baloney_detector

“Abortion: Is it Possible to be both “Pro-life” and “Pro-Choice”?”
By Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan


"The issue had been decided years ago. The court had chosen the middle ground. You'd think the fight was over. Instead, there are mass rallies, bombings and intimidation, murders of workers at abortion clinics, arrests, intense lobbying, legislative drama, Congressional hearings, Supreme Court decisions, major political parties almost defining themselves on the issue, and clerics threatening politicians with perdition. Partisans fling accusations of hypocrisy and murder. The intent of the Constitution and the will of God are equally invoked. Doubtful arguments are trotted out as certitudes. The contending factions call on science to bolster their positions. Families are divided, husbands and wives agree not to discuss it, old friends are no longer speaking. Politicians check the latest polls to discover the dictates of their consciences. Amid all the shouting, it is hard for the adversaries to hear one another. Opinions are polarized. Minds are closed.

Is it wrong to abort a pregnancy? Always? Sometimes? Never? How do we decide? We wrote this article to understand better what the contending views are and to see if we ourselves could find a position that would satisfy us both. Is there no middle ground? We had to weigh the arguments of both sides for consistency and to pose test cases, some of which are purely hypothetical. If in some of these tests we seem to go too far, we ask the reader to be patient with us--we're trying to stress the various positions to the breaking point to see their weaknesses and where they fail.

In contemplative moments, nearly everyone recognizes that the issue is not wholly one-sided. Many partisans of differing views, we find, feel some disquiet, some unease when confronting what's behind the opposing arguments. (This is partly why such confrontations are avoided.) And the issue surely touches on deep questions: What are our responses to one another? Should we permit the state to intrude into the most intimate and personal aspects of our lives? Where are the boundaries of freedom? What does it mean to be human?"

Continued at:

The abortion debate - Carl Sagan

tristanrobin

excellent article - presents both sides well - I'm sure that there is affirmation for whatever viewpoint one has

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policy chick

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"An intellectual is going to have doubts, for example, about a fundamentalist religious doctrine that admits no doubt, about an imposed political system that allows no doubt, about a perfect aesthetic that has no room for doubt." ~ Antonio Tabucchi

Jefferson

Perhaps we should allow equal time to an essay written by somebody who is NOT pro-abortion?

policy chick

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"An intellectual is going to have doubts, for example, about a fundamentalist religious doctrine that admits no doubt, about an imposed political system that allows no doubt, about a perfect aesthetic that has no room for doubt." ~ Antonio Tabucchi

baloney_detector

Sure, post away.

I'm curious to hear what they have to say.

I just wonder, though, if they would attempt to entertain all facets of the topic of abortion...even though their mind is all ready made up.

KnightOfSappho

By all means, please post one.

I think you would be hard pressed to find one as well written as that essay though.

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winston53660

Problem is no one is "pro abortion." People are pro choice not "pro abortion".

hevusa

Exactly. I think most people who are pro choice are usually also for the things that would actually reduce the rate of abortions in America (like free condoms in our high schools). That cannot usually be said of those that are "pro life", which is very odd in my opinion.

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foundit66

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