[detbuch]

Originally Posted by Piscator

If a woman is raped, she should be able to make the choice not to have the baby.

Constitutionally, so long as the baby is not considered a human being, and the State in which she resides has no objection, she has that right. Constitutionally (as written not as "interpreted"), the Federal Government has no say. Ergo Mourdock's belief cannot, as a Senator in the national congress, impact that right. He is free to express his personal moral or religeous belief but not to impose it. If that baby is considered a human being guilty of no crime, neither she or the state has the constitutional power to deny its right to life.

If she chooses to do so, good for her. She is a very strong and brave woman.

Agree. Not only for choosing to give birth to the baby, but for going through the same pains and deprivations that all women who give birth must.

If she decides not to do so, she should not be ashamed ridiculed etc. etc.

No one should be ridiculed or embarassed for making legitimate choices. She would only be ashamed if she felt she was doing something she felt was intrinsically wrong. The source for instilling right and wrong would come from societal mores or laws, or more deeply from her personal beliefs--those most personal beliefs instilled by experience or philosophical or religeous conviction. For those who are conflicted, counseling or advice from various sources pro and con might help.

From a moral standpoint, I don’t think it should be used as a form of birth control due to negligence etc.

Why not? If the baby is unimportant enough to abort due to rape, what makes it important enough to deliver if the woman doesn't want it?

Funny that a bunch of men are arguing this case. Also ironic that many of these posts point that it’s done out of convenience to the woman, don’t you think the man might be persuading many of those decisions????? It’s a convenience to the woman and most times the man……………………

Sure nuff. The man can be complicit in the decision, even to the point of making it. But he has no legal right to demand or deny the abortion. Which ties to the baby somehow being part of the woman's body--which it is not. It has its own genetic code. It is a separate and distinct being. The mother's body is doing what nature, or God, or some accident is commanding it to do. Her choice to abort is her intellectual decision against her body's "decision."