Can you really call yourself pro-choice if you wouldn't have an abortion yourself?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The gay marriage comparison is actually kind of helpful here -- how many people say they are pro-gay-marriage, and then immediately follow up with "but I myself would never get gay married, no, I'm so very very straight, myself"? Why add that kind of extraneous information? Why is it necessary to reassure people that, although you are pro-choice, you think abortion is BAD?

Yes abortion is bad. What is your problem? Be satisfied with your right to choose and stop expecting people to overlook what you are essentially doing. What do you want a frickin parade and national holiday?

[Anonymous]

As a previous poster pointed out, it is saying I am politically pro-choice but personally "for life". I will also defend any religion to be able to practice their faith within the bounds of law, regardless of whether I believe in the same God/prophet they do. I am fine with a mosque being on the 9/11 grounds, although I would never worship there.
I used to say "I would never have one", but I've matured and realized that I have never been placed in a situtation where I have had to make the choice. I do not believe most abortions are easy decisions the woman made. I am very thankful I have never been in that situation.

[Anonymous]

I was one of those people that believed in a woman's right to choose, but personally never believed it would be the right choice for me (after I reached a certain level of financial comfort). Then I was pregnant and my baby had a condition incompatible with life. Go figure. I had an abortion even though I never thought it would be the right choice for me. It was the right choice for me, my family, and the little girl now a few months old that was conceived in the time between the abortion and when the ill-fated baby would have been due.

[Anonymous]

If I understand OP, it's not that s/he thinks it's contradictory for someone who would not have an abortion to be pro-choice, but that it's odd that someone expressing a pro-choice comment would feel it necessary to say she would not have an abortion herself.

But I think there is a reason to add that, namely to emphasize that the implication that pro-choice is pro-abortion is false.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was one of those people that believed in a woman's right to choose, but personally never believed it would be the right choice for me (after I reached a certain level of financial comfort). Then I was pregnant and my baby had a condition incompatible with life. Go figure. I had an abortion even though I never thought it would be the right choice for me. It was the right choice for me, my family, and the little girl now a few months old that was conceived in the time between the abortion and when the ill-fated baby would have been due.

Really? Even when you believed in a woman's right to choose, but didn't think you would do it you never would have thought that you'd be able to have an abortion if carrying a fetus with a condition incompatible with life? Seriously?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was one of those people that believed in a woman's right to choose, but personally never believed it would be the right choice for me (after I reached a certain level of financial comfort). Then I was pregnant and my baby had a condition incompatible with life. Go figure. I had an abortion even though I never thought it would be the right choice for me. It was the right choice for me, my family, and the little girl now a few months old that was conceived in the time between the abortion and when the ill-fated baby would have been due.

Really? Even when you believed in a woman's right to choose, but didn't think you would do it you never would have thought that you'd be able to have an abortion if carrying a fetus with a condition incompatible with life? Seriously?

It's not something most people even have on their radar when thinking about abortion.

[Anonymous]

I'm now pregnant with my fourth child, and having had children, I can say both that I would never want to have an abortion (knowing what I now know about fetal development and having seen so many ultrasounds of the process underway from 5 weeks on) AND that I fully support someone's right to choose whether to carry a pregnancy. Pregnancy has a profound impact on the life of any woman - even one intentionally and happily pregnant under the best of circumstances - and it is not and never will be appropriate for me to tell another woman whether she is required to go through a pregnancy.

I say that I would never want to have an abortion and I mean that with all my heart - but I don't kid myself and say I would never have one, especially now that I am mom to three kids to whom I have a responsibility. Had the pregnancy I'm now carrying turned out to have a significant genetic defect, I would likely have aborted because I would have thought it the right choice for my family. I would have been devastated by it, but would still believe it the right choice. Why would I ever deny choice to someone else?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was one of those people that believed in a woman's right to choose, but personally never believed it would be the right choice for me (after I reached a certain level of financial comfort). Then I was pregnant and my baby had a condition incompatible with life. Go figure. I had an abortion even though I never thought it would be the right choice for me. It was the right choice for me, my family, and the little girl now a few months old that was conceived in the time between the abortion and when the ill-fated baby would have been due.

Really? Even when you believed in a woman's right to choose, but didn't think you would do it you never would have thought that you'd be able to have an abortion if carrying a fetus with a condition incompatible with life? Seriously?

It's not something most people even have on their radar when thinking about abortion.

PP here. Correct. I never had an unwanted pregnancy. Never thought I would have a pregnancy I'd be willing to end.

[Anonymous]

OP, I think you're reading too much into these comments. When pro-choicers state that they would never have an abortion, I think what they really mean is that their lives are in such order that they are capable of handling an unplanned pregnancy. Not that they would never have an abortion no matter what. I agree that these statements sound somewhat ambiguous, but you need to read between the lines.

[Anonymous]

I don't understand the problem here. A person who is pro-CHOICE should not have the right to say out loud what their personal CHOICE would be for themselves??

It's bad enough the anti-choice folks are up in arms about personal decisions and trying to get all up in my vagina's business, now I have to also defend myself against other pro-choice folks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am strongly pro-choice, and time and time again I've come across other people who claim to be pro-choice saying, that although they wouldn't have an abortion themselves they don't feel it's right to make that decision for others. I have a very good friend who considers herself pro-choice, but has told me that if she ever was in a situation in which she didn't feel she could raise a baby, she would give it up for adoption instead of having an abortion.
Something about this attitude doesn't settle well with me. It seems as if these people are in a nutshell passing judgement on women who have abortions. If you support abortion rights, why point out that it's "something you personally couldn't do?" Does anyone else feel uncomfortable about these types of comments?

I'm pro-gay rights but I am not going to sleep with other men. How hard is it to understand the difference between a right and the desire to exercise a right?

Yes, but you don't sleep with other men because you don't want to, not because you think it's wrong. A women saying she would never have an abortion, even if there was a need is basically saying she wouldn't do it because she thinks it's wrong. Why else would she have such a problem with it??

Just because someone is pro-choice doesn't mean they don't think having an abortion is "wrong". It is wrong to them, but they don't feel the need to impose their sense of right and wrong or maybe their religious beliefs on someone else. It's pro-choice, not pro-abortion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am strongly pro-choice, and time and time again I've come across other people who claim to be pro-choice saying, that although they wouldn't have an abortion themselves they don't feel it's right to make that decision for others. I have a very good friend who considers herself pro-choice, but has told me that if she ever was in a situation in which she didn't feel she could raise a baby, she would give it up for adoption instead of having an abortion.
Something about this attitude doesn't settle well with me. It seems as if these people are in a nutshell passing judgement on women who have abortions. If you support abortion rights, why point out that it's "something you personally couldn't do?" Does anyone else feel uncomfortable about these types of comments?

I'm pro-gay rights but I am not going to sleep with other men. How hard is it to understand the difference between a right and the desire to exercise a right?

Yes, but you don't sleep with other men because you don't want to, not because you think it's wrong. A women saying she would never have an abortion, even if there was a need is basically saying she wouldn't do it because she thinks it's wrong. Why else would she have such a problem with it??

Just because someone is pro-choice doesn't mean they don't think having an abortion is "wrong". It is wrong to them, but they don't feel the need to impose their sense of right and wrong or maybe their religious beliefs on someone else. It's pro-choice, not pro-abortion.

Or, they could be pro-adoption. If they think that adoption is a better alternative, that doesn't make abortion an unacceptable one.

[Anonymous]

I firmly believe in the right to keep and bear arms, although I would never allow a gun in my house.

What is the inherent conflict in this statement? None.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The gay marriage comparison is actually kind of helpful here -- how many people say they are pro-gay-marriage, and then immediately follow up with "but I myself would never get gay married, no, I'm so very very straight, myself"? Why add that kind of extraneous information? Why is it necessary to reassure people that, although you are pro-choice, you think abortion is BAD?

I don't think they are, I think they are using it to show the OP how ridiculous the comparison is. You can support something that doesn't directly affect you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I firmly believe in the right to keep and bear arms, although I would never allow a gun in my house.

What is the inherent conflict in this statement? None.

Because you see nothing immoral about bearing arms. You simply choose not to have a gun. The reason people say I would never have an abortion is because they view it as killing a baby. How can you see it as killing a baby, but be pro-choice about it?