# How come conservatives are against abortion? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 9, 2014, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-conservatives-are-against-abortion/688063 "2014-05-09T16:43:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2014, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-conservatives-are-against-abortion/688063/61 "2014-05-09T19:58:58Z")
> [@Anonymous User](#): > > While in reality, conservatives value freedom and it’s the liberals that want to put restrictions on everything. Get your stereotypes in order. Libs are socially permissive. Abortion, drugs, gays, pre-martial sex, heathen religion, whatever daddy-o just smoke a blunt and chillax. ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2014, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-conservatives-are-against-abortion/688063/62 "2014-05-09T20:00:42Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > Do you think my guess probably encompasses a larger portion of the “certain circumstances” are, given that third term abortions are pretty infrequent? I mean, most people who let it get that far probably intended to keep the baby. It would be interesting to see a breakdown of what those certain circumstances are: - rape / incest - health of the mother is threatened - late term abortion / fetus viability stage What is actually done might not matter, just people’s perception of it. ---
**Author:** ![racepug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@racepug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racepug)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2014, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-conservatives-are-against-abortion/688063/63 "2014-05-09T20:06:52Z")
> [@Algher](#): > > Because it is illegal to hunt with anything except a rifle, shotgun, handgun or bow here in California. I wanted to give a boar spear a try, but the game laws forbid it. There is a lot of interest in using bows, and some people such as myself are going back to hand-made bows instead of the fancy ones - as long as we can confirm a clean kill (which means sufficient draw weight to propel an arrow fast enough to kill the target). That’s not the point, and you know it. Funny how nobody ever hears about a mass murder being done with sharpened pencils or with fanatics wielding broken glass, don’tchya think? ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2014, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-conservatives-are-against-abortion/688063/64 "2014-05-09T20:07:37Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2014, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-conservatives-are-against-abortion/688063/65 "2014-05-09T20:10:11Z")
> [@racepug](#): > > That’s not the point, and you know it. Funny how nobody ever hears about a mass murder being done with sharpened pencils or with fanatics wielding broken glass, don’tchya think? [Knife-wielding attackers kill 29, injure 130 at China train station](http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/01/world/asia/china-railway-attack/) [Osaka school massacre](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osaka_school_massacre) [Man Gets Life in Prison for Killing 6 People Over Xbox Dispute [with a baseball bat]](http://www.foxnews.com/story/2006/08/29/man-gets-life-in-prison-for-killing-6-people-over-xbox-dispute/) ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2014, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-conservatives-are-against-abortion/688063/66 "2014-05-09T20:10:57Z")
> [@Hector\_St\_Clare](#): > > Um, commercially sold chicken eggs generally haven’t been fertilized, and unlike a human embryo, are never going to develop into anything. > > In my experience the vegetarians who object to eating chickens, would also object to eating _fertilized_ chicken eggs. Yes, thank you. Obviously, in a question about abortion, I meant to refer to a refrigerated, unfertilized egg meant for consumption. ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2014, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-conservatives-are-against-abortion/688063/67 "2014-05-09T20:14:33Z")
> [@racepug](#): > > That’s not the point, and you know it. Funny how nobody ever hears about a mass murder being done with sharpened pencils or with fanatics wielding broken glass, don’tchya think? You asked a question about hunters, and I answered it. Now you want to talk about mass murders? Down that path the pro-lifers LOVE to point out that the worst mass murderers by the numbers in America are the abortion clinics. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2014, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-conservatives-are-against-abortion/688063/68 "2014-05-09T20:21:03Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > [Knife-wielding attackers kill 29, injure 130 at China train station](http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/01/world/asia/china-railway-attack/) > > [Osaka school massacre](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osaka_school_massacre) > > [Man Gets Life in Prison for Killing 6 People Over Xbox Dispute [with a baseball bat]](http://www.foxnews.com/story/2006/08/29/man-gets-life-in-prison-for-killing-6-people-over-xbox-dispute/) Yeah, good thing those guys couldn’t get guns, right? I mean way more people would have died, right? ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2014, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-conservatives-are-against-abortion/688063/69 "2014-05-09T20:22:15Z")
> [@racepug](#): > > That’s not the point, and you know it. Funny how nobody ever hears about a mass murder being done with sharpened pencils or with fanatics wielding broken glass, don’tchya think? But poison, bombs, and knives, I’ve heard of aplenty. Film has suggested disease, but I’m not sure that’s happened in real life. ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2014, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-conservatives-are-against-abortion/688063/70 "2014-05-09T20:22:20Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > Yeah, good thing those guys couldn’t get guns, right? I mean way more people would have died, right? Maybe they should have been aborted. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2014, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-conservatives-are-against-abortion/688063/71 "2014-05-09T20:24:45Z")
> [@Algher](#): > > Maybe they should have been aborted. Is that just a joke, or an attempt to contribute honestly? ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2014, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-conservatives-are-against-abortion/688063/72 "2014-05-09T20:27:54Z")
> [@racepug](#): > > I saw a PERFECT rejoinder to this silly “argument” on the kind of website people like you would likely never visit: “If hammers, cars, knives, forks, sharpened pencils, and broken glass are as deadly as guns - as you pro-gun types try to twist into a ridiculous argument - then why don’t HUNTERS go hunting with those items?” Hm? You made several incorrect assumptions in your post. Fertilizer and fuel oil was used to murder 168 people and injured over than 680 others in Oklahoma City. Very effective in the hands of a mentally disturbed person. You have absolutely NO IDEA what websites I may or may not visit but if you need to believe that you do - you have my permission to fantasy about me but I draw the line at fantasy. State laws limit what hunters can use to take game animals. If you would like to hunt rabbits with a sharpened pencil, talk to your state representatives. ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2014, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-conservatives-are-against-abortion/688063/73 "2014-05-09T20:32:17Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > Is that just a joke, or an attempt to contribute honestly? It was a joke, because it is a hijack. However, I can contribute with the Freakonomics bit on abortion on crime if needed. > **[Abortion and crime: who should you believe? - Freakonomics](https://freakonomics.com/2005/05/abortion-and-crime-who-should-you-believe/)** > > Two very vocal critics, Steve Sailer and John Lott, have been exerting a lot of energy lately trying to convince the world that the abortion reduces crime hypothesis is not correct. A number of readers have asked me to respond to these criticisms.... > [@](#): > > Donohue-Levitt hypothesis that legalized abortion in the 1970s explains a substantial part of the crime decline in the 1990s: ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2014, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-conservatives-are-against-abortion/688063/74 "2014-05-09T20:49:04Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > And murder rates are unaffected by the presence or lack of guns (though when available, people prefer them as the implement of choice). False. Murder rates are consistently higher in the US than other OECD countries that have gun control. You can certainly argue correlation and causality, but not this statistical fact. Note that for many years, Europe had consistently higher youth unemployment which should enhance murder rates. Yet they were lower. Nice point about eggs, chicks and hatchets incidentally. I suppose a psychopath might be indifferent between stepping on a chick and stepping on an egg. Normal people would feel differently. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2014, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-conservatives-are-against-abortion/688063/75 "2014-05-09T21:03:16Z")
In an alternate history, conservatives support abortion rights because women should have full property rights in their own bodies, while liberals oppose abortion because everyone should have the opportunity to live to their full potential. These viewpoints are meaningfully consistent with conservative and liberal ideologies. As it happened, a different, still consistent, set of viewpoints evolved. ---
**Author:** ![racepug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@racepug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racepug)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2014, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-conservatives-are-against-abortion/688063/76 "2014-05-09T21:09:52Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > [Knife-wielding attackers kill 29, injure 130 at China train station](http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/01/world/asia/china-railway-attack/) > > [Osaka school massacre](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osaka_school_massacre) > > [Man Gets Life in Prison for Killing 6 People Over Xbox Dispute [with a baseball bat]](http://www.foxnews.com/story/2006/08/29/man-gets-life-in-prison-for-killing-6-people-over-xbox-dispute/) Okay. That’s ONE. Now, how many mass shootings have occurred in THIS country since that happened? ---
**Author:** ![racepug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@racepug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racepug)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2014, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-conservatives-are-against-abortion/688063/77 "2014-05-09T21:15:12Z")
> [@Algher](#): > > You asked a question about hunters, and I answered it. Now you want to talk about mass murders? > > Down that path the pro-lifers LOVE to point out that the worst mass murderers by the numbers in America are the abortion clinics. As I’ve already posted - I’m not all that much in the “corner” of abortion, either. But it strikes me as “funny” that conservatives - those who so often speak of “individual freedom” and of “the TYRANNY of Big Government” - are the VERY SAME PEOPLE who, when something is going on that THEY don’t like, have NO PROBLEM WHATSOEVER trying to get legislation passed to stop it. Or they just go and bomb abortion clinics. If you can’t see the hypocrisy in all that then there isn’t much I can do for you in that regard. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2014, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-conservatives-are-against-abortion/688063/78 "2014-05-09T21:17:23Z")
> [@racepug](#): > > Okay. That’s ONE. Um, no, that’s THREE. And there are many more. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2014, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-conservatives-are-against-abortion/688063/79 "2014-05-09T21:20:20Z")
> [@racepug](#): > > As I’ve already posted - I’m not all that much in the “corner” of abortion, either. But it strikes me as “funny” that conservatives - those who so often speak of “individual freedom” and of “the TYRANNY of Big Government” - are the VERY SAME PEOPLE who, when something is going on that THEY don’t like, have NO PROBLEM WHATSOEVER trying to get legislation passed to stop it. It’s the question of what function the government should serve. I think the government preventing murder is its legitimate function. I think the government requiring that boy’s baseball bleachers in the school stadium should be dismantled because they are nicer than the girls’ softball bleachers isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![racepug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@racepug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racepug)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2014, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-conservatives-are-against-abortion/688063/80 "2014-05-09T21:21:57Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > You made several incorrect assumptions in your post. Fertilizer and fuel oil was used to murder 168 people and injured over than 680 others in Oklahoma City. Very effective in the hands of a mentally disturbed person. > > You have absolutely NO IDEA what websites I may or may not visit but if you need to believe that you do - you have my permission to fantasy about me but I draw the line at fantasy. > > State laws limit what hunters can use to take game animals. If you would like to hunt rabbits with a sharpened pencil, talk to your state representatives. Uh, more non sequiturs. Something tells me that limits on what people can use to hunt animals with were not imposed with the idea of limiting hunting by sharpened pencil or with shard of glass. You people are completely missing the point (which doesn’t surprise me) or being intentionally obtuse: gun nuts like to say things like: “What makes being killed by a baseball bat or a bow and arrow any better than being killed by a bullet?” To which people like me would respond with: “Nothing. But one generally can’t kill as quickly and easily with those items as one can with firearms.” And now you are trying to twist things all around to make me come off like some kind of moron. The next time you hear about some army someplace going to battle with sharpened pencils or baseball bats in hand, you let us all know, 'kay? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-conservatives-are-against-abortion/688063.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-conservatives-are-against-abortion/688063.md?page=5)