and report to the police? [Ball State U.](http://www.bsu.edu/students/health_education/responsibility/rape/) [First 6 paragraphs from Hope for Healing site](http://www.hopeforhealing.org/ifyoureraped) Again I ask, is not getting the rapist behind bars part of the healing process? > [@](#): > > Do you mean “no harder”? I said “ **No easier** than having an abortion after a rape.” because I answered in the same manner when you stated: > [@](#): > > If the emotional trauma of going through a very thorough pelvic exam right after being raped is your idea of **easy** , I don’t think you and I are ever going to see eye to eye on that. (Emphasis on the word “easy”, with honorable mention to BE:) ) It was not my intention of stating that a pelvic exam and an abortion was “easy”, just that is about the same level of difficulty relative to each other. ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-abortions/165145/452 "2003-04-11T01:51:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jsgoddess \* > \*\*Indeed, I can even provide _proof_ that my husband and I are using good methods of birth control, but no. We are just plain irresponsible, and I must bear (pardon the pun) the consequences! \*\* I can provide proof too, and we did bear the consequences. We took the responsibility for our actions, and the kids are great! > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by goo_ > **I don’t understand why you’re talking about responsibility. If a committed couple practice safe sex, say by using two different good methods of contraception, and still fall pregnant, are they allowed to get an abortion ? They have been very responsible. If they are, how are you going to legislate how “responsible” you have to be to access an abortion ? If they aren’t allowed an abortion, why are you talking about responsibility at all? With no contraception being 100% failsafe, (short of a hysterectomy) responsibility just doesn’t enter into the equation. What exactly are you trying to say about responsibility ?** If they are committed and responsible, then that sounds like there is a great foundation for a family. Why mess that up? > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Bryan Ekers_ > \*\*Ah, but in order to “get” those two irresponsible women, your ban could create problems for ten women whose only crime was being on the unlucky side of a 1% contraceptive failure rate. > > If you want to crack down on only the most irresponsible women, why not give all women four legal abortions, to be used at any time for any reason whatsoever (including being raped)? Then only the most “irresponsible” women will be affected.\*\* Hmmmm…Sounds similar to my AAA service!😉 That sounds like a compromise that both parties will hate, but it seems that it would discourage outright abuse of the system, but I feel that fetus #1-4 would be singled out for death so that #5-infinity may live, be adodpted, illegally aborted, etc. It would be hypocritical on a pro-life POV, but the number of abortions would decrease, which helps, but still doesn’t cut it. ---
**Author:** ![Essured](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Essured](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Essured)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-abortions/165145/453 "2003-04-11T01:58:27Z")
> [@](#): > > If they are committed and responsible, then that sounds like there is a great foundation for a family. Why mess that up? You just don’t get it, do you ? To you it sounds like a great foundation for a family. To me it sounds like it already is a happy (two person) family, that doesn’t want children right now, or ever. Why mess that up ? ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-abortions/165145/454 "2003-04-11T02:25:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Yeticus Rex \* > **Why are clues needed when there are websites and counselors that are telling you to seek medical attention and report to the police?** Because, as I already showed you, there are also people who acknowledge that not every victim is going to want to do that. What part of only 16% reporting are you finding it difficult to understand? Those 84% what, just needed some patronizing, moralistic lawmakers to spur them to “do the right thing”? Or, could it be that these victims are attempting to cope with their horrible traumas in any way they can, which doesn’t include having supercilious people forcing them into actions they cannot bear? What is this, torture the rape victim day? That’s a great idea! Let’s put her through as much additional trauma as we can as a sop to our own morality! Woo hoo! > [@](#): > > **Again I ask, is not getting the rapist behind bars part of the healing process?** Ask the 84% who didn’t report their assaults. In fact, I’d rather like to witness that, if it didn’t mean you’d be thrusting your opinions on people who certainly don’t deserve that. I’d rather like to see the reactions you would get when you oh-so-smugly declared that those women really had no excuse for not reporting the crimes. > [@](#): > > **I said “No easier than having an abortion after a rape.” because I answered in the same manner when you stated:** Actually, that wasn’t I. > [@](#): > > \*\*It was not my intention of stating that a pelvic exam and an abortion was “easy”, just that is about the same level of difficulty relative to each other. \*\* A pelvic exam immediately following sexual assault versus a procedure at a remove that is under the woman’s full control. You’ll forgive me if I don’t think they’re equally traumatic. Julie ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-abortions/165145/455 "2003-04-11T02:32:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Yeticus Rex \* > **I can provide proof too, and we did bear the consequences. We took the responsibility for our actions, and the kids are great!** So what? Who cares? How is this remotely relevant? > [@](#): > > **If they are committed and responsible, then that sounds like there is a great foundation for a family. Why mess that up?** Because I do not like children. Because I will not be pregnant under any circumstances. Because my mother’s pregnancies were often extremely difficult. Because I cannot afford children. Because my insurance doesn’t cover pregnancy. Because my husband and I have a severe genetic issue that we cannot pass on to future generations. Because my husband has a life-threatening disability that could take him from me at any moment, leaving me with no emotional support while I lug around a physical burden that you and your ilk long to impose upon me just so you can pat yourselves on the back and say you done good. Julie ---
**Author:** ![catsix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@catsix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catsix)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-abortions/165145/456 "2003-04-11T02:50:35Z")
> [@](#): > > **Yeticus Rex** said: > Again I ask, is not getting the rapist behind bars part of the healing process? This is only the opinion of one person who survived it, but no, it’s not. Whether or not the rapist went to prison had no effect at all on my healing process. If you come away from this discussion with nothing else, remember this: The rape itself was about the rapists, what they did to me, and what happened to them. The healing was all about me, how I survived, and what I did to have a normal life. They had enough a presence in my life in the 3 hours they spent attacking me. I’ll be damned if they were going to be any part of my healing process. Call me selfish if you want, but since the rape was about them, the healing was all about **Six.** > [@](#): > > I said “No easier than having an abortion after a rape.” because I answered in the same manner when you stated: Walking into that clinic and knowing that no one would be poking and prodding and collecting evidence and trying to convince me to become a public figure, to have my family, my grandmother, my 10 year old cousin find out what happened to me made getting the EC one hell of a lot easier than what you would’ve expected of me. I would not have survived your expectations, **Yeticus**. It was hard enough without ever having to know my father looked at me and saw what was done to me. > [@](#): > > If they are committed and responsible, then that sounds like there is a great foundation for a family. Why mess that up? I read this in disbelief. I don’t even really know how to respond to this. The assumption that two people who love each other and are committed would automatically view having a kid as a joyful event is just so blindly wrong that I can’t find the words to explain it. Mess that up? _Mess that up?_ Are you aware that sometimes two people who are in a loving and committed relationship would find that relationship destroyed by having a kid? Why mess up a beautiful relationship by adding something neither party wants? ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-abortions/165145/457 "2003-04-11T03:07:58Z")
> [@](#): > > Call me selfish if you want, but since the rape was about them, the healing was all about Six. Knowing that the rapists are out at large and could possibly be raping other women gives you more comfort than if you tried to put them away? This I can’t understand. ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-abortions/165145/458 "2003-04-11T03:21:46Z")
It’s crappy that so many women are instilled with too much terror to speak up, I don’t know what if anything could be done to improve the situation… To prevent this thread from being hijacked, I’ll drop the issue. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-abortions/165145/459 "2003-04-11T03:23:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Blalron \* > \*\*Knowing that the rapists are out at large and could possibly be raping other women gives you more comfort than if you tried to put them away? > > This I can’t understand. \*\* You’re right, she should hunt them down and kill them. She said the healing process wasn’t about **them** , so why should she feel compelled to spend one nanosecond of her time worrying about them? If the rapists are arrested and charged, catsix may have a civic duty to testify as a witness, but beyond that, her “healing process” is entirely up to her, as it should be to any rape victim. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-abortions/165145/460 "2003-04-11T03:24:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Walloon \* > A simple request: Ask adults who were born from an unwanted pregnancy, if they wish they were dead. I’ll bet you that 99% of them say, NO. Could that be any more clear? They obviously don’t subscribe to the “they’re better off never born” theory of compassion. Oh! I’ll answer this one. I wish I hadn’t been born. If my mom had a kid later in life, that kid would have had a much better chance than me. It would have missed years of grueling poverty. It would have a mother that had finished her college education and probably gone on to great things instead of a waitress. It would have missed out on having an alchoholic father and my mom might have had a chance at finding a new, responsible, partner. I’m happy to be alive and all that, but I know that my life came at a great price. My mother was an straight A college student. She had scholarship offers and all kinds of stuff. She could have done anything she wanted with her life. And I know that it is me that kept that from happening. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-abortions/165145.md?page=22) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-abortions/165145.md?page=24)