Sound arguements for/against abortion?

c-note

Good morning fellow athiests (and the faithful!)
I'm posting specifially in the athiest forum because its athiests arguements i'm interested in at this point.

I'm guessing sooner or later i'll be asked to vote in some shape or form on the question of abortion.

Any arguement relying on "faith" is not relevant for me at the moment, so i would thank any contributor not to include anything pro or against, which is religiously derived, for the sake of this thread at least.

At the moment i'm stuggleing to find a definate position on the subject;
I cant isolate the issue to a purely medical/scientific one, as it is naturally quite an emotive subject.
Nor can I formulate my position based purely on emotions as there is the serious weight of scientific fact and medical considerations which have to be factored in.

Its a big question for me, much bigger than divorce, or a european treaty, or a referendum on Northern Ireland. It's one subject which has left me in a moral quagmire.

Obviously there is no "one size fits all" answer to the question but i've been running various scenarios over in my head and they are pointing me in a particular direction.

So i want to hear, FROM PEOPLE WHO HAVE CAREFULLY CONSIDERED their position, what their position is, and what the arguement is beind it.
I really need to hear from both sides, and would ask that we're mature enough to respect other peoples positions.

martoman

I appreciate your concern c-note.

Here’s a philosophy essay on the issue – it discusses the ethics of abortion and infanticide, and puts forward a mild defence of abortion: http://www.minerva.mic.ul.ie//vol2/bh.html

I’ve also written an essay on the topic, in defence abortion - carefully considering my position – but have come to a slightly difference conclusion to the above: http://martoman.blogspot.ie/2013/03/the-ethics-of-ending-innocent-human-life.html?view=magazine

Hope you find these useful

Peregrinus

c-note wrote: »

Good morning fellow athiests (and the faithful!)
I'm posting specifially in the athiest forum because its athiests arguements i'm interested in at this point.

I'm guessing sooner or later i'll be asked to vote in some shape or form on the question of abortion . . .

But you are not likely to be asked to vote on whether abortion is right or wrong, or on whether any particular woman, or women in general, ought or ought not to have abortions.

You’re likely to be asked to vote on whether, and to what extent, the state should prohibit abortions.

The issue you have a responsiblity to vote on, in short, is not what women should do; it’s what the state should do. Should state power and resources be used to prevent (or, alternatively, to facilitate) women having abortions?

It seems to me, then, that the arguments you need to hear are not arguments for or against abortion, but for or against state action. This is not a question about personal morality (should this woman have an abortion?) but about communal morality (how should we, as a community, respond to the fact that this woman wants an abortion?) The issue comes down to what you think the proper role of the state, and the law, is.

That’s not necessarily an easier question to answer, but I think it’s the question you will be faced with in any referendum, and it's the one you should be asking about here.

Dades

Sorry, c-note, but no matter how you word your OP, if you request "reasoned arguments" from both sides you will start another Abortion megathread.

The existing one is here and we sure don't need another:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056738261