The 8th amendment referendum - part 4

Drumpot wrote: »

Whatever the outcome of the vote I want to see greater resources and time put into education for all parties. Sex can lead to pregnancy. You are not a victim of pregnancy if you have consensual sex .It’s alwasy a risk and making it easier to “correct” the mistake shouldn’t absolve us as a society of reducing these mistakes with greater teaching and valuing the responsibility of engaging in sex.

I reject the suggestion by anybody that An abortion just effects the woman making the choice. If the partner cares about the decision being made then that’s a person with skin in the game who should be considered. It’s not to say that the male gets to choose but as a society we value all interested parties inputs. I have three sons and there is a decent chance that the outcome of this vote could affect at least one of them in the future.

In the RTdocumentary recently it said that in Norway abortions shot up when it was introduced. But it reduced when they implemented an improvemen in sex education in schools. We need a proper sex education programme to follow either vote outcome.

In France , apparently some woman are supposedly shamed into abortions because a culture that has formed from abortions being available. We don’t want this either where society encourages poor or unwell or certain woman to have abortions when they might not want them. That’s a completely different kind of lifestyle abortion that some people don’t consider.

That’s the concern I have that the unintended consequences of not properly engaging everybody - woman, men and children (instead of making it a “woman’s choice” issue) will mean it will remain a toxic and divisive cultural issue. Let’s heal the divide whatever the outcome and make this not just a woman’s problem.... On either side of the gender, If you don’t value your partners views/values then how can you expect them to be able to completely support you when a major life changing decision is being made?

I am adopted and it’s hard to not think if I would of been here had abortions been available when I was conceived. This is a fact that I cannot ignore , nor should I have to because it doesn’t suit some people’s narrative of this topic. I think going through a full pregnancy and giving a child up for adoption is possibly the most selfless thing a person can do and as a society we should value it. But not at the expense of forcing somebody into it.

An abortion shouldn’t be an easy decision to make and it should affect the woman making the decision. Once she has weighed up all her options , gotten appropriate medical advice , considered the views of those who will be affected by the decision and most importantly factored in her own feelings, she should be supported medicaly and emotional in as empathetic a way is possible. Society should not shame or frown her decision. I would like to think that most people think in these sort of lines.