I'm confused . . .

[Brigid]

I oppose elective abortion. I would not have an abortion myself unless a pregnancy was endangering my life; nor would I help anyone else get one except under those same circumstances (I would, however, be quite interested in helping her find agencies that can offer her non-judgmental assistance if she asked me). That said, I am not interested in sitting in judgment on anyone else, especially since I am past childbearing age and will never be in this situation myself; nor am I interested in wasting my time standing in front of a clinic with tape over my mouth. So do my mixed feelings make me pro-life or pro-choice? What do you think?

[Richardo]

1. Choice goes both ways. You're pro-choice.

[AlCzervik]

4. yup.

[leftofcool]

2. I feel the same as you do and am pro choice

[John Q. Citizen]

3. Choice is about choice. As long as you allow others to make thier own decision and keep

the government out of it, then you are pro choice.

If you believe abortion should be outlawed except in the case where the mothers life is at risk, then you are anti-choice.

I've yet to meet anyone who is 'pro-abortion.'

[sorrybushisfromtexas]

5. I feel the same way.

Choice is the law of the land. I also oppose elective abortions. However when one of my disabled students got pregnant by her Dad's best friend she had an abortion. She was legally blind, and went to a good school on a full scholarship when she graduated from college. I can't condemn her or her family for the choice they made. I guess that makes me a pro choice pro lifer.

[sinkingfeeling]

6. So tell me, what should someone do, who has taken medication that will cause

extreme mental and physical disabilities in a fetus? Or through testing, knows they are carrying a fetus that will probably die from a horrible mal-deformity if brought to term? Do you volunteer to take on the medical bills? Do you find an agency that will pay out millions of dollars for care?

[Gman]

7. I'm like you

and share your views. But I am not for prohibiting anyone from having an abortion by law. That makes me anti-abortion and pro-choice.

[better tomorrow]

8. you are past childbearing, but....

how do you feel about Terry Schiavo? How long do you want your family to keep you alive if you are ill as you age? Those questions should help you to define yourself. Good luck.

[stillcool]

9. I don't know...

I myself am pro-life-after-birth.

****keep in mind these are government statistics. I leave you to your imagination to contemplate the real numbers****

• Each year around 300,000 children are temporarily removed and 65,000 to 70,000 of those children are ultimately taken from their parents forever, according to the Dept. of Health and Human Services.
• In 2004, 532,000 children were in foster care, doubling the number
from 1997. Of those 532,000 only 129,000 had been cleared for adoption.
• The rate of children in foster care increased from 4.7 for every 1,000 U.S. children in 1980 to 7.7 in 2000.

• In 2000, 1.5 million U.S. children had an incarcerated parent. Between 1990-2001, the number of women in prison increased by 106%.
• In 1995, 12% of children in foster care had not received routine health care. 90% had not received services to address developmental delays.
• Between 1992-2002, the number of infants and toddlers entering foster care increased by 110%.
• In 1993, more than 60% of the homeless population in NYC municipal shelters were former foster youth.
• According to a 1999 report, less than 50% of foster youth had graduated from high school, compared to 85% of the general population.
• As of May 2006, an estimated 1,600 American children have lost a parent(s) to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There are more than half a million children and youth in the U.S. foster care system, a 90% increase since 1987.Three of 10 of the nation’s homeless are former foster children.
A recent study has found that 12-18 months after leaving foster care:
27% of the males and 10% of the females had been incarcerated
33% were receiving public assistance
37% had not finished high school
50% were unemployed
Children in foster care are three to six times more likely than children not in care to have emotional, behavioral and developmental problems,
---80 percent of prison inmates have been through the foster care system.
* 872,000 children and youth were confirmed victims of abuse or neglect in the United States in 2004.

Children are 11 times more likely to be abused in State care than they are in their own homes.
http://fostersurvivor.netfirms.com/statistics.shtml
http://www.theorphansociety.org/libliterature.asp

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/stats_research/afcars/statistics/entryexit2005.htm
Foster Care in the Year 2020 (if nothing changes in child welfare trends)
Children who will experience the foster care system Over 9,000,00014
Children who will age out of the foster care system 300,00015
Foster youth aging out of the system that will experience homelessness 75,00016
Foster youth aging out of the system that graduate from college 9,00017
Number of children killed by abuse or neglect 22,50018
http://www.casey.org/MediaCenter/MediaKit/FactSheet.htm

CHILD ABUSE STATISTICS

In 1999, an estimated 3,244,000 children were reported to Child Protective Services (CPS) agencies as alleged victims of child maltreatment. Child abuse reports have maintained a steady growth for the past ten years, with the total number of reports nationwide increasing 45% since 1987 (Nation Committee for the Prevention of Child Abuse (NCPCA) 2000 Annual Fifty State Survey).
-----------

In 1999, an estimated 1,401 child abuse and neglect related fatalities were confirmed by CPS agencies, nearly 4 every day. Since 1985, the rate of child abuse fatalities has increased by 39%. Based on these numbers, more than three children die each day as a result of child abuse or neglect (NCPCA's 1996 Annual Fifty State Survey).

The U.S. Advisory Board reported that near fatal abuse and neglect each year leave "18,000 permanently disabled children, tens of thousands of victims overwhelmed by lifelong psychological trauma, thousands of traumatized siblings and family members, and thousands of near-death survivors who, as adults, continue to bear the physical and psychological scars. Some may turn to crime or domestic violence or become abusers themselves (U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect, 1995 report, A National's Shame.)"
-----------------------------
Finding of the NIS-3:

* The estimated number of children seriously injured by all forms of maltreatment quadrupled between 1986 and 1993, from 141,700 to 565,000 (a 299% increase).
* Considering the Harm Standard:
* The estimated number of sexually abused children increased 83%;
* The number of physically neglected children rose 102%;
* There was a 333 % increase in the estimated number of emotionally neglected children; and
* The estimated number of physically abused children rose 42%.

Poverty is significantly related to incidence rates in nearly every category of maltreatment. Compared to children whose families earned $30,000 or more, children in families with annual incomes below $15,000 were:

* More than 22 times more likely to experience maltreatment under the Harm Standard and 25 times more likely under the Endangerment Standard.
* More than 44 times more likely to be neglected, by either definitional standard.
* Over 22 times more likely to be seriously injured using either definitional standard.
* 60 times more likely to die from maltreatment under the Harm Standard.

- Increasing numbers of young people have been
placed in adult jails where they are at risk of assault, abuse, and death.
Currently, 40 states permit or require that youth charged as adults be placed pre-trial in an adult jail, and in some states they may be required to serve their entire sentence in an adult jail. According to the National Council on Crime and Delinquency, since 1990 the incarceration of youth in adult jails has increased 208%.
http://www.campaign4youthjustice.org/Downloads/NEWS/JPI014Consequences_Summary.pdf

In 1985 one out of every 320 Americans were in jail.
In 1995 one out of every 167 Americans were in jail.
Between1980 and 1994, the number of people in federal and state prisons increased 221%.
Today, 2 million Americans are in prison.
1.2 million are African-American men.

Nationwide, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers are increasingly focusing on a growing tragedy—large numbers of youth with mental health problems becoming involved in the juvenile justice system. A recent study by the National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice
found approximately 70% of the youth in residential juvenile justice settings meet criteria for at least one mental health disorder(Shufelt &Cocozza, 2006).

I've seen bodies ripped to pieces by bullets, blown into millions of scraps by bombs, and pierced by booby traps. I’ve smelled the stench of bodies burned. I’ve heard the air sound like it was boiling from rounds flying back and forth. I’ve lived an insanity others should never live..."
-- Dennis Tenety, Fire in the Hole<[/i>

[troubleinwinter]

10. I don't quite understand.

"I oppose elective abortion." Is this to say you support forced birth? I can understand selecting the choice of giving birth for yourself, but do you support forcing other women to give birth?

I gave birth when I was not in a position to care for a baby and placed the child for adoption. You have no idea what this society does to women in that position. NONE.

I also have had an abortion.

I also had a child when I was fully able to care for and raise her.

I am pro-choice and cannot support forced birth on anyone. A woman's body is her own and has the right to make the choice whether to give birth herself.

[KharmaTrain]

11. It's Not Your Choice, It's Hers...

I've never met a woman whose had an abortion whose wanted one. Each has a reason and I, definitely, am not one to judge if that's the right or wrong decision as I'm not the one who has to live with it or is in that person's situation. The thing is at least this person has the CHOICE...the option to have an abortion or keep the child. Now is you don't feel its right or something you'd be involved in (and thank goodness you haven't had to make that decission) at least you still have the choice...and that's what many of us here are fighting for.

[Winterblues]

12. If you love guns and tobacco and war I doubt you are "Pro-Life"

Although many that love those things including the death penalty call themselves "Pro-Life" when in actuality they are just "Anti-Abortion" and could really care less about life in general..Many people that are "Pro-Choice" are completely against those things that cause death.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

13. You're Pro-Choice. I am passed childbearing now myself and never had an unwanted pregnancy.

That said, I do believe that if I had an unwanted pregnancy, I don't think that I would have terminated it. Luckily, I was never put in that position. That would have been my Choice and my Choice alone and I do not believe in anyone interfering in another's Choice/Womb.

Ironically, when I was in the throws of infertility (it took 5 years to get pregnant for the first time), I used to take on Anti-Choicers who proselytized near where I worked. They infuriated me. I remember the days of squalid back room abortions and the women who died because they weren't given the ability by law to Choose. It will be a darker day in America if Roe is overturned and those days come back.

[seabeyond]

14. i would never get an abortion. (as much as i think i wouldnt). i am prochoice

if you are saying an abortion is ok if it is mother health than you just made yourself prochoice. it doesnt matter any other reason a woman choses to have an abortion. that is where ot sittin in judgment comes along. but the only reasons to be opposed is it is murder. if you consider it murder and justify the murder in any instances (mothers health) then you cannot logically any longer use that as an excuse, it makes no sense. even at the health of mother, the life of another, murder would not be justified.

i dont like them, i dont agree with them, i dont do them and it is not mine to decide for another because the reason i do not like them is i see there is a greater power and this might bump up against that. i dont know. but that is personal and not mine to dictate to another