# Pro abortionists: Multiple abortions ok? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 10, 2008, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-abortionists-multiple-abortions-ok/467286 "2008-10-10T04:07:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-abortionists-multiple-abortions-ok/467286/101 "2008-10-13T00:26:38Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > You’re welcome. And, by the way, I think I’m exactly of the mindset you were looking for: I _don’t_ consider the fetus a person in any moral, ethical or legal sense until viability, and yet I’m still uncomfortable (for the reasons already mentioned) with using abortion instead of contraception. Multiple abortions are more likely than single to be attributable to lack of contraception, but that’s a tendency, not a hard and fast rule. WhyNot, I have a very radical feminist co-worker (ex co-worker) who has really been getting my radical fem juices up. She gave me some very convincing arguments, and I have taken a lot of her info (propaganda?) and internalized it. I still think that muliples are fine, but I don’t want you to make any mistake about it…I have a better understanding of fetus-is-not-a-person pro-choicers now. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-abortionists-multiple-abortions-ok/467286/102 "2008-10-13T04:37:16Z")
> [@Fred\_Garvin](#): > > Forgive me if you’ve already answered this, but do you feel that " _One_ abortion legal yes, _one_ abortion morally ok no" And if "no’, what is the difference? Well for me it depends on the point in the pregnancy. But there are plenty of other things that I think are immoral that I wouldn’t want to be illegal. > [@Fred\_Garvin](#): > > As someone wrote earlier, there are multiple reasons for an unwanted pregnancy scenario. Why would abortion be an acceptable (moral) option the first time, but not for subsequent pregnancies? Well I see some scenarios here 1. The supposed reason for the abortion is acceptable every time, but the fact that it keeps occurring makes it harder and harder to believe that the stated reason is true. 2. The fact that the abortions keep happening is good evidence that the person is just irresponsible, as well as that they probably aren’t using protection, which is dangerous for reasons besides unwanted pregnancies. 3. I think the morality of abortion is somewhat a nebulous issue, and people will have wide ranging feelings about it. But no one can question that the procedure at least touches on a major human issue, and even if it’s not evil per se to have an abortion under certain circumstances, if you do it over and over, you are being kind of flippant and arrogant in the face of what should at least be a sensitively considered decision. Kind of like, it’s not evil to get married more than once, but if you get married and divorced every week, you are being carelessly casual about what is supposed to be a fairly sacred institution. So I guess it boils down to this: more abortions isn’t more evil, but it is incredibly inconsiderate. ---
**Author:** ![El\_DeLuxo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_deluxo/32/9043_2.png) [@El\_DeLuxo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_DeLuxo)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-abortionists-multiple-abortions-ok/467286/103 "2008-10-13T11:38:35Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > If one believes that a woman has a right to abortion because a fetus is not a person, then it should make no difference how many abortions she has, right? Totally right in my opinion. It’s nobody’s business but her own whether or not a woman has an abortion, and that doesn’t decrease according to the number of times she avails herself of the option. > [@](#): > > Because, I keep hearing women say, “I believe in abortion, but I don’t think it should be used for birth control.” Ok. Why not? Can’t speak for any women, not being one myself, but I’ve always thought that such ideas came from either a lingering (perhaps not even conscious) distaste for the notion or reality of abortion, or else some pro-choice folks’ understandable reluctance to being perceived as “pro-abortion”, per say. > [@](#): > > I have decided that if a woman wants to have an abortion, she should have that right as many times as she wants. I agree 100%. > [@](#): > > I know anti-abortionists will disapprove, but why should pro-abortionists who believe the fetus is not a person disapprove? Again, I think it stems from being uncomfortable with the actual process even as one supports the right to choose it – or, less charitably, a remnant of some regressive tendency such as the notion that disapproved sexual behaviour _should_ have potential negative consequencess such as unwanted childbearing. If that’s not the rationale, I’d be interested in hearing what _is_. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-abortionists-multiple-abortions-ok/467286/104 "2008-10-13T22:30:19Z")
> [@jackdavinci](#): > > 1. I think the morality of abortion is somewhat a nebulous issue, and people will have wide ranging feelings about it. But no one can question that the procedure at least touches on a major human issue, and even if it’s not evil per se to have an abortion under certain circumstances, if you do it over and over, you are being kind of flippant and arrogant in the face of what should at least be a sensitively considered decision. Kind of like, it’s not evil to get married more than once, but if you get married and divorced every week, you are being carelessly casual about what is supposed to be a fairly sacred institution. So I guess it boils down to this: more abortions isn’t more evil, but it is incredibly inconsiderate. I agree with this totally. I’ll add that since the right to reproductive freedom in the US was not easily earned and is not totally secure even today means that it is a freedom that should not be taken for granted. Next Thursday it will be ten years to the day since OB/GYN Dr. Barnett Slepian was murdered in his own kitchen by an anti-abortion zealot. He was the seventh abortion provider or abortion clinic worker to be assassinated in a five year period that began with the murder of Dr. David Gunn in my hometown of Pensacola, FL. These people died because they helped to provide women with unwanted pregnancies with access to legal and medically safe abortions. There are plenty of voters who would be happy to see legal abortion limited to only women in certain types of situations, but for now American women still have the right to an abortion without needing to prove they’re doing it for a “good” reason. I am happy that this right exists and I hope that it will never be taken away. But with all rights come responsibilities, and I believe that at the very least the right to an abortion comes with the responsibility of taking one’s own reproductive choices seriously. There isn’t any way to enforce this responsibility, not without infringing on the very important rights involved, but I don’t feel obligated to think well of people who take such responsibilities lightly. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-abortionists-multiple-abortions-ok/467286.md?page=5)